2023 BMW M5 Sedan Performance

Throughout its life, the M5 has been powered by six, eight, and ten-cylinder engines. Now, near the end of the internal combustion era, BMW has found the perfect combination - a V8 with two turbos bolted onto it. Just like BMW promised it would never build an M SUV, it went ahead and turbocharged an M model. The F10 was the first turbocharged M5, and we'll never forget that relentless surge of power the first time we launched it off the line in 2011. Like everyone else, we wondered, "where the hell do you go from here, BMW?".

As it turns out, the answer to that is to upgrade the 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 to give it 600 hp and 553 lb-ft of torque, or 617 hp in the case of the Competition. Crucially, you also add all-wheel drive because 550 hp going to the rear wheels only was already verging on absolutely bonkers. The current M5 has AWD because it needs it and because it enhances the driving experience, but more on that later. All-wheel drive is the golden standard in the segment these days, with competitors like the Porsche Panamera and Audi RS6 all sending their power to all four corners of the car.

Thanks to the added traction provided by an additional set of contact patches, the M5 can get from 0 to 60 mph in a claimed 3.2 seconds. Add the Competition Package, and it will get there in 3.1 seconds. Or that's what BMW claims. The M5 has been independently tested numerous times, and it turns out BMW was underquoting its own car. A smooth launch results in a sub-three-second sprint time, and the M5 will happily do it all day long. Our fears that turbocharging and AWD would ruin this automotive icon were unfounded. Without the M Driver's Package, the top speed of the car is limited to 155 mph. Include this $2,500 package, and BMW will remove the limiter, allowing the vehicle to go all the way to 190 mph.

Both the standard M5 and Competition use the same 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 engine. The torque is rated at 553 lb-ft in both cars, though the Comp's torque band is 170 rpm wider. In the standard M5, you get 600 hp at 6,000 rpm, and in the Comp, it's 617 hp, also at 6,000 rpm.

It's a beautifully tech-rich engine, sinfully hidden underneath a chintzy carbon-fiber engine cover. Remove it, and you can spend a full day exploring the innards to see how BMW managed to nearly remove turbo lag from the equation. In short, the M5 has cross-bank exhaust manifolds, reducing the distance exhaust gases have to travel to the turbochargers. Along the way, the gases are cooled as well, resulting in a further boost of power. The M5's engine also has an additional engine oil cooler and transmission oil cooler for track driving.

八档ZF变速器换档是交配的范围h we were skeptical about at first. Like the seven-speed used in the M5's predecessor, dual-clutch transmissions were invented to reduce shift time. Fact is, ZF's eight-speed provides shift times that are virtually just as fast. Some road testers miss the neck-snapping jerking every time you grab a new gear. Call us old-fashioned, but we kind of like not being kicked in the back when we shift from second to third.

Like the engine, suspension, and AWD system, the gearbox also has its own driving modes - Efficient, Sport, or Track. All of them do exactly as they say, with Efficient providing effortless, rapid shifts. The Sport setting will hang on to a gear to provide instant access to the torque band while Track (Competition package only) dials it all the way to 11. In the gearbox's fiercest setting, you still get a little bit of that kick feedback, most likely engineered into the 'box to make it feel more like a dual-clutch. The new BMW M3/M4 also ditched the dual-clutch setup in favor of the eight-speed automatic, and in both cases, the car is better for it.

The M5 isn't going to win any eco awards in the USA, but it's at least on par within its segment. According to the EPA, the M5 and M5 Competition will consume 15/21/17 mpg city/highway/combined. The 2023 Audi RS6 Avant and RS7 come with similar EPA-estimated gas mileage figures of 14/21/17 mpg.

The BMW comes standard with a 20.1-gallon tank, resulting in an estimated driving range of 341 miles.