BMW M5 review

It sounds like a good chunk of change (and it is), but at £111,405 – a couple of grand more for the M5 Touring – the new M5 is actually priced aggressively for what it is. Monthly PCPs run at just under £2000 a month through BMWs own online scheme. Beyond that there’s good and bad financial news.

It’s very efficient. Genuinely. We saw 32-35mpg in everyday driving on UK roads and that without sapping too much electric. It regens well. But it remains to be seen how buyers will respond to it and even if they do love it, M5s – like every other super saloon – have never been good at holding their value.  

As standard, it gets an absolute stack of kit, from the Bowers & Wilkins stereo to all the leather and cameras/ADAS you could reasonably expect. All the performance hardware is standard (so you don’t pay extra for, say, the M Adaptive suspension or M Sport diff), and the 20-inch front/21-inch rear alloys are handsome.

You can option most things singularly (carbon exterior package, M Driver’s Package, towbar etc), or just play with the balled-up packages. The Comfort Pack for the saloon, for instance, costs £1,800 and consists of front and rear seat heaters and front seat cooling, roller blinds and the Travel and Comfort system.

The £19,500 Ultimate Pack gives you various comfort options, plus the ceramic brakes, M Carbon Exterior Package, M Carbon mirror caps, anthracite Alcantara headlining, seat ventilation and cooling and the rest.

There are also some excellent colours on offer, from the usual silvers and blacks to sunshine yellow, a deep maroon/red - which looks amazing in bright sunshine - and dark green, again excellent. You can get custom colours from the Individual Programme, but the satin black version just looks a bit 2018 these days. Ideal spec would be red or green with the gold calipers (you can option the M Compound brakes with blue, black or red calipers) and silver wheels. Looks classy but interesting. But there’s an excellent configurator to see just what you’d prefer.