Should you buy a BMW M5? 

There are certainly compelling reasons to buy the M5, and arguably more now than ever. Such a sizeable battery pack means most journeys can be completed with little to no petrol use, and the tax implications for company car users are very tempting. While we’re being sensible, the M5 has a bigger boot than the Mercedes-AMG E-Class and Porsche Panamera. 

Crucially, the M5 is still fun. While not as outright fast on paper as its predecessor, the lightning responses of the hybrid system mean its huge reserves of power are more easily tapped on the road, and it feels shockingly agile for something so big and so heavy. The vast array of chassis options can seem bewildering, but in the right mode it’s an absolute hoot. 

It isn’t perfect, though. The ride in Comfort mode can feel a little clumsy at times, and the active suspension on the Panamera and Taycan allow flatter cornering and far greater comfort. Both are also available in faster flavours, and there’s even a pure V8 Panamera if you’re not too worried about CO2. However, the M5 is cheaper and plenty fast enough. Make mine a Touring in green, please. 

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What’s new?

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It’s a BMW M5, just not as you know it. Yes, it’s still a four-door saloon car with performance to trouble supercars, and yes, it still has a big V8 under the bonnet. However, there’s now also a big battery pack and a powerful electric motor, making this one of the fastest plug-in hybrids you can buy.

Rivals include the Mercedes-AMG E-Class which has also gone plug-in hybrid, and of course the Audi RS6 Avant. The Porsche Panamera still offers a pure V8 alternative if you pick the GTS, or even wilder PHEV performance from the Turbo and Turbo S E Hybrid.

If you do have an eye on company car tax rates, the Porsche Taycan rides and handles astonishingly well with the optional active suspension and has an even lower BIK bill. To find out how the M5 stacks up, I spent a week in one using it sensibly and sportingly. If you want to know how we test cars, there’s an explainer page that’ll fill you in.

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What’s it like inside? 

As you’d expect, this is essentially the BMW 5 Series and i5 electric interior with a few M-specific upgrades. Most obviously there are some more heavily bolstered sports seats up front complete with illuminated M5 logos, a flat-bottomed steering wheel with configurable M1 and M2 buttons, the option of carbon fibre trim, and M-specific screens for the driver’s display and infotainment. 

Those M1 and M2 buttons are handy as you can pre-set the various options for the engine, gearbox, suspension, stability control and so on separately for each button. With multiple options for each category, they stop you getting bogged down in menus when the road opens up and the traffic clears. 

The infotainment system can be controlled via touch, BMW’s now seemingly old-fashioned but still useful iDrive controller, or the generally impressive voice control. The system never seems to lag and has slick graphics, although some of the menus are a bit full when you’re driving. I’d also like to see physical heater controls, even if the controls are prominently displayed in the touchscreen. 

I’ve no complaints regarding the space up front, and neither do my taller colleagues, with rear legroom proving the problem with my lanky chums. It’s not like they won’t fit, but their knees are close to the seat backs and there’s not much room for feet if the front seats are as low as they’ll go. There’s a bit more rear headroom in the Touring, but it shouldn’t be an issue in the saloon. Quality is by no means bad, but you will find a few plastics that feel out of place in a £120,000 car. 

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Comfort 

I had no comfort issues in the M5’s supportive seats during many hours behind the wheel. There’s loads of electric adjustment as standard and a good range of movement for both the seat and steering wheel, allowing a wide variety of sizes and shapes to get comfortable.  

Heating and optional ventilation for the seats, and four-zone climate control means you’ll be the right temperature all-year round. I’m always a fan of a heated steering wheel, so it’s good to see one of those is standard, too. 

I would certainly consider the Comfort pack, especially if you’re ferrying around small children. Roller sunblinds that cover the rear screen and side windows almost entirely, and there’s a USB-C port and a mount that’ll accept a device holder, coathanger or folding table. Heated outer rear seats and the ventilated front seats are also included. 

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BMW M5 boot space and practicality 

M5 saloons get a 466-litre boot, with the Touring upping this to 500-litres beneath the parcel shelf. That’s down on lesser 5 Series models including PHEVs, if usefully more than the Mercedes-AMG E-Class saloon and estate. M5 saloons have significant intrusion from the rear suspension limiting load width, with the Touring getting a different design that allows for a much squarer, more useful boot. 

All M5s get a useful 40:20:40 split folding rear seats that make transporting skis or other long, thin items easy with two rear passengers. The aperture you get with all seats folded is much larger in the Touring than the saloon, and of course there’s ultimately more space. That and a tailgate instead of a bootlid makes the Touring far more practical than the 34-litre addition load capacity would initially suggest. 

Safety 

Euro NCAP crash tested the 5 Series back in 2023, giving the car a five-star safety rating. The scores are decent, but the E-Class manages higher scores in every category bar vulnerable road users despite being tested under more stringent criteria. 

You get all the usual lane keep assist and speed limit warnings as standard, which are easy enough to turn off via a shortcut. Adaptive cruise control with steering assist is on the options list. 

BMW M5 engines 

At launch there’s just one variety of M5, and it’s the most powerful ever already. A twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 up front develops 585hp on its own, and there’s a 197hp electric motor integrated into the gearbox to assist. Together, they produce 727hp for a 0-62mph time of just 3.5 seconds.  

That is slower than the spiciest of the old generation M5s, with BMW primarily focusing on ‘real-world’ performance rather than an arbitrary sprint that requires launch control. Let’s be honest, you’ll try it once or twice, but it’s unlikely to feature in normal driving. 

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What’s it like to drive? 

In fully electric mode there’s still enough shove to put in a fair show at the traffic light Grand Prix. It feels usefully punchier than any PHEV I can remember, so it’s easy to keep pace with traffic on a mostly sensibly driven commute. Hybrid mode makes it arguably too easy to fire the engine if you’re a bit keen off the line, with Electric mode needing a far harder shove of the right pedal to get the V8 going. 

Should you be planning an overtaking manoeuvre, you can pull and hold the left-hand paddle to engage boost mode. This puts all power sources on high alert so you get maximum acceleration when you mat the throttle. Even without this, the electric motor’s near-instant urge makes this M5 get going much sooner than the old model in most situations. 

This easily tapped pace is addictive, even though the M5’s V8 sounds a bit flat compared to the rortier AMG or Porsche alternative. Impressively given the M5’s infamous 2,435kg weight (2,550 for the Touring), its chassis disguises the sizable bulk exceptionally well when you’re cornering hard. 

Four-wheel steering is standard as are adaptive dampers, but not active anti-roll control like on a Porsche Panamera or Taycan. The steering gets faster and dampers stiffer as you move from Comfort to the Sports modes, giving the M5 a surprisingly agile feel with plenty of grip, especially if yours ships with Pirellis instead of less grippy Hankook tyres. 

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You can even adjust the four-wheel drive system to go from safe and neutral to a more playful rear-biased setup to allow slides with a safety net. Of course, you also have rear-wheel drive mode if rear tyres are the enemy. Me? The middle four-wheel drive Sport mode came on whenever the road got interesting and it was just me in the car. It’s undeniably more entertaining than the AMG E53, and is arguably more fun than a Panamera. 

However, the M5 can’t entirely shake its bulk, and it’s when you’re driving normally that you’ll really notice it. With the suspension in Comfort mode it trips up over sharp ruts and bumps and occasionally struggles to control its body movements at lower speeds. I soon got used to flicking to Sport suspension just to tie the M5 down a little better, even on the nursery run. Faster, smoother roads rather than the urban grind do suit Comfort suspension better. 

The steering’s weight always feels appropriate for the drive mode and always provides a sense of connection to the road, while the brake pedal is far more reassuring than a Porsche or Mercedes PHEV’s. The wider team has sampled both saloon and Touring versions of the M5, and reports there is no real noticeable difference in the way they drive. 

BMW M5 running costs 

At the time of writing, the M5’s CO2 emissions are a remarkable 37g/km thanks to an all-electric driving range of 42 miles on the combined WLTP cycle. Official fuel economy is 176.6mpg, a figure that suggests very little V8 running. On its own, the petrol engine manages sub-30mpg with ease. Naturally, servicing and consumables won’t be cheap, but a service package is available. 

Early M5s of this generation charge at up to 7.4kWh, with those made after November 2024 upping this to 11kW on a three-phase AC supply. A 0-100% charge takes two and a quarter hours at this rate, or around three at 7.4kW.  

What models and trims are available? 

There is only one type of M5 currently, although there is a long list of options to push the price up. I’d recommend the Comfort Pack, but you’ll need the seriously expensive Ultimate Pack if you want carbon ceramic brakes. Perhaps unhelpfully for track days, it also adds every other available option save for a tow bar. 

What else should I know? 

Even the ambient lighting gets a makeover, with the M colours one of the many options available to the M5 driver.  

Click through to the next page to see our ratings and what we like – and don’t – about the BMW M5.