Automotive Engineering - February 2025 - 16

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2025 BMW M5 First Drive: Stuffed like schnitzel with PHEV tech
The 2025 BMW M5 easily paces
the Autobahn with speeds up to
190 mph (306 km/h) with the
optional M Driver's Package.
Before BMW designed its first in-house
car, the 3/20 of 1932, the Bavarian manufacturer
had built a reputation on lightness.
The company's air-cooled radial
aircraft engines avoided the weightier
liquid-cooling demands of inline or V
designs. And where Jazz Age motorcycle
makers often drilled holes in components
to reduce mass, BMW's riveted
steel frames were lighter by design.
For the redesigned 2025 BMW M5
sedan, and most electrified performance
cars, lightness is no longer the
top priority. The plug-in hybrid M5 that
we romped through Germany weighs a
hernia-inducing 5,390 lbs (2,445 kg).
That's more than the all-electric i5 that
shares its architecture, allowing BMW to
build ICE, PHEV and electric 5-Series on
one flexible assembly line. The M5
Touring wagon verges on 5,500 lbs
(2,495 kg), as much as some versions of
BMW's largest X7 SUV.
Consolations include 717 hp and 738
lb-ft (1001 Nm). That's a crushing high
for an M5 that BMW's vaunted M performance
division has built since 1984
across seven generations. Even BMW's
finest 4.4-L, twin-turbo V8 can deliver
only part of that, with 577 hp and 553
lb-ft (782 Nm). The rest comes from an
electric motor integrated into an eightspeed,
paddle-shifted automated gear16
February 2025
box and an underfloor battery with 14.8
kWh of usable juice.
The permanently excited motor adds
194 hp and 207 lb-ft (281 Nm) of excitement.
A patented pre-gearing stage
boosts electric torque to 332 lb-ft (450
Nm) at the input shaft during automated
launches, accompanied by an all-caps
" LAUNCH " in a sharp head-up display.
BMW's estimate of a 3.4-second
sprint to 60 mph (97 km/h) is typically
uber-conservative. The previous M5,
with about 100 fewer horses and no
electric boost, did it in 2.9 seconds. Top
speed is 190 mph (306 km/h) with the
optional M Driver's Package. We saw an
easy-peasy 170 mph (274 km/h) on the
Autobahn near Munich before traffic
ahead called for a throttle lift that sent
regenerative juice to the battery.
In mellower moments, the sedan and
wagon drove on electricity alone at
The 2025 M5 comes with Michelin's new Pilot Sport S 5 tires.
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
BOTH IMAGES: BMW

Automotive Engineering - February 2025

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive Engineering - February 2025

Automotive Engineering - February 2025 - INTRO
Automotive Engineering - February 2025 - SPONSOR
Automotive Engineering - February 2025 - CVR1
Automotive Engineering - February 2025 - CVR2
Automotive Engineering - February 2025 - 1
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Automotive Engineering - February 2025 - CVR3
Automotive Engineering - February 2025 - CVR4
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