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It’s the story of the very lucky few who can own a
P10.250-million vehicle with two more cylinders and twice the
displacement of a modern Formula One car. It’s the story of a
souped-up four-door sedan that can blow the doors off almost
anything on the road today. It’s the story of how a perfectly
timed phone call landed us with the M5 for a weekend. If there’s
any reason to believe in the Almighty, then it’s this car.
The call came in one Wednesday
afternoon. The next day, we arrived to collect the M5. With such a
reputation, we half-expected the M5 to look like the devil on
wheels. It’s quite a surprise to find out how normal it really
looks. The typical German restraint meant it looked nothing like the
bulging and be-winged tuner cars from Japan. Besides the side gills
and quad-exhaust pipes, you’d swear it was nothing more than a
regular 5 Series with the M Sport body kit. Lightweight 19-inch
alloys are standard, but again, these can be ticked as an option
with just about any BMW sedan.
But badges and subtle differences
aside, it doesn’t really warrant much more attention. So why in
the world would you pay twice the price of a 530d for? Well, how’s
507 horsepower for starters?
Shoehorned into the M5’s engine
bay is a unique 5.0-liter V10 engine. It’s unique in the sense
that a 10-cylinder layout isn’t exactly used that often compared
to other engine types. Engine manufacturing efficiency says V8s are
practical since they can be used flexibly in more products other
than a super sedan, while a V12 can be made by grafting two existing
V6 engines together.
On the other hand, a V10 is
especially made, so given the circumstances, BMW had better gotten
this right.
The push-button start sequence
serves as an appetizer to the free-flowing burble that comes after.
If you’re a fan of sports car racing, the M5’s engine sounds
something that came from that. Playing around with such a huge
displacement, BMW engineers could have afforded to be lazy and give
the M5 a low maximum engine speed. But instead the engine peaks at a
nice 8,000rpm.
The mere potency of the engine
(507 horsepower at 7,750rpm, 520 Newton-meters at 6,100rpm) is
already a recipe for embarrassing high-speed moments. But in our
case, it happened even before we had left the parking lot.
That’s because where a regular
manual or automatic shifter would be, a short stubby aluminum thing
protruded. It’s BMW’s Semi-Manual Gearbox (SMG) shifter.
SMG is a system that incorporates
a manual gearbox (in this case, a seven-speed unit) with a
computer-controlled clutch. In theory, it should provide the best of
what a manual and an automatic gearbox offer—responsive but easy
to operate and convenient without being sluggish. But that’s
assuming one knows how to work it.
Convinced that we’re tech-savvy
enough to operate the SMG, we skipped the BMW staff’s demo and
tried to work it ourselves. After trying for five minutes to get the
M5 to move, we swallowed our pride and called the BMW guy back.
That’s when we found out that the correct way to operate the SMG
is to think of it as a manual.
BMW even made the conscious
effort to remind its clients. Even without a clutch pedal, the
orientation is similar to that of a car with a manual box where the
brake pedal is small and at the center. To get the car moving in any
direction, it’s key to always bring the car to a complete
standstill, shift to neutral and slot into plus or minus—just like
a manual.
With the embarrassing moment out
of the way, it was time to stretch the M5’s legs. Beside the SMG
shifter, there’s a ‘Power’ button that re-maps the engine to
get one of three outputs: 470, 500, or 507 horsepower. Don’t ask
me why, but by default the engine pumps out only 470 peak
horsepower. The 500 figure is reached when the button is engaged,
while the full 507 is achieved when the “Sport” mode is
activated. Give the M5 any stretch of road—any length—and it
easily obliterates it in the blink of an eye. We’re not fond of
breaking speed limits, but it’s simply too tempting in the M5.
Such ballistic straight-line
speed requires equally surefooted stopping power, and the M5 obliges
with its family pizza-sized vented and cross-drilled disc brakes.
Despite our constant on-road Looney Tunes behavior, the gigantic
brakes halted the M5 each and ever time.
Handling is equally assuring with
the communicative steering. And if an embarrassing moment does
occur, the M5 comes fully loaded with active safety features—like
Dynamic Stability Control, Dynamic Traction Control and Dynamic
Brake Control.
With the 5 Series as its base, it
isn’t surprising that the M5 manages to balance sports car finesse
with great riding comfort. It’s a given that some suspension
compliance has been traded for crisp handling, but the ride is still
on the permissible side of luxury.
The high-revving, high-output
nature of the V10 can be calm and collected when you need it to be.
But the same can’t be said of the SMG gearbox. Even when
constantly thinking of it as a manual, it’s still hard to get the
SMG to shift smoothly. On higher speeds, say 60kph, it’s not too
noticeably jerky but on anything slower, the M5 shifts like a dog.
If you’ve ridden with student drivers, you’ll know exactly how
the M5 feels. Most of the time, the gear engagement is so abrupt it
causes the car to horse around.
BMW says that the SMG learns to
adapt to the user’s driving style, so it probably means this
particular M5 may have been to a lot of track days or is perhaps
owned by one Robert Kubica. For smoother takeoffs, the M5 normally
starts on second gear, so always remember to shift manually to first
gear when going up ramps, or else the M5 will stall.
Although the M5 isn’t as
perfect as BMW would want you to believe, it still personally makes
me fire on all cylinders. Owning a super sedan during this time of
fuel crisis may seem like a bit juvenile, but hey, at least it’s
exponentially more practical than opting for a two-door sports car.
Sure, the M5 only returns 4.10 kilometers to a liter, and requires
preventive maintenance every 2,500 kilometers. But it still manages
to remain high on my dream machine list.
Though I surely cannot afford one
in this lifetime (or even in the next), at least for a couple of
days, I felt like I hit the jackpot.
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