There is a certain kind of automotive skepticism that greets every new M5. The previous generation was too heavy. The one before that had too much torque. The current G90, with its twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V8 working alongside a 197-horsepower electric motor, was supposed to attract the same criticism. It has not. It is, by most measures, the most complete automobile BMW M has ever produced.
Numbers That Demand Attention
The combined output stands at 727 horsepower and 738 lb-ft of torque. Zero to 60 miles per hour takes 3.1 seconds. These are supercar figures in a car that seats five, carries a full trunk, and on its electric-only setting will cover up to 25 miles in near silence. The engineering achievement is real, but the more important question is whether it feels real from the driver's seat.
It does. The electric motor's instant torque delivery fills the space between gear changes with a seamlessness that previous turbocharged M5 generations never achieved. Throttle response feels immediate in a way that pure combustion engines have increasingly struggled to match, because the electric component handles the first demand for power while the V8 builds boost. The result is not a hybrid that softens the experience. It is a hybrid that tightens it.
The Weight Question, Answered Honestly
At 4,762 pounds in standard specification, the G90 M5 is not a light car. BMW acknowledges this, and the engineers have clearly spent significant time working around the number. The xDrive all-wheel-drive system distributes power with enough precision that the weight becomes relevant only during transitions — direction changes and mid-corner weight shifts — where physics cannot entirely be engineered away. On fast, sweeping roads, the car moves with an authority that belies its mass.
The M-specific rear-axle steering helps considerably. At low speed it turns against the front axle to reduce the turning circle. At higher speeds it turns with the fronts, effectively lengthening the wheelbase and adding stability to the kind of corner entry that would unsettle lesser sedans. On a closed circuit, this system is the difference between confidence and caution.
The Cabin Sets a New Standard
Inside, the M5 offers the current generation BMW iDrive system with M-specific displays, carbon fiber accents, and sport seats that hold occupants firmly without punishing them on longer runs. The curved display arrangement is clean and logically organized. Nothing feels like a concession to cost.
The M5 is not a car that rewards searching for its limits on public roads. Its limits are genuinely remote. What it rewards is the kind of confident, committed driving that the best performance sedans have always encouraged — with the added dimension that it can be entirely civilized when civility is what the situation requires. That combination, delivered at this level of execution, is what makes the G90 M5 significant.
