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Article and video:: Weekend with the BMW M5 E60 [From 2005]

72K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  RAC Monolites 
#1 · (Edited)
Enjoy, an old one but still good!

Here!

Full pictorial report here.

Enjoy!


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A little over a year after the Geneva Auto Salon 2004 and the launch of the "Concept M5" BMW have started to deliver the new M5 to customers in Europe and Middle East and of course we wanted to find out, as soon as possible, how good the new M5 really is and if it could live up to it´s M5-badge. The specification surely sounds promising:
<big>5-litre V10-engine producing 507 bhp and 520 NM of Torque.
Redline at 8250 rpm.
7-speed SMGIII gearbox which changes gears 20 % faster than the previous generation SMGII.


Our plan was to drive a E60 M5 from Stockholm, Sweden to the Swedish supersportscar manufacturer Koenigsegg on Friday evening. The following Saturday we had scheduled a factory presentation as well as to use their 1,6 km long landing strip to test and document the E60 M5 vs. M5 E39 of 2000 model year (5 liter V8 with 400 HP) and the E34 M5 Touring (340 HP straight-6 with a displacement of 3,8 liters) of 1995 model year. Later that evening the plans was to drive to Denmarks capital Copenhagen and then on the Saturday evening back home to Stockholm.
We documented this roadtrip over these five pages, so be sure not to miss any of the five pages. This is the first page. We are sorry that the loadingtime of the pages takes time but we didn't want to cut down on image quality.
<bi>
<small>The plan for the Sunday was to go to an airfield we had rented north of Stockholm to test the dynamics as well as the straight-line performance of the M5 compared to direct competitors (Mercedes E55 AMG Kompressor) as well as exotics outside it's class, equipped with twin-turbo boxerengines as well as large-displacements V-10. </small></bi></big>
<big><big></big></big>
<small>Between these two events our goal was to experience the M5 in daily-driving conditions: city driving, motorway driving, country road driving, driving with passengers, racing against other cars, what bystanders and fellow people in traffic thought about the car etc. After such a long trip with events like two airfields and trips to another country you are sure to really know the most of a car like this. During this weekend we did not have the time to visit a track and really put the car through it's paces, but we had to save something for later!<small> </small></small>
All in all this would be a little over 2500 km roadtrip covering a third of Sweden as well as parts of Denmark. This time and distance would allow us to really experience the new M5 and learn it's SMGIII-gearbox as well as the I-drive with the M-mode menu.

<big>2,23 liter per 10 km is a consumption you should get used to in city driving. Although this was in S-mode and not in D-mode where the SMGIII chooses higher gears at lower speeds for lower fuel- consumption. Here you can see the engine oil temperature is around 90 degrees Celsius and you are free to rev the car to the limit of 8300 rpm. This can also bee seen at the changing yellow and red colored indications for maximum revs. 9878 km on the odometer which means it is broken in.</big>
We truly achieved the above mentioned goal. We were in two capitals (Stockholm and Copenhagen) as well as between five and ten smaller towns in Sweden and we drove over 2500 km between Friday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. We met several E39 M5 owners during our trip, plus owners of other high-performance vehicles, and let them experience the car to see and hear their reactions and thoughts about the new M5. We experienced the power, the "fame" of driving this rare car, the small quirks and got a good overall picture thanks to the long distance and the different environments we drove the M5 in.

The car had just under 10 000 km on the odometer when we picked it up and on our way from Stockholm we managed to break the 10 000 km limit, just missing the photo opportunity at 10 001 km. The car was painted in the BMW M3 and M5 unique Interlagos Blue with black Merino full-leather interior. The Interlagos Blue was first available on the M5 and has a purplish hint in the blue colour. It should be noted that Interlagos Blue often looks darker than it really is in the pictures and is a colour that gets much attention. The wheels are standard 19' Radialspoke 166M and standard high-gloss Shadow Line exterior trim. The interior lists are in brushed Alu Shadow.
<small><small><big><big><big><big><big><small><small>This particular car was equipped with the following options:</small></small></big></big></big></big></big></small></small>
<small><small> Glass sunroof
Park Distance Control (PDC) in front and rear
Seat Heating in rear (front standard for Sweden)
Lumbar support
Self-dimming rearmirrors
TV
Heads-up Display (HUD)
Voice Activation
Prepared for Bluetooth
Navigation Professional
CD-changer for 6 compact discs
Hi-Fi System Professional (Logic 7)
Full-leather Merino</small></small>

New price in Sweden without the options is 827 000 SEK and with these options it comes up to 1 015 500 SEK. This price might seem high but after our weekend we learned that this price is extremely competitive judging by it´s abilities and what cars it can be compared to. More on that further ahead. The first examples was just delivered to Swedish consumers and also in other countries such as Germany, Switzerland and also in the Middle East as United Arab Emirates.

We picked up the car on a Friday afternoon and went to take pictures on it on locations around Stockholm the first hours until traffic had cleared so we could drive down south. During the drive around Stockholm we immediately noticed the effect of Interlagos Blue and M5 E60 = "rock star" fame with people staring and later on cars even overtook us several times to take pictures with digital cameras and DV-videos (if you are one of these reading this please e-mail me at gustav@bmwm5.com). This is from all kinds of people: Toyotas filled with kids to Porsche 996 Turbo Convertible owners.

The picture above is slightly blurry since the driver of the M5 could not resist to feel the V-10 power.

One of the first things we noticed while driving around town is the big difference between the different EDC-modes. Especially when driving over smaller speed-bumps and on cobble-stone roads. With the EDC in Sport-mode the ride is very stiff but with Comfort-mode activated it´s actually pretty smooth. As a follower might already know the BMW M5 can have numerous different programs for the SMG-gearbox. SMG means Sequential Manual Gearbox and has a electronically operated clutch. D is automatic mode and can be set in five different stages: D1-D5. And as in cars with normal automatic gearboxes it has a kick-down function. The manual mode can be set in six different levels: S1 to S6 where S6 only can be activated when DSC (Dynamic Stability Control) is completely off.
In D-mode you immediately notice the difference between the levels. D1 is the softest setting making the M5 suitable for my 68-year old father, driving the M5 as an automatic (actually true, but after a while he tried S5 P500S mode more and more with more pushing on the on the +/-pedals...). In D1-mode the M5 could easily choose 7th gear in say 70 km/h for maximum relaxing while slowly cruising with a minimum of gearchanges and when the gearchange happened it was very soft. In D5 mode there was not a large diffference in the speed of the gearchange itself (as opposed to S-mode) but more that the gearchanges where higher up in the rev-band compared to the D1-mode and it stayed longer in gears and revved higher. So the D-program might at first glance unnecessary but with this mode it can be a direct competitor to the automatic "competitors" cars without loosing the enthusiasts who will use the S5 and S6 modes exclusively.
Also I can confess that after a day of racing with exotics (and winning) it is nice to just put back the seatrest some degrees and put in D1-mode. Also it's better for your drivers license... But the more we drove the car the less we used the D-mode because the S-mode changes gears almost as smooth and you don´t have to worry about that the gearbox will select the wrong gear or hesitate when accelerating. The main-reason is of course that the S-mode is so much more fun and the gearshifts are exact shift after shift, race after race. The throttle blips while down-shifting sounds and feelsgreat. The throttle blips are louder the more you have the gas pedal pressed down it seems like. In anycase, if you are driving for example in S5 mode with S500 and driving on smaller roads in a town close to buildings you cna be surprsied how loud those blips are sometimes. Loud enough to make bystanders turn around. So sometimes it can be good to have S1 only for make these blips less prominent.
Below some of the pictures we took during the Friday afternoon in the Stockholm area are shown:


<small><big>The wheels are not as on the E39 M5 in Chrome Shadow and thus have not any sign of chrome on them. I think they looks very good and really enhances the looks of the M5. Chromed kidneyy as on the 545i and the diesel-models. On the picture above you barely see the black inserts on the M5-unique rearview-mirrors. The front wheels incl. standard tires for Sweden weights 24,75 kg and the rear wheels weights 26,4 kg. Keep in mind that these are 19 inch wheels and 285 mm wide in the rear.</big>
</small><small></small>



Interlagosblue is not the colour for anyone who wants to be discrete. It's purplish tone might make people look at the M5 because of the colour and not the car. However the more you lived with the colour the more you liked it and I would say this would be my choise among the standard M5 colours along with a BMW Individual interior.

The M5 is offered in these standard colours:

  • <big><big><small>Interlagos Blue (M3 and M5 unique)
    </small>
    </big></big>
  • <big><big><small>Sepang Bronze (M5 unique)
    </small>
    </big></big>
  • <big><big><small>Silverstone II (M5 unique)
    </small>
    </big></big>
  • <big><big><small>Alpine White</small></big></big>
  • <big><big><small>Black Sapphire Metallic</small></big></big>
  • <big><big><small>Silver Grey Metallic</small></big></big>
<small>and if you would like you can order these special exteriour colours from BMW M departement BMW Individual:
</small>
  • <small>Sepia Metallic</small>
  • <small>Messing
    </small>
  • <small>Diamant</small>
  • <small>Malachitgreen</small>
  • <small>Blue Onyx</small>
  • <small>Carbon Black</small>
<small>For any other BMW Individual, BMW colour or any other manufactrers colour BMW Individual coiuld make produce this but my guess is that it will come to a higher cost than the above mentioned BMW Individual colours.</small>


<small><big style="font-weight: bold;">B</big><small><big>MW's judgement not to have foglights did not do the the M5 no harm since they were hardly used for the correct occations anyway, by judging on the BMW you see in traffic. </big></small></small><big>
</big>






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<small><small><big>We did not want to take the ferry to Finland.

</big>
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The M5 looks good from the rear-side. I think the rear-lights looks alot better than the new 3-series.



Alot of power and a narrow road. From outside the new M5 is a very big car but the moment you drive the first meters it is like a nimble sportscar. BMW have done an incredible job to camoflauge the weight of this car. We were lucky and avoided several deers on this small road. If you spot one deer a good thing is to take it easier ahead. The new M5 retains it's predecessors weight of 1755 kg (DIN) thanks to several light-weight constuctions. However it does not retains it's predecessors amount of power...


Braking from higher speeds on uneven surfaces like the road above is no drama at all.


To illustrate the size of the new M5 we parked it next to a Ferrari F355. The M5 looks like it could run over this Ferrari. Here we used the M5 electronically folding mirrors button first introduced on the previous generation E39 M5.

With the new M5 BMW have acheived to build both a sportier and a more comfortable than it's predecessor.

<small style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The The darker it got outside the more that got reflected in the colour of the car. </small>

<small><small> <big>Naturally we had to stop to look at the favourite TV-show for a few hours...
</big>
</small>
</small>

<small><small><big>Good news: You sit in the new M5 with a V-10 with over high-revving 500 HP and you see an Audi RS6 avant. Bad news: you have lost your license several times, it's a 30 km/h limit in the city, your in the city centre and there are "Polis" everywhere. And they really would like to see that new M5 closer</big>.</small></small>

<small style="font-weight: bold;"><small><big>Here we parked the M5 near a Topazblue M3 E46</big>.
</small></small>

<small style="font-weight: bold;"><small><big>You really noticed the different designs of the M3 and the M5 and how much larger the E60 5-series is compared to the E46 3-series</big>.</small></small>
<small>Our original plan on the Friday afternoon was to try to show the new M5 to the King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf. Although we were quite sure that the chance was very small there could be one small possiblity, since our King is an avid BMW M5 enthusiast who have owned over four BMW M5 staring with the first generation E28 M5 in the mid-eighties. I have personally seen him in his LeMans Blue E39 BMW M5 with black exclusive interiour on his way to the Royal Palace where he works. I have also met him on one occation where he just had paid a visit to BMW Sweden to see when the new BMW M5 would be available. This was in the summer of 1997.</small>

So considering his interest in BMW M5 I thought I should ask if I could stop by and let him see the car. My guess was that it was a clear "Thanks, but no thanks" but you never know if you never ask. I also asked him if he wanted a honorary membership of bmwm5.com and m5board.com. So I asked and got a polite no. However I would be surprised if he would choose any other car than the E60 M5 to replace his current LeMans Blue BMW M5.

<small>The King of Sweden have "with interest taken part of your letter..." and "...have decided to say no to the friendly offers." Oh well, you will never know if you never ask.<small>
</small>

"The Royal Palace

On assignment from His Royal Highness the King I would like to thank you for your letter with a friendly offer to show a BMW M5 of 2005 model year and the offer of a honorary membership of m5board.com and bmwm5.com.

The King, who with interest have taken part of your letter, have asked me to confrim via telephone that He have decided to say no to the friendly offers.

Best regards"
</small>


Naturally the honour guard stood at attention when they saw a new blue M5 pass by: at first sight they thought it was the King. For the photo they were more relaxed.


The wheels, the aerodynamically optimized M mirrors and side gills clearly underlines that this the the most competent four-door sedan there is in the world today.




We did not want to enter the inner courtyard uninvited.












Here is the M5 in the street of Old Town in Stockholm with houses and streets dating back more than 500 years. Luckily we had EDC in Comfort as well as P500 setting (not P500S) when driving on these small roads.



Scenery of Stockholm as seen form the southern parts of the city center. A dull spring afternoon.




We were lucky it did not start to rain this afternoon.


Here you clearly see the aggressive presence of the M5. Also that Interlagosblue can have a darker tone when the sun is not shining on the colour.


Here we have two types of amusementparks. The best one is open 24/7 and seats five passengers...

Reverse is engaged the same way as a manual BMW: left and then up. Yes, the E60 5-series got unusually bright lights when reversing.

A high mounted center brake LED light for fast feedback of the drivers intentions. This M5 has not been equipped with the no-cost option rear spoiler for higher stability during higher-speeds.

Navigation Professional has a split-screen function, just as on the 16/9 Navigation system in the E39. This is very useful and comes in handy for having one arrow-view for the passenger and one for the driver ;-) Here we have 700 km to go until our destination in the south of Sweden. Life could be worse! Also, finally we managed to start a new destination to get rid of "Do not use motorways" option.


0,8 liters of oil in the engine when we started.

<small><small><small>The M5 needs air more than it needs the foglights. It can be seen below on the cut-through computer aided drawings.</small></small></small><small></small>

The M5 needs the double amount of air as the previous generation E39 M5 as well as double the amount the 545i needs.





<small><small><small><small>On the next page we are on our way to the south of Sweden and Ängelholm, where Koenigsegg is located.
</small></small>
</small></small>







After our photosession we started our drive towards the South of Stockholm. It was getting late and we had a long way to go but in an M5 that´s no problem at all. Unfortunately we were about to pass some of the most police-filled areas in Sweden such as Nyköping and Norrköping where it seems like the police only have one thing to do: catch speeders and they do that with joy. Especially when they find BMW from the M-range: you will get a summaric stamp when driving a M5, they almost in all cases think: "notorious speeder".

Before leaving we did the a test for our American friends: The "Large McDonalds Cola drink holder test" passed flawlessly. We did not eat anything inside the car naturally. On the picture above you can also see parts of the Alcantara headliner, which is included in the full leather-option, as well as the black full-leather on the door-sides as well as on the dash.


<small><small>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]During the driving we began to like the heads-up display (HUD) more and more. Besides showing speed and navigation instructions it also had BMW M unique "M-View" display with race-car inspired rev-graph and gear indication in perfect view, which is activated on the picture above. The HUD also display check-control messages.
</small></small>
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S5, 7th gear and around 150 km/h. Enough not to consume too much fuel but also enough to loose your license for a few months in Sweden. Limit is interestingly enough still 110 km/h on Sweden's highways which are among the safest in the world as well as less congested with 9 million people living in an geographical area that is a lot larger than most of other European nations with tens of millions of more inhabitants. Sweden is the worlds third safest country when it comes to traffic incidents and highways contribute to a minority of the injuries / deaths in traffic. On the map you see the Nordic countries of Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland as well as the Baltic countries. [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Because of the day-light we set the I-drive brightness on max. This was interesting since our faces was lightened up like we would be in a movie when driving on dark highway. It is possible to turn the screen off but even though we did choose to do that the screen still were backlit, and that was annoying. We would like to be able to turn off the screen completely. Otherwise, the screen is nice and clear with good graphics. Since this car was equipped with Navigation Professional it had the 8,8” screen instead of the 6,5” screen that is standard on the Swedish market. The navigation, DVD-based, works fine and is quick to calculate routes and especially to recalculate new routes when you don't do as it says, and the zoom in / zoom out function is very quick compared to the old CD-based navigation systems. You use the I-drive controller to zoom in and out. The instructions are very clear and with the HUD you don´t need to take your eyes off the road since the instructions is shown in the windscreen, as we mentioned before. Very good.

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The HUD-settings are controlled by the I-Drive: if you check M-View button the M-View will show on the HUD whenever you push the M-Mode button. Also the HUD can almost exclusively be seen by the driver and is close to impossible to see for passengers. Also, it is good for performance: with SMGIII the hands are on the wheel and with HUD the sight is on the road. In the bottom of the screen you see the information for RDS (Radio Data System), the European information system for radios. FYI it is programmed to choose radio-programs about Children / Knowledge. Correct, we didn´t have the time or energy to learn us the radio settings - or even listen to the radio!

We didn´t have any issues with the I-drive but we had some problems with how the menu-system works. The navigation-menus are not always logical and it feels more advanced than in needs to be. It actually feels like a step back compared to the navigation system in the E39 in this aspect, and also more advanced to use than Mercedes and Porsche´s current systems. For example, if you have programmed a route to not include motorways and then want to change the route to include motorways you have to you have to enter a new destination and choose what kind of roads you want to drive on before choosing start guidance. A funny thing about the navigation is how BMW have changed from ”please make a u-turn” to ”please make a LEGAL u-turn”.

On the motorway this car is really good. It feels like you could drive forever without getting tired. The car feels very stable in all speeds and the steering is perfectly weighted, thanks to the servotronic which reduces the servo effect considerably at speed. In lower speeds or when the car is parked the steering is light to make parking easier. With the EDC in Comfort-mode the suspension feels very comfortable, especially for a car with 19”-wheels, with good body-control. It absorbs bumps nicely, especially at highway-speeds, with just a muffled sound from the suspension. It may feel a little bit stiffer in the backseat than in the front, but only marginal. Here is a quote from a Mercedes C32 AMG and Audi RS4-owner about the suspension after a ride in the M5:
”When he pushed the comfort button, the car turned into something similar to the Mercedes E55 AMG in just a second, the perfect autobahn cruiser taking the turns really softly.”



Naturally we missed when the odometer passed 10 000 km. I told the co-driver to "Brake!" but we didnt caught it in time. 7th gear and S5 mode, one bar more for S6 mode on the display. Fuel-consumption is coming down to below 20 liters/100 km. This is getting cheap!

So, our first visit to the gas station and this would not be our last. In a bit of over 2500 km we fueled up 10 times which is a small price to pay by judging of the fun we had. 600 SEK is it at this gas station for 55 liters.

The M5 is also a quiet car, especially at higher speeds. At lower speeds there is some tire-rumble due to the wide tires, 285/35 at rear, but the sound remains pretty much the same at higher speeds too so it´s no problem talking to your passengers without raising your voice even while cruising at very high speeds around and over 200 km/h. So, the M5 is a very comfortable car and capable of very long trips without any fuss. The only annoying thing on long journeys is the fuel-consumption which makes the range pretty short. The fuel-tank is 70 litres of which 15 litres is the reserve so the warning for the reserve comes up rather quickly. But, you don't buy an M5 to have a frugal car so let´s blame the fuel-tank for being to small instead of blaming the incredible V10-engine´s thirst for fuel. After all we were prepared for that this V-10 monster would consume some fuel!

Regarding that V10-engine, it is as good as you would expect a BMW M engine to be. The only thing that is disapointing is the sound at idle; it´s muted and doesn´t sound very powerful. In fact the sound at idle is not very far from a modern diesel-engine. But if you stand behind the car when it's fired up with a cold engine the sound is alright. From the moment you start driving the car this problem disappears because once the engine get some revs the sound changes into something very nice. It is completely different from the sound in the V8-engined M5 E39 and I would say the E60 M5 sounds better and louder than a stock E39 M5. But how does the engine feel while driving? Well, it feels fantastic, especially considering that to you are in a big 5-series sedan. It's character is closer to the classic straight-six engines in the E28 and E34 M5 than to the V8-engined E39. It is extremely rev-happy and the more you rev, the harder it pulls. There have been some concern from E39 M5-owners that the V10-engine would feel weak at lower revs since the maximum torque of 520 NM is produced at 6100 rpm but that´s not a problem at all. The V10 is smooth and has plenty of power everywhere and it's no problem giving full throttle in 7th gear at lower speeds, the car just takes off without hesitation. There is no need to be in the lower revband if you want to accelerate fast since the SMG-gearbox works flawlessly and it´s so easy and so much fun to change gears. There´s no doubt that this car was developed to use the SMG-gearbox from the ground and up. Everyone who drove the car during our test didn´t feel the need for a manual version even though most of us are fans of manual gearboxes. The SMG is that good.



During daylight there is beautiful scenery along this lake.

But after driving on the motorways for a while we wanted to explore the most important aspect of an M5; it's ability to transform from a family sedan to the ultimate sports-saloon which has made the M5 so famous since it´s launch 20 years ago, as model year 1985. So we left the motorway behind us to drive on some smaller, windling roads. With a press of the M-button on the steering-wheel the car transforms into something as close to a sportscar as a saloon-car can get. The M-Drive button on the M-Five is programmable and we had chosen the power in P500 Sport, S5 gearchanges, the DSC in MDM (M Dynamic Mode) and the EDC in sport-mode. The difference is clearly noticable, sure enough to get a "Wow!" from someone who tests the car. The P500 Sport power-mode works similar to the sport-button in the E39 M5, the throttle response gets sharper and in the case of the E60 M5 it gets really sharp. Actually, there already is a big difference in throttle response between the P400 and P500 modes so the difference between P400 and P500 Sport is like night and day. For city-driving P500 Sport can be a little too aggressive so the different modes are actually needed. The S5-mode of the gearbox is the second fastest shift-mode. To choose the fastest mode, S6, you have to deactivate DSC completely and that seems a little unnecessary on a road with traffic when your not completely familiar with the car. But with MDM activated the car can really be pushed without an intruding DSC but you still have the security of a DSC-system if the car is pushed a little to hard. Good choise on a borrowed car. With the EDC in Sport, both lights are lit on the EDC-button, the suspension gets really stiff and the car feels very tight. The steering responds to every little input and turn-in is great. I have never driven a car with a kerb-weight of over 1800 kg that handles like this, not even close. If I didn´t know I would have guessed that it weighs about the same as an E28 M5 because that´s how light it feels when driving on curvy roads. This car alot of fun driving on these kind of roads. All different parts of the car works in perfect harmony with each other. There has been some criticism of the brakes in a couple of magazines but we had no problem at all with them on this car. They worked perfect, very powerful with nice pedal-feel. If the car was not borrowed and we would be sure not to have oncoming traffic on these smaller roads it would not be a problem to do nice and controlled powerslides through the curves. For that I would have the MDM off and therefore DSC completely off. But let's wait for that until we are on an airfield. Since we were heading for two airfields we felt it was not worth the risk if pushing it on normal roads, especially the first day.


Time flies when driving on smaller roads since it´s so much fun but unfortunately we had to head back out on the highway again to reach our destination in the south of Sweden before the sunrise.


Good reading lights for the rear-seats. This M5 was equipped with rear-seat heating as well which also worked fine.

Being a co-driver and passenger meant time to play / learn the I-drive. This BMW M5 was prepared for Bluetooth so I established a secure connection between the Sony Ericsson K700i Bluetooth-enabled phone and BMW M5 Bluetooth-option. It came up on the cell-phone as "BMW 59369".

The name of my phone was "K700i".

First you have to activate Bluetooth. When it´s active, as on the picture above, the stereo mutes when there is an incoming call and you can also call from the I-drive menu. Whenever the car is approached with a Bluetooth phone you have established a secure connection with (the 4-digit code).

Cup-holder test two: passed! In the E60 BMW have thankfully placed the cup-holders in front of the air-vents so that it´s possible to cool the drinks.
A few kilometers down south it began to get dark and that is when you start to notice the nice dark interior of the M5 with the white-light illuminated tachos with red needels and the HUD. Here we have activated M-drive as you can see by the green light with an M in it. The M-drive have also activated MDM, yellow light, along with M-View on the HUD. So revcounter instead of directions via the navigation as in normal HUD-mode. The white lights aroudn the dials was a surprise considering BMW tradition of orange lights.



Even the paddles +/- signs are illuminated. A very nice touch!

In true Motorsport-tradition the needles of the dials are red. It should be noted that the first M-cars had white needles as standard BMW-cars. The classic E30 M3 was the first M-car to have red needles. Even at highway-speeds between 140 km7h and 220 km/h you enjoyed using the manual mode of the SMG, instead of using the autmatic mode (D1-D5).

The M5 isn´t responsible for the fire.





Destination reached! Our original plan was to go to our summerhouse but the plans changed so we stayed at M5 Messageboard member DavidS house in the south of Sweden. He is the owner of a LeMans Blue M5 of model year 2000, as seen in the picture above. Here we also met up with M5 Messageboard member Ashok who had flown down from London to Copenhagen to meet us just for this weekend. The weather was nice too, perfect for a at day at Koenigsegg!




For two persons the M5 offers an excess of luggagespace.


Here we are on Saturday morning packing our bags and changing to summertires on the E39 M5. Our plan was to meet up a third BMW M5 owner and the Koenigsegg Sales Manager. Of course we arranged to meet at the closest BMW dealer to Koenigsegg, Paulssons Bil in Ängelholm.



This M5 had the standard M-seats with electrical backrests, backrest width, for-and-aft, height and thigh adjustment. Both the driver seat and the passenger seat had memory and angle adjustment as well. The seats are comfortable yet supportive with good support on both longer journeys and on curvy roads. The picture above is with backrest width set to maximum, which it always resumes to after you take the ignition key to position 0 or when it is taken out. The same goes for the steering wheel which goes in and up as far as it can go when the key is in position 0 or out of the lock. This is to make it easier to get in and out of the car. Regarding the ignition, the M5 has comfort-start which means it´s not necessary to hold the key in the start-position. Just like on the E38 750i/iL.




Above the backrest is set to minimum width for excellent support while cornering, it´s a large difference. As an option you can order the M Multifunction seats which adjusts both backrest width and side support independently in each driving situation, the automatic adjustment being effected, inter alia, according to lateral acceleration and steering angle. Another feature when ordering those seats in combination with full-leather is that the backsides of the seats are upholstered in leather too which is not the case with the standard M-seats.

M5 E60 as seen from an E39 M5. During full acceleration it will be difficult to be this close for an E39 M5...





Since taste always differs we asked to get opinions from others who experienced the car during our test. Below is what Ashok, owner of a 2001 E39 M5 with a E60 M5 on order, thought about the car:

"I flew in to join the M5 crew late (very late) on Friday night. Thanks to DavidS for putting up with me for two days. Gustav and Mr. Janne arrived in the E60 even later with tales of how great the car was. My experience with the car would have to wait until Saturday morning.


Nice and early the next day, the E60 and E39 were parked side by side which gave us an opportunity to compare the two cars. Interlagos is certainly a much louder colour than the LeMans Blue it replaces and some owners who have ordered it without seeing it are in for a surprise. The new car also appears much larger than the old car, which is no bad thing for me
with a wife and two small boys to accomodate. Inside, everyone agreed that the aluminium trim was cheap and nasty - not a very good start then.

Gustav handed me the keys and things got even worse. Turning the key I was expecting to hear an urgent V-10 under the hood but instead the car sounds like a diesel at idle - oh dear.

Never mind, it was time to drive. First impressions were very good. The SMG is truly instinctive and the shift speeds can be programmed in myriad ways. I soon found a setting I was happy with and certainly wouldn't want to go back to a manual after this. The heads-up display (HUD) was also very easy to live with and not at all intrusive. Only the I-drive based navigation gave any difficulty, but after a few minutes I managed to master a basic understanding.

Out on the highway the car is simply breathtaking. Overtaking is effortless as the engine works with the gearbox to delivery the desired results. Simply put your foot down and it shifts automatically from 7th to 4th. I especially liked the throttle blip whenever I shifted down manually. Even though torque figures are down from the V8, the way the power is delivered via the SMG gearbox dispelled any reservations I may have had.

On the track, my favourite feature has to be Launch Control. Sure it get's jerky when you accelerate in S6 (fastest) mode, but that's part of the experience.

I'd certainly recommend that you choose you colour & trim combinations carefully, then fit a decent aftermarket exhaust. Overall, however, this is a very impressive piece of machinery that left a super big grin on my face."







Three generations of M5´s meeting up near the Koengisegg facilites. Interlagos Blue, LeMans Blue and Avus Blue. The wheels on the E60 M5 suit the M5´s design perfectly.



Here we are at Koenigseggs facilities. There we got an excellent tour of the complex process of bulding a state-of-the art supersportscar almost totally made our of carbon fibre. Koenigsegg recently broke the world speed record from McLaren F1 with 388 km/h top speed at Prototipo in Nardo. A detailed report from Koenigsegg can be seen in the end of this report. The Koenigsegg facilities were at the old fighter jet squadrons airbase and recently got closed down some €20 million renovation. So thanks to Koenigsegg we had access to state of the art runways for a day of unlimited fun.






So our first plan was to take some pictures of the M5´s next to the Koenigsegg CC-R that took the 388 km/h speed record. We decided to wash all the cars before the photosession.

Fortunately we had an M5 Touring filled with car-wash products.

The owner of this beautiful M5 Touring from 1995 also owns other classic BMW´s such as a 3,0 CS. Here is what he had to say about the new M5:



"I was impressed by the flexibilites that the new E60 M5 offers to an owner. But once you have found your 'sport'-mode and 'drive'-mode I believe one would only 'flex' between these two and press 'M' whenever the 'devil' hits you or a Porsche is inviting to a dance. The new E60 M5 is a great car with a variation reaching from a track car to a comfort-AB-cruiser. Also the 'design' is growing on me (still have difficulties with the front though), after all it is about M5-understatement and not an eye-catcher, it was never meant to be."

The CC-R sounded like an offshore racingboat, raw and powerful!




The huge former airbase had some excellent technical facilities. Here we checked the tyre pressure as well as had a look underneath the car. I'm sorry the pictures from underneath the car are a bit blurry because we were in a hurry to get to the airfield...


Very flat underneath compared to the E39 M5. NACA air inlets for cooling of the gearbox. Thanks to these intakes, cooling air is directed to the gearbox without adversely affecting the aerodynamics of the underbody.







The rear differential. The special design reduces the maximum temperature of the rear-axle with 15 degrees Celsius thanks to it's special design. The rear axle, which is made almost entirely of aluminium, is based on the integral axle from the 7 and 5 Series. This design was optimized for the M5 through the utilisation of special elastokinematics and reinforcements in all relevant areas such as supports, links and joints. For example, rubber link joints have been replaced by rigid elements. The M5’s final drive has been entirely reconceived with a view to keeping masses low and conveying power efficiently. The final drive is connected to the seven-speed SMG gearbox via a two-piece cardan shaft featuring a Hardy disc at the front, a constant-velocity joint at the rear and a centre bearing. The output shafts feature a lightweight, torsionally stiff tubular design in order to keep movable masses as low as possible. The M5 features a M Differential with variable, torque-sensing differential lock developed by the M GmbH. This M differential lock provides the vehicle with both a high level of driving stability and optimum traction, especially when driving out of bends.

806 HP and 507 HP. The Koengisegg CC-R is just 1 meter and 7 cm high.



Koenigsegg customers can land by their own plane or helicopter virtually outside the door of their facilities. Southern Sweden is known for it's flat areas and is, as Sweden in general, sparsely populated. A common question from customers from foreign contintents is "Where are all the people?"





The E39 M5, especially without the 2001 facelift, begins to show it's age compared to the new E60 M5. We know BMW M director Mr Bruhnke received a small model of a BMW M supersportscar prototype, with the wish from the employees to start considers such a BMW...

On our way to a longer airfield without planes on it. Warning for low-level flying planes. As well as low level flying cars! 70 km/h and 90 km/h.



At the airfield!


260 km/h here is no problem here with the M5. Over 300 km/h with a Ferrari Enzo is no problem either. If the carbon-brakes works properly that is...

Super-light magnesium wheels.


Grass on the hangar-roofs since it was an old military airbase.

Front and rear brake-discs on the Koenigsegg measures 362 x 32 mm. The M5 E60 has 374 x 36 mm discs at front and 370 x 24 mm discs at rear. The M5 brakes from 100 km/h in just 36 m and from 200 km/h under 140 m.



So what did Koenigsegg´s sales executive have to say after driving the E60 M5? Well, only two words:
"***king incredible"

As they say in the official BMW M5 press release: "Business express for everyday use"







































I think we managed to do a pretty good pictureshoot even though we had to leave the E28 M5 in Stockholm. At least we had better weather than when BMW did their similar pictures.


[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]We had booked a nice restaurant at the southern coast of Sweden for all of us and especially our member that flew in from London to join us. Unfortunately time flew away and we got in a hurry so we had to eat at a not soe exclusive restaurant...


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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]After dinner we headed for Denmarks capital Copenhagen along the bridge over Öresund. Here we are driving in the spring sun towards the bridge with the coast along our right side.


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Around €20 to go over the bridge one way.

<small><small>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Now we have reached Denmark.

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<small style="font-weight: bold;"><small>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The beginning of the Öresundbridge from Sweden's side.</small></small>
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<small><small>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Looking back...</small></small>
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Outside Tivoli in Copenhagen. The new price in Denmark for a E60 M5 without any options at all is 1 715 000 DKK, which is just a bit over €230 000 or exactly $300 000. Sometimes you are really happy that Sweden are dependent on Saab and Volvo sales, thereby Sweden don't have the huge taxes on cars that our neighbouring countries have. So if we thought a M5 E60 was rare in Sweden it is super-rare in Denmark. So it was quite fun to see peoples reactions when seeing the M5. Taxi-drivers did gestures when they had passengers in the car to "floor it", other cars started to race you everywhere. So we had some trouble understanding what people were yelling at us at stoplights but it was along the lines of "Ge gaaaaas!" which is similar to "Give throttle!". So there are a lot of M5 enthusiasts in Denmark for sure!
Fueling up.





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So after our tour in Denmark we met up with M5 Messageboard member Robertdn in Sweden, who owns an E39 M5, to give him a look and a ride in the new M5. Robertdn recently bought a brand new engine for his E39 M5 so you could say his car should be very healthy.

Robertdn´s M5 is Carbonblack with BBS LM wheels and also equipped with an M5-dog. In other words, it looks great. At this moment the dog didn´t know that he was about to become the fastest dog that weekend! Naturally Robertdn also had the BMW original accessory for dogs to cover the rear seats. He (the dog) is naturally very sad, as you can see in the picture, since he didn't get a ride in the new M5.

Below is what Robert thought about the new M5:


"That car is just AWESOME!!! or maybe insane is a better word! Still a little bit shaky after a short trip in the new M5...... Thanks alot Gustav, you've made april the best month so far this year!! Nice meeting you and your friend in person too! Did some highway runs to compare, did'nt stand a chance, that car just pulls away, and you can see the rear end go down for each gearshift, no matter what speed. **** I want one of those! The exterior looks very good, much better in real life than on pictures. The inside might take some getting used to with the e60 dash layout, but I liked it the moment I sat in the car, except for the empty space above the shifter. I'm really looking forward to the full report and some videoclips And again THANKS!"
Fueling up on our way back to Stockholm. Here you notice the purplish hint in the Interlagosblue colour. The more time you spent with the car the more you liked the colour. Initial impressions of some friends was "Ming-blue" but the colour at that time was especially purplish since the sun wasn´t shining when my friends made the comment.
After the weekend we noticed that we had fueled up ten times. The trip from Copenhagen to Stockholm was especially interesting: we had fuel receipts from 7, 11 and 1 o'clock in the evening...

Not too many bugs on the windscreen. Apparently that depends on the time of day you are travelling.

Since this is what can happen after a sunnier evening, we were glad we didn't have to remove a similar amount of bugs from the E60 M5. Above is a 1996 M3 3,2 Limo after a high-speed trip from southern Sweden back to Stockholm.

The gear-knob is illuminated as well, just as in the E34 and E39 M5.

Back in Stockholm again. Only a couple of hours left until we had to get up to drive to Lunda airstrip where we would meet up against some healthy competition.





After we arrived at three a.m. on Saturday night / Sunday morning, we got around five hours sleep and then the plan was to go to another airfield north of Stockholm to compare the M5 against some other high-performance cars. The only thing we knew about the cars we were going to meet up with was that they were fast. We were in for a big surprise!


The first thing to do that day was to give the M5 it´s breakfast...


The drivers needed some fuel too.


On our way to the airfield we were joined by an Audi RS4 and a Mercedes C32 AMG.





When we arrived an impressive collection of cars met us. The M5 wasn´t the only V10-engined car there: a 2003 Dodge Viper SRT-10 Roadster and a 2004 Lamborghini Gallardo with manual gearbox had already arrived. Among other nice cars there was a Porsche 911 Turbo (996 generation) with the X50 powerkit, which means 450 bhp instead of 420 bhp. This Porsche also had additional tuning done by Techart, so it had 510 HP. There were several other Porsches there, for example a facelifted 320 HP version of the 996 Carrera with manual gearbox and a Porsche 911 Turbo of the 993 generation with the S-engine package, which means 450 HP instead of 408 HP. There were two E55 AMG´s there, one estate and one saloon.









We raced with all the above mentioned cars. We didn´t race the Audi RS4 and the Mercedes C32 AMG.


Emptying the M5 from loose things such as our jackets, laptop etc.






The E55 AMG estate.




Normally aspirated versus supercharged.

The first race: M5 vs. Lamborghini Gallardo





One passenger in each car.


We did several runs versus the Lamborghini Gallardo. All of them were from a rolling start since we didn't want to do too many Launch Control starts with the M5 to save the clutch and the tires. Also a rolling start eliminates the worst ESP / DSC on and off problems as well as eliminating the start from the comparsion which is good since it´s easy for a driver to make a mistake when launching the car.

We placed out a couple of cones so we knew where the race started. We did rolling starts from 50 km/h and 100 km/h up to around 250 km/h. You could do 270 km/h with the M5 with 5 person in the car on the stretch but with a rolling start that would take up too much distance to attain those speeds.



As mentioned above we did several runs. Naturally many participants had different opinions. Here are our impressions of the races and we also took videos to document the event. The Lamborghini and the M5 was very even. Whoever got the jump stayed on the lead but the relative speed between the cars seemed to be zero during the race. My feeling was that the M5 was a little bit faster at higher speeds. Whenvever I looked to the right and waited to see that the Galalrdo started flooring it (the Gallardo got the jump) he kept that distance but the distance never increased. This was even with passengers in the M5. So the verdict: the performance of these cars is very similar. The Gallardo might have an edge from lower speeds thanks to 4WD which offers better grip but the higher the speeds get the more advantage the M5 has.


Looking at the numbers this makes sense.

M5 Gallardo
507 HP 500 HP
520 Nm 510 Nm
Cw 0,3 Cw 0,346

4WD takes power in higher speeds and weight becomes less relevant in higher speeds, where aerodynamic efficiency is more of higher importance.









There is the cone that marks out where we should floor it.


Side-view of the beautiful Gallardo.

The second race: M5 vs. E55 AMG Kompressor and the 2004 E55 AMG Estate Kompressor





The E55 AMG won in the department of delivering tyresmoke, showing it's best qualities.



Here is the 476 HP E55 AMG Estate Kompressor. The first race was versus the silver four-door E55 AMG. The driver launched without ESP and this was from standing start with Launch Control on the M5. Since the E55 AMG spun there was no problem at all.





No serious problem. Here we were four people in the M5 versus the E55 AMG Estate. The M5 was faster than the Mercedes, especially in higher speeds where the M5´s seven speed gearbox have an significant advantage due to gearing.

We did several runs against the two the E55 AMG´s and there was no question about who got first at the end of the stretch: the M5.



No problems doing a controlled slide with four persons in the car. Thanks to JW for an excellent picture.
The third race: the 1997 Porsche 993 Turbo with S-engine package


Thanks to JW for an excellent picture.
This was against the beautiful air-cooled 911 Turbo of the 993 generation. A car I think is much more beautiful than the 996 generation Porsche 911 Turbo. This had the S-engine package which means 450 HP instead of 408 HP. This includes larger turbos (KKK K24 instead of K16) than the standard 911 Turbos (993 and 996 generation). On the picture above the M5 is full of people. The European Turbo S package for the 993 Turbo had the above mentioned different turbos. However the 993 Turbo S for USA does not have the other turbos and consequently less than 450 HP, namely 430 HP. The weight of the 993 Turbo S-engine kit (not Turbo S equipment as interiour etc. however) is 1505 kg.


[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]M5 911 Turbo S-engine kit
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]507 HP 450 HP
520 Nm 585 Nm@5750 rpm
Cw 0,3 Cw: 0,34
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My impression is that it is first very difficult to hold a perfect line parallell to each other at a constant speed and then floor it. So sometimes I got the jump and sometimes he got the jump. In anycase my clear impression was that he was slightly faster off the line but I passed him at every race somewhere between 200 and 240 km/h. We raced three times from a rolling start.

Also how big the intitial gap was was clearly decided by whover let the first car floor it. In one of the races I clearly waited and looked to my side to see when the Porsche-driver floored it. The race was also done with three people in the M5 and two in the 993 Turbo without any significant difference.



The Porsche gets the jump and we are after it with full power. See how the front suspension lifts thanks to 507 HP and 520 Nm.



The fourth race: M5 vs. Porsche 911 Carerra (MY 2003) with manual gearbox (996-generation with 320 bhp)



To my recollection this was naturally an easy one with 320 HP vs. 507 HP. We had passengers in the car and naturally we left it behind. More than the 993 Turbo "S-kit" naturally but not as much as I had expected. I suppose the aerodynamic advantages make up for alot of the missing horsepowers in this case.


Lining up to go towards the first cone for a rolling start.


The classic lines of the 911 Carrera 2 along the more modern but also in some way traditional design of the M5 (lights, kidneys and air-intake).


Go towards the cones at the middle of the runway. Otherwise you might meet some more not only low-flying objects!

M5 911 Carrera 2 manual gearbox "996 320 HP" generation
507 HP 320 HP
520 Nm 370 Nm
Cw 0,3 Cw: Mail me to gustav@bmwm5.com


The fifth race: Porsche 911 (996) Turbo with X50 engine kit and Techart-tuning (510 HP) with manual gearbox



Look at the exhaust-pipes of the Porsche. They have the "double roundings" that cars equipped with the X50-package always have. So this car was a 911 Turbo with the factory engine kit that increases the power to 450 HP. In addition to this it had a Techart engine kit that made it produce 510 HP according to the owner.





So I asked the driver of this car if he wanted to race. Yes was the answer, so we did rolling starts as with most of the other cars. My opinion is that the relative speed was close to zero between the cars all the way up to 250 km/h with a slight advantage or feeling that the M5 would be first if the straight was longer and didn´t have a speed-limiter. So a bit similar to the results of the Lamborhini Gallardo which made sense since this Porsche and the Lamborghini were considered equal when they raced against each other earlier that day.


M5 911 Turbo X50 Techart-tuned (996 version manual gearbox)
507 HP 510 HP
520 Nm ? Nm
Cw 0,3 Cw: Mail me to gustav@bmwm5.com
The sixth race: M5 vs. Dodge Viper SRT-10 Roadster (MY 2003)



The Viper is a very rare car in Sweden. This car was probably the first of the new generation to arrive in Sweden. It was imported to Sweden from the USA. You can see it´s an import since it has side-pipes as well as a small numberplate frame, typical for US-imported vehicles. As with many of the other cars I had to ask if we should compare the cars and the Viper driver obviously thought a third V-10 car to join the race was an excellent idea. We also did rolling starts and my impression was that the Viper was clearly faster up to around 150 km/h but over 150 km/h the M5 seemed to gain the distance fast to almost eliminate the distance lost in lower speeds. It is my hunch that the Viper clearly has a aerodynamic disadvantage and the M5 with it's aerodynamics and 7-speed gearbox makes up for the difference in torque.

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]M5 Dodge Viper SR-10

507 HP 500 HP
520 Nm 710 Nm
Cw 0,3 Cw: Mail me to gustav@bmwm5.com

The Vipers top speed is 306 km/h.
[/FONT] Almost all of these races were filmed form within both the M5 and the competitor cars as well from outside. But in addition to this I have taken quotes from the M5 Messageboard as well as other forums (Porscheforum, RS6-forum and Mercedes forum) with members who witnessed this race, so that our impressions above can be put into light as well as in comparison. It is safe to say that the new V-10 M5 impressed all of us.


Below is from the co-organizer of the event, Erik B:

"The runway was about 950 m (had to share the other half with airplanes)

I invited some friends and their cars:

Lamborghini Gallardo...
RUF CTR... (Yellowbird, except blue)
Porsche 996 Turbo Techart... (PV996TT's)
Porsche 997 Carrera S...
BMW M5 E60...
BMW M5 E39...
Dodge Viper SRT10...
MB E55 AMG
MB E55 T AMG...
MB C32 AMG
Audi RS4 Stage 2...

The RUF is in a league of its own! Clearly the fastest car of the day. The owner was kind enough to let me go a couple of times in his car, insane!

We ran 2 cars side by side, mainly doing running starts from different speeds.
The BMW M5 is very fast! I think a stock 996 T will have big problems. PV996TT has about 520 hp in his car. He was a bit faster, but the difference is not huge. Scary!

I don't agree that the new M5 humiliated the E55 not the E55T, but it is faster. I'd say the Gallardo is faster as well, similar to PV996TT's black beast.

I drove the new M5 as well. It doesn't feel as fast as it is, I woneder how many people who will lose their license in this baby...?"



From the RS4 driver (I did not race the Audi RS4) (post number one)
We had a great day fooling around at the airstrip, the weather was perfect (we even got a suntan ).
Thank you for this arrangement!

The M5 and Gallardo were the main attraction. I think most of us were impressed by the M5 performance, (even with 4 passengers it almost ran tie with the gallardo)!!!
<big><big><big><big>Post number two (he is a passenger in this actual picture):</big></big></big></big>



No problems doing a controlled slide with four persons in the car. Thanks to JW for an excellent picture.


Post number two (he is a passenger in this actual picture): <small>"I got a ride in the M5, and even though I am a [Mercedes] AMG and [Audi] RS fan, WOW, this car was amazing.

The feeling of acceleration was simmilar to [Mercedes] e55 and [Audi] rs6, you feel that you are moving fast, but you don't realize exactly how fast the car acctually is. There is no drama, like in comparison to the [Porsche] 996 turbo.

What impressed me the most was the handling, I barely got the chance to fasten my seatbelt before we were oversteering over half the field.
Then Gustav decided that we were not going to burn any more rubber, so the car got grip instantly and bang, 2nd gear, bang, 3rd gear, bang 4th... (you will understand what I mean when you get the chance to feel the sportshifts in action). When I looked at the speedo the "M"onster5 was doing 270...

This wasn't what impressed me the most though. After the action on the field Gustav demonstrated the comfortmode; after oversteering and accelerating with shifts that felt like someone deliberately tried to kill the gearbox the car turned into a luxury autobahn comfort cruiser in the instance he pushed the button.

The dampers turned from rockhard into very soft, the gearbox was transformed into something you would expect in a S-klass, and the overall personality of the car turned into something you could use to drive your grandma in. Gustav did some softer slalom turns, and the car was behaving just like a large sedan with four passengers; all over the place. I would say it would have understeered if we had driven a bit faster. As a passenger, in this mode, I could almost keep my place in the center of the backseat since the turns were so long and soft.

When the car was just in center before the next slalom turn, he pushed the sportmode button again. The car had transformed before he turned-in again, and this time the turn felt like going into a wall. No understeering or mushroomy feeling this time, now it was pure trackcar again. I was thrown into my friend on one side, and the millisecond later I was thrown back. Neither me or my friends could keep the smiles or laughter, the car is Amazing. It felt almost surreal that one instance you were riding in extreme comfort, and the other you were in the backseat, together with two others, in what must have been a twoseated sportscar jugding by the performance.

Thank you for the ride Gustav!</small>"

And a third post at a Mercedes forum where owners of the E55 AMG have a difficult time understanding the fact that the M5 was faster than an E55 AMG even in a straight line:

<small>"I certainly dont think im biased to bmw since I drive a [Mercedes] C32, [Audi] RS4 and [Audi] RS6. I understand that most have trouble beliving or trusting a moderator for a M5 enthusiast board, but I was at this event to. I saw the M5 win time after time against the E55, and run tie with the gallardo for atleast 5 rounds. They tried 0-250km/h races, 50-250, 50-200, 100-250 etc, so the results wasnt the one lucky race kind either.

The E55s only made a few rounds each, 3-6 or something, and the M5 was going back and forth, full throttle the whole day, stuffed with ppl that wanted to experience it. (Me for example). Atleast one E55 had new tires, and the M5 didnt have any at all (the first thing I noticed when having a closer look at the car in the lineup before we started).

I was so impressed by the performance of this car that I can't even pretend that a E55 is faster in any direction or speed, even though I am a mercedes owner and fan. There was atleast as much difference at 200km/h between the M5 and E55 as there was between my stock C32 and the E55.

If you read my post at the m5board, I tell about the ride in the M5, and this is proabably what pisses MB fans off the most, or scares the MB bosses; the M5 was up to E55 comfort and luxury standars in comfort mode. And Still, it has handling similar to the 996 turbo. All this in just the push of a button."
</small>
<small></small>

<small></small>Here is a post from the passenger (person number three) of the Porsche 911 Turbo X50 who actually claims the M5 was faster than the Techart-tuned Porsche 911 Turbo X50 with over 500 HP, also a former Audi RS6-owner: "Gustav<small><small> was kind to let me drive the new M5 and boy it was fast.
It feels lighter than it is and thats nice. The grip in the rear is very good even it has 507hp and rear driven. The SMG in fastest mode is crazy, its big bangs every time it change, I love that bang every time. As all M cars it is so easy to powersteear. The 997 S was suprisingly fast and keept up well, and is my choice. Its slower than M5 of course but than again funnier to drive, even on a straight line! We came in an E55 kombi wagon and E55 sedan and last the 997 Carrera S whit ceramic breakes. The M5 dident feel fast when driving it, but boy it is fast We in the E55s got spanked all time against the M5. One time we was 4 persons in M5 and my freind was alone in his sedan E55 and we were even after a long time. But in the end of the air field the M5 was winning by a car leghts. Thats strong of M5. Even my friends 510 hp techart porsche got passed by a tiny bit by M5. But my guess the are pretty even steven. We all that was at lunda take it for what it is, i mean the car that give gas first when rolling starts is geting away first. Its not 100% accurate. But the thing is that allmost every time the M5 came out as fastest of all the cars at lunda(not faster than the crazy Ruf) We did rolling starts from 20, 50 and 100 km/h"
</small></small>
<small><small></small></small>


<small><small></small></small>From the driver of the Porsche 993 Turbo with S-engine kit comes these quotes. I can also agree with him that he was faster in lower speeds. This is translated from Swedish from a Swedish Porsche-forum:

"Race one: Three people in the M5. Porsche clearly faster below 150 km/h."

"Race two: M5 won I missed fifth gear"

"Race three: M5 won since the M5 braked later on the end of the airstrip"

"The M5 has a clear advantage with SMG. I had to shift like a maniac to be even"


So to summarize this day with the new BMW M5 we were surprised with the amount of difficult competition of cars that were gathered for the event but in the end of the day it was all of the participants who got surprised what an M5 could do. If you have any question just e-mail me at gustav@bmwm5.com.

In BMW own press reelase of the M5 they describe how more gears and higher revolutiosn could be better than alot of torque in a desriptive way:
"Engine speed has a major influence on performance and torque: As far as maximum torque (520 Newton metres) is concerned, the ten-cylinder matches the eight-cylinder power unit. Nevertheless, the new M5 beats its predecessor in all disciplines relating to driving dynamics. This phenomenon is also connected to the engine speed. A case in point: if a cyclist changes down when going uphill, he must pedal faster but he will master almost every gradient no matter how steep. If he does not change gears or if he even changes up, he needs a lot more energy or he has to get off the bike.

If there are two cyclists with the same amount of stamina, it is always the cyclist who pedals faster that wins the race.

The logical consequence is that the new M5 with its high-revving engine also effortlessly outdoes all direct competitors who exclusively rely on the “torque concept” of an eight-cylinder engine with an increased cubic capacity. In addition, this engine’s superiority can be put down to the fact that the concept-related extremely high torque of competing engines has to be transferred via a massively reinforced and heavy drive train – added weight and mass that must also be accelerated. Thanks to the V10’s high-revving concept, a considerably lighter drive train can be used and closer gear ratios can be achieved.."

Order some of the the racingvideos below. $15 excl. shipping worldwide. See trailer for the video-CD here. Several races filmed from inside and outside some of the cars. The video is in stock and will be shipped within 2 days from ordering online. Three video trailer on this link, go here. Trailers are: from the second airfield with short clips from the exotics, a full race versus the E55 AMG and when the M5 drives on a highway.
Click here to go to m5board.com online ordering of media with worldwide delivery from USA. Payments via credit card. For an example of a picture on this page and one that is in highresolution, see the image below. The source image for that picture is this image. The images are 3072 pixel wide and 2304 pixel high (3072x2304). So, this is the high-res and this is the low-res.
Now to the report from a car that´s clearly faster than the new M5: the 806 HP Koenigsegg CC-R in carbon.

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A weekend with the M5 E60
Page four: The end of the weekend and final thoughts about the M5



The M5 has shown it's qualities as the perfect car for travelling on pan-European trips on highways. All the way up to the limit on 272 km/h (not 250 km/h on the speedometer, somewhere around 265 km/h in real speed) the comfort is similar to any top-class luxury sedan. It has also shown it´s qualities in straight-line acceleration against some of the fastest cars that are for sale today in some cases carrying four passengers. The M5 has shown it's excellent handling with it's predictibility before and on the limit. You have all the safety features of modern electronics today: Dynamic Stability Control (DSC), systems that monitors the tyre pressure and oil level, heads up display indicating speed and navigation instructions as well as numerous other variables.
At at the touch of the button the car can change from luxury-cruiser to sports-car: the engine roars to 8300 rpm, the gears fly in within a fifth of a second making a bang along with tyre screech. The car answers to the smallest movement of the steering wheel and the throttle response is instaneous, making it impractical in city traffic, but perfect for 100% active driving. The HUD shows the engine rpm in a graphical circular display just as in many race-cars. The BMW M5 owners manual states that in P500 S-mode: "...especially spontaneous and no-compromise sporty on gas-pedal movements.", which is perfectly correct.
Frustrating: MDM-mode activated, S5-mode on, nice wather and a windling road. But a Volvo 460 with a "Practice Driver" (Övningskörning), a driver who takes his driving lessons in front ov us. The decal on the trunk shows that the driver does not have license.




Cleaning the car again. Here we had to drive down from a slope where we luckily had some centimeters between the car and the ground. This would not have been the case if we instead should have been washing a Lamborghini Gallardo...

The new standardized European Union plates indicates S for Sweden and the EU-logo.


In darker light the Interlagos-blue colour has a dark tone. There is no doubt however that the colour is blue. Here you clearly see how the lines goes from the front-lights all the way to the rear-lights following the same design-theme. You can also see the M5-unique front wheel arches that are widened 10 mm on each side and are made out of aluminum. Sensors for the rain sensor can be seen below the middle rearview mirror.



Unmistakebly BMW M: airintakes in the front, widened wheel arches, BMW M light-weight wheels with low-profile tyres, M Aerodynamic mirrors, M sidegills, no M5-spoiler on this car and finally quad exhausts. However BMW M does not want to develop their own design language but rather follow BMW´s current one. Their modifications surely makes the 5-series look great.

The M5 enjoys fuel.

It is your lucky day when this and the key is yours! I can say there is even more important to read through the manual with the new M5 with all of it's different settings and I could find myself even reaching for the manual in the middle of a day at the airfield just how to look again how you really activated the Launch Control in a correct way. But I feel after a very intensive weekend (2600 km) we learned almost everything about the new M5. However you felt that you need to live with the car a longer time to really get used and feel what different settings suits you and your driving the best. Maybe D1 is not the best mode for complete relaxed driving? For sure we know that the S6 is the most sportive, but which programs are best for everyday active driving? S5 with MDM in P500 mode maybe? All of this depends on what kind of driver you are but we mostly used the former setting in normal driving.



[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The automatic measuring for the oil-level. The M5 consumed 0,6 liters of oil during the 2600 km we drove (0,8 l when we started). Considering it was used somewhat active especially when it was paired up for two days on two airfields and the low milaege the car had in total the consumption seemed reasonable. If the oil is between the two triangles then the engine has enough of oil. If the oil (the bar is solid) is over the higher triangle it means you have overfilled the car with oil and if it is below the lower arrow you have to fill up with oil. Additionally you always have the numeric litre indication to make sure you read it correctly, so when it reads 0,0 litre you have to fill it with a maximum of one litre of oil. Additionally you will be warned by the check-control if the oil-level is too low.

The rules to run in a brand new BMW M5 is the following:
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  • <2000 km: not over 5500 rpm or over 170 km/h. No kick-down or engage the gas pedal fully.
  • Between 2000 and 5000 km: Gradually increase the revolutions and the speed, but not over 220 km/h. Do this only briefly, for example during overtaking. Do not use the modes D5, S5 and S6. Do not use Launch Control.


The lower right button is for switching the HUD on/off.
Seat settings with memory function. The circular buttons adjust the width of the seat.


The full-leather interior enhanced the luxorious atmosphere of the M5.


Almost all areas are covered in leather with the optional 81 700 SEK full-leather interior. Notice the stitching and the attention to detail.


M5 logo on the rear and front doorsills. These are not illuminated as on the new BMW M6.

The configurable M-Mode button. The M-coloured stitching on the thick leather steering wheel which is a joy to hold.

Tyre pressures for different loads and amount of passengers.

Interesting storagespaces in the trunk.


Surprisingly the new M5 did not have the net on the floor of the trunk that has been standard on all M5´s since the E34 M5 in the late eighties.








The M Mobility kit includes a compressor that connects to the cigarett lighter outlet. There are pros and cons with a M-Mobility kit but there is a fact that the weight saving is over 20 kg.

Furthermore, who would like to drive around like this?

Not too many bugs after a high-speed weekend. The black inserts on the mirrors they are purely for creating a visual separation between the other models. The inserts were inspired from racing where you put different colours on the rearview mirrors in order to differentiate your car and easier spot cars in your team.
Since this car was well-equipped we would like to comment the options fitted to this car:
<small><small style="font-weight: bold;"> Glass sunroof:<big> </big></small><small><big>A glass sunroof is always nice since it makes the interior lighter, especially in a car with black leather as this one had. Recommended if you choose darker interiours.
</big><bg></bg></small>
</small>​
Park Distance Control (PDC): A must-have. Makes parking a lot easier since this car is big. The PDC is better on the E60 than on the E39 thanks to visual warnings on the I-drive screen.
<big><big> <bl></bl></big></big> Seat heating in rear (front standard for Sweden):This is a very sensible option if you often drive with more than one passenger and live in a cold area, like Sweden. It works good and is often a pleasent surprise for the rear-passengers..
Lumbar support: Makes it easier to find a really comfortable seating position. Especially useful on longer journeys.
Self dimming rear-mirrors: This is an option E39 M5-owners are used to and it works just as good as in the E39. It´s good on long jorneys at night but it´s not that useful when driving in the city at night since the mirrors get really dark and limits the view.
TV: Unnecessary if you do not always have to wait for your wife / girlfriend.

Heads Up Dispaly (HUD): A must have. Works really good and makes the driving safer. Especially the M-Mode that comes with the M5 makes it a performance saloon with surgical precision. However in daylight it takes some time to get used to that you have it, you are looking at the regular instruments and dials out of old habit as well because they are in a nice design. In nighttime driving it is perfect and you almost wish you could dim off all the other dials and lights completely and only show the HUD.

Voice Activation: We didn´t try this option enough to make a statement. But as we know from earlier experience it can be useful but doesn´t always work as you would like it to. It takes some time getting used to.
Bluetooth prepartion: We tried this with an Sony Ericsson K700i and it worked somewhat fine. Latest software (firmware) in the phone as well as in the car is recommended.

<small>Navigation Proffessional: Works great and navigation is especially important for residual. Also the larger screen has alot of positive settings not possible for the smaller screen.</small><ig></ig><bg></bg><bg></bg><bg>
</bg>

<bg>CD changer: Better than in the E39 since it´s finally located in the glove-compartment and not in the trunk.</bg><bll>
</bll>

<bll>Hi-Fi System Professional (Logic 7)<g>: Could be the first really good sound-system that BMW offers. The sound is very clean and rich. It also has different DSP-settings such as theatre and concert hall.</g></bll>
Full Merino leather interiour: If money is no object this is a very nice option. It makes the interior feel more special and gives the 5-series interiour a very exclusive touch with leather on almost all surfaces you see and fine and detailed stitchings along many interiour areas. Combine this with Individuals offerings and you have a very exclusive and not your ordinary interiour of the 5-series.

So, what are our final impressions of the M5? Have BMW M made another saloon worthy of the M5-badge?


The answer is yes! We had very high expectations but the M5 fulfilled those and surpassed some as well. The performance was even better than what we expected. But even though the performance is sensational the most impressive thing about this car is that it does everything so well. The engine is amazing, the handling great, the gearbox fantastic, the comfort impressive; all different parts of the car works so good together which makes every mile of driving a joy. As BMW M manager Ulrich Bruhnke told us at Stockholm Open: "the new M5 is not either or: it is and!"


There have been some worries that this car would be "too much" with it´s 279 possible combination of settings and no manual gearbox. It´s relatively easy to find settings that works according to your mood and the more you drive the car the more you appreciate to have the different options to change the character of the car, even though you don´t have to use every setting there is. And after getting used to the SMGIII gearbox we don´t see the reason for having a manual gearbox, it´s that good. However there is always some people that are not the Nintendo-generation or enjoy the advance of technology. These might still enjoy a manual 6-speed M5 E60. However there is now way that a manual M5 will be as fast as the SMGIII equipped M5.
But no car is not perfect. The M5 also a few things that could be better. The most negative thing about the car is the fuel-consumption which makes the range really short since the tank only is 70 litres. During our test the car consumed around an average 19,5 litres/100 km. If you drive very carefully at constant speed with the P400-mode activated it´s possible to lower the consumption to around 11 litres/100 km. But then the speed is constant and you must almost have cruise control activated.


The sound at idle could be alot nicer. This will probably be solved with an aftermarket exhaust-system but one could think that the M5 in original-condition should sound a bit better at idle. The V10-engined Lamborghini Gallardo and Porsche Carrera GT sounds good even at idle.
Some of the interior trim could be better as well The interior lists in <ig>brushed Alu Shadow, which are standard, looks a bit cheap. Same goes for the area around the gear-lever.
</ig>
<di> </di>
We would also like to see some improvements to the I-drive menu-system. The I-drive works fine but it´s the menus that isn´t always very logic or s easy to use.




Our last complaint doesn´t have anything to do with the car but with BMW´s colour offerings for the M5. Only six colours are available and if you don´t like one of those you have to turn to BMW Individual. The same goes for the interior-colours. We would like to see some more standard colours added, especially the Indianapolis red which were supposed to be available for the M5 but suddenly became an exclusive M6-colour. That´s a bit sad since they do look good in Indianapolis Red.
Go here too see the official BMW M5 pressreelase pictures of the engine and car.


But apart from these things, we just love the car. The M5 is back and long live the King of sport saloons!
Order some of the the racingvideos below. $15 excl. shipping worldwide. See trailer for the video-CD here. Several races filmed from inside and outside some of the cars. The video is in stock and will be shipped within 2 days from ordering online. Three video trailer on this link, go here. Trailers are: from the second airfield with short clips from the exotics, a full race versus the E55 AMG and when the M5 drives on a highway.
Click here to go to m5board.com online ordering of media with worldwide delivery from USA. Payments via credit card. For an example of a picture on this page and one that is in highresolution, see the image below. The source image for that picture is this image. The images are 3072 pixel wide and 2304 pixel high (3072x2304). So, this is the high-res and this is the low-res.

So, this was our weekend with the new M5! Two airfields, 10 full tanks of fuel, 2600 km, 0,6 liters of oil and alot of fun! Please e-mail me your comments or suggestions to gustav@bmwm5.com.



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The Koenigsegg factory visit




The Swedish supersportscar-manufacturer Koenigsegg recently broke the world speed record that the McLaren F1 held since years back. Since I met the Koenigsegg people at the Geneva Salon in 2004 and 2005 we agreed on that we should do the airfield meetup as you read on page two of this report. All the employees of Koenigsegg enjoy BMW and Christian von Koenigsegg himself have owned BMW´s. Our visit to Koenigsegg begun with an introduction of their brand by Sales Executive Patrik in their conference room over coffee and a selection of beautiful colour and leather options for the car. After that he started to guide us through the large facilities of the former fighter jet squadron facilities where they served the JAS 39 Gripen fighter. Koengisegg employs 40 highly skilled workers.
Christian and his father on the Geneva Auto Salon 2005 where they broke the news that McLaren F1´s record was beaten and the Koengisegg CC-R managed to do 388 km/h (388,46 km/h to be exact) at Prototipo circular track at Nardo, Southern Italy. Since the track on protipo is banked plans are that they would do the test on Salt Flats in USA or in the desert of Quatar to achieve even higher speeds.
<small><small><small><small>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The story of Koenigsegg is the story of the goals of the founder of Christian von Koenigsegg. He founded Koenigsegg Automotive AB in 1994 at the age of 22. His goal was to make the best supersportscar there is and he had carefully analyzed the worlds best supercars with theirs unique features as well as drawbacks. In 1995 the first prototype was built and the Koenigsegg CC8S was launched in Paris motorshow year 2000. The more powerful CC-R version was launched at the Geneva Salon in 2004, the same show BMW launched "Concept M5".</small></small>[/FONT]</small></small>

<small><small>The CC-R is incredibly powerful. The V8-engine produces 806 HP and 920 Nm of torque. The CC8-S has 655 HP and 750 Nm of torque. The CC-R has a 300 rpm higher rev. limiter as well.</small></small>


<small style="font-weight: bold;"><small> Too bad this was a Saturday so we could not meet Ann-Christin.


Here we are at the conference room listening to the history of Koenigsegg as well as asking questions about this supercar.

</small></small>

<small style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><small>Some of the exteriour and interiour colour options as well as different interiour materials.

</small></small>

Caramel colour sample for the leather interior. Almost the same colour as BMW´s caramel which was introduced with the M5 E39.


M5board member Ashok have found his new colour selction for his new M5... Off to BMW Individual!




The Koenigsegg CC-R in Geneva 2005. Koenigsegg is according to themselves "a no compromise car" with "some degree of usefulness". It is for the customer who only wants to "buy the best". Koenigsegg have produced 24 cars to customers to date since the "real launch" in 2002 of the car that is most similar to the production CC8S. Under 2005 23 units are produced of which 19 goes to consumers. So this means that during next year if orders are filled as in 2005 the Koenigsegg will be produced in more examples than the roadgoing McLaren F1. Interesting since McLaren had a goal of selling 300 cars. Later this year Koenigsegg is planning to complete the US-certification of the CC-R and make it available to American consumers and that means acccess to a very large potential market for Koengisegg.

<small><small><sml><sll>Production of the McLaren F1 ceased in May 1998, with a total production of 100 cars, made up as follows:
</sll></sml></small></small>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="10" height="54"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" height="18" width="100"><small><small> <small><small>F1
F1 LM
F1 GT</small></small>
</small></small></td> <td style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" height="18" width="100"><small><small> <small><small>64
5
3
</small></small>
</small></small></td> <td style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" height="18" width="100"><small><small> <small><small>GTR 95
GTR 96
GTR 97</small></small>
</small></small></td> <td style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" height="18" width="100"><small><small> <small><small>9
9
10
</small></small>
</small></small></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <small>
</small>
The Koenigsegg cars have full Euro 4 certification. Currently the fastest growing market for Koengisegg is China and Russia with orders going to Shanghai regurarly. Koenigsegg´s filosofy is not to make money on servicing the cars, the customer already have made a big investment in the car. As opposed to McLaren F1 where the first service could cost €42 000.

<sml><sll>After the meeting we started our factory tour with Patrik as our excellent guide. We were totally convinced that he had the best job in the world.<l><all>
</all></l></sll></sml>

<small style="font-weight: bold;"><small>

The light yellow material is kevlar and the black material is carbon fibre. The panels are fabricated in 21 layers of carbon.
</small></small>
<small style="font-weight: bold;"><small>

The tools for working with the kevlar and carbon is made out of the same material.
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<smll>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Here you can see the upper part of the front with a opening for the windscreen. Christian von Koenigsegg tested the rigidity of the windscreen frame by standing on it and jumping. Naturally, it did not break.[/FONT]

<fon style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><smll><all></all></smll></fon>
</smll>
The weight of the chassi module is only 62 kg thanks to the use of 21 layers of carbon fibre and the torsional stiffness is 28 100 Nm/degree. Compare this to the stiffness of a Porsche 996 Turbo Convertible with 11 600 Nm/degree. Notice that the Koenigsegg also is in part a convertible with a retractable hardtop. For reference the Porsche 911 Turbo has a torsional stiffnes of 27 000 Nm/degree and that is not a convertible. This offers excellent safety to the driver and passenger, as seen in accidents during Formula One. Furthermore, the rigidity is also very important for the handling of the car.

<small><small>This monocoque construction as well as other parts are manufactured in materials of the highest quality which resulted in that at the crashtesting of the CC8S in Volvo's facilities it came out as the safest car they ever tested. Also thanks to that it is so light it has less mass which leads to a lower kinetic energy than of a heavier car, which results in a safetyfactor in itself. </small></small>

<small><small>It takes three months to produce a Koengisegg and 60% of the consumers choose to special order their cars with for example very advanced stereo systems, Park Distance Control, owners name stitched into the back-rest of the car etc.</small></small>





<small style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><small>You can easily lift the complete door with one hand. </small></small>



<small><small><small><small>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Even the doorhandles are made of carbonfibre which is a weight-saving of 1-2 thousands of a kilogram compared to normal plastic, but it shows Koenigseggs dedication to save weight. After the handle is made in carbon it is covered in leather. This is unbelievable expensive for a simple part as a door handle but this is the way Christian von Koenigsegg wants it: maximum attention to detail and only the best materials there is.</small></small>[/FONT]</small></small>



<small>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]M
</small><small><small>ore carbon fibre parts for the engine, the above ones are polished and painted with clearcoat.</small></small>


<small style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><small>The fueltanks are two separate cells integrated into the moncoque, one on the left and one on the right side of the car. As you can see on the shape of these tanks it gives a low polar moment of inertia as well as perfect weight distribution. </small></small>




<small style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><small>This 362 mm in diameter brake-disc are gripped by massive six-piston calipers. On the CC-R this dimension is fitted both at front and rear. </small></small>


<sma style="font-weight: bold;"><all>Here we have a Koenigsegg going through assembly. As you see on the poster the Koenigsegg CC8S was launched in Paris Salon in september of 2002. We could count to at least four Koenigsegg CC-R being assembled currently at the facilities. The fit of the hand made details seems to be perfect.


Carbon everywhere. Super-strong and super light. Considering it is also a convertible with a removable top it is extremely rigid: more rigid than a Porsche 911 Turbo (996).


</all></sma>
[/FONT]
<small style="font-weight: bold;"><small>

</small></small>
<small style="font-weight: bold;"><small><small><small><small></small></small></small></small></small>
<small style="font-weight: bold;"><small>Here we have the ultra-light seats that will be covered in Tempur material for maximum comfort for this sporty car. The carbon seats can be manufactured after your body for an additional cost. </small></small><small style="font-weight: bold;"><small>


The door seems to be more or less complete with leather and speakers mounted. And here we have a orange CC-R door being made. This orange colour have been very popular and several of the first customer cars where produced in this colour since it is the official colour for the CC-R of the pressrelease. The note says "Don't touch".
</small></small>

<small style="font-weight: bold;"><small>

Purely crafted by hand. Koenigsegg logo on the speaker next to the interior handle.



A paint job takes very long time for each Koenigsegg. This process is especially time consuming when doing colours with pearl-effects.



Carbon everywhere, again. As you might see there is not a problem manufacturing a right-hand drive Koenigsegg. The text on the middle-console says "Finished".



Super-light magnesium wheels. 20 inch and no problem holding it up with one hand. The spoke design makes brake cooling very effective. Center nuts for mounting the wheels. For the CC-R it is 19'x9.5' and for the rear 20'x12,5'. Tyres is 335/30-20 for the rear and 255/35-19 for the rear. The CC8S has 19' front and rear for the wheels.
</small></small>


<small><small>
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]An orange and a yellow CC-R have the final pieces assembled on them. These cars are truly handbuilt down to the last screw. Next to the car you could see a hand-written list what should be done and what have been done to it crossed over in handwriting in Swedish.
</small></small>



<small><small>The Koenigsegg facilites were originally huge former buildings for servicing a fleet of fighter jets that protected the southern Swedish airspace. Notice the ghost symbol on the middle of the wall. The ghost also decorates the CC-R version of the Koenigsegg, to honour the Swedish Fighter Jet Squadron No. 1 who had their fighter-jets right here. The ghost was the symbol of the squadron. </small></small>

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Here you recognize the unpainted carbon frame for the windscreen on the orange CC-R. The CC-R is very popular in orange colour since the car in the press release for the CC-R was painted in this colour. Almost all the Koenigsegg produced now are CC-R since the price difference is so small between the CC-R and the CC8S. The Koengisegg is available in both as a left hand drive and right-hand drive. At least four right-hand drive have been sold to the UK.

We were suprised of the size of their factory. The facilities had been renovated just some years ago in excess of €20 millions and with renovation going on even while Koenigsegg moved into the facilites. The contractors had their agreements to complete their work and the politicians had decided to close down the airbase prematurely. Luckily for Koengisegg and too bad for our country regarding politicians...



[/FONT]The Koenigsegg and the JAS39 Gripen fighter Jet on Koenigsegg´s own airstrip where we put three generations of M5 through it's paces. We also noticed that the white painted lines on the airfield were a lot more slippery than the asphalt...


The very same airfield. JAS39 Gripen hangars covered in grass for minimum vision from above. The 1995 Avus Blue M5 Touring, the 2000 LeMans Blue M5 and finally the most advanced four door car there is today: the Interlagos Blue M5 of 2005.

The Jas 39 Gripen. The Jas 39 Gripen fighter recently won against seasoned and battle-proven US fighter jet Lockheed Martin F16 Falcon in a competiton for the new generation of fighter jets for NATO-country Hungary. The picture is taken above Läckö Slott near Lidköping, Sweden.



<small><small>Two CC-R´s. Koenigsegg can simultaneously produce seven cars in total and three in parallell when they are finished for assembly. We did not want to scratch the cars since a new paint job costs around €25 000 for the cars with pearl-effect in the paint.</small></small>


Above and below is the Koenigsegg CC8S that was over in the USA.


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<sl>Beautiful interior in aluminum, leather and carbon-fibre. Purely handmade. <ll></ll></sl>
[/FONT]Seats in carbon with leather clad Tempur seating material. The lights between the seats make it easier to read maps at night. The shape of the seats can be made specifically for the customer but it´s quite expensive.
The unique doors. Traditional doors would have made the Koenigsegg too wide fior use everyday. Just 10 mm under two meters in width (1990 mm) makes the cars too wide to have regular doors for example when parking. More classic supersportscar doors like the Lamborhgini Murciolago and Countach would make the door mechanism sit too high on the car.


The air ventilation outlets in the middle-console. Norice that they are in carbon with Caramel leather along with black stitching.



Koenigsegg approved safety glass even for the small rear window.



<small><small>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The speed-record breaking CC-R we took out on the airfield. It sounds very similar to an offshore racing-boat, very raw and nice. The blue car to the right is the first full scale prototype. The CCR engine delivers 806 Hp at 7000 rpm and 920 (550 ft-lb) Nm of torque at 5,400 rpm. It is a state-of-the-art Quad Cam semi-stressed V8 construction with a 4.7 litre displacement and 32 valves. The CCR is boosted to its extreme power output by a unique Bi-compressor Supercharging system, which employs twin centrifugal compressors to enable a 1.4 bar maximum boost pressure at 5000 RPM.
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The bi-compressor centrifugal supercharging system features twin parallel mounted Rotrex compressors, which cooperate in generating the 1.4 bar boost pressure needed to create the colossal 806 Hp output. The innovative Danish Rotrex compressor represents the next generation of centrifugal superchargers; they exhibit a higher energy-efficiency level than any other, they are operational at higher RPM levels and also feature a new and completely silent ball bearing planetary drive system.
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[/FONT]This is cast from one block of lightweight aerospace aluminum.


The world´s fastest production car meets up with the world´s most competent sports saloons.



<small><small>[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Heading towards the airfield. I can see why Peltor is a sponsor on the Koengisegg. They make hearing protection and the CC-R was loud!
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<small><small>However the Koenigsegg Sales Managers first comment after trying out the M5 on their private airfield was: "xxcking incredible". So we were very impressed with Koenigsegg and Koenigsegg was very impressed with the new M5. We spent at least four hours on the airfield together with nice cars. And knowing you had to go to another country (Denmark) and then back 700 km and after that to another airfield just made you smile more when you knew you had the M5 as a companion. </small></small>
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Order some of the the racingvideos below. $15 excl. shipping worldwide. See trailer for the video-CD here. Several races filmed from inside and outside some of the cars. The video is in stock and will be shipped within 2 days from ordering online. Three video trailer on this link, go here. Trailers are: from the second airfield with short clips from the exotics, a full race versus the E55 AMG and when the M5 drives on a highway.
Click here to go to m5board.com online ordering of media with worldwide delivery from USA. Payments via credit card. For an example of a picture on this page and one that is in highresolution, see the image below. The source image for that picture is this image. The images are 3072 pixel wide and 2304 pixel high (3072x2304). So, this is the high-res and this is the low-res.

So, this was our weekend with the new M5! Two airfields, 10 full tanks of fuel, 2600 km, 0,6 liters of oil and alot of fun! Please maile me your comments or suggestions to gustav@bmwm5.com.</td> <td height="10">
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#3 ·
This movie is EPIC!

Great job Gustav, yet another success!!

Matt
 
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