What is it?
Another week, another Competition version of a BMW. But unlike the M2 Competition we reviewed last week, the M5 Competition is an addition to the range rather than a replacement for the regular M.
There are a few prongs of thinking on this one. The biggest is that an M5 has a broader range of use than an M2 anyway, so there’s a reason for keeping both models in the line up. The standard M5 is for those who just want to potter around in a fast approximation of comfort and the M5 Competition is for those who want a bit more focus and driving keenness. Not many M5 owners are track-day goers, unsurprisingly, given that it’s a 1940kg, five-metre-long saloon car.
BMW reckons that, typically, 50% of a market will drive hard enough to pick the Competition version, though. A bit less in the UK: 30% is the estimate.
Other lines of thinking: I suspect there’s rather more margin on an M5 than an M2, so you can sell ’em both. And it’s not like there’s much of an engine difference between the two, either.
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what a complete and utter
what a complete and utter glorios machine this thing nearly has 700hp, what a beast!!!!!!
I would have expected less...
The article went "south" the minute the chap mentioned a gain in weight which is the real "challenge". Sport really means light as possible and as stiff as possible so why not get rid of all the excess weight and have a more focused car, these cars have lost the plot and have just become a "hectors house / gin palace" when they should have been shorn of electric windows and any other weight inducing devices..wind up windows etc. In any case the 4 star rating is the outcome.
Yawn
Yet another hi-po car looking for a reason to exist....