E60 M5 not worthy of Car and Driver comparison test - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

CaliJames · 6th November 2009, 23:17

I just read the latest issue of Car and Driver and on the cover was the E63, CTS-V and XFR. Where the heck was our beloved M5? In fact, the M5 wasn't even mentioned in the text why it was excluded from the comparison test.

Is the e60 that long in the tooth to not even be mentioned in the class it has dominated for decades? However, I do remember the e60 came in last when they compared it to the previous generation e63 and Audi S6, but part of the blame was due to the indefeatable DSC.

Was C&D just saving BMW the embarrassment of a serious whopping in print? I would at least think the M5 would place ahead of the Jag, which finished third in the comparison.

cohenfive · 6th November 2009, 23:29

car and driver never liked the e60 m5 and since the others are new designs i think they wanted to look at the latest state of the art.

gsfent · 6th November 2009, 23:33

I read that article too, and was surprised no mention of the M5. I came to a similar conclusion, since the 3 cars tested were essentially "new" cars, so the comparison was limited to those 3.

But you would have thought they would have at least mentioned the M5, if only to say the new one is due out in a couple of years or they were only testing the new cars and had already done the M5 (see issue so and so).

Regards,
Jerry

Hyperspaced · 6th November 2009, 23:37

I saw that in the airport yesterday. It made me a little sad, but it is crazy. From 0-60, the M5 is about the same as the CTS. At reasonably high speeds and beyond, the M5 kills the CTS. And there isn't any comparison in style (I like the look of the E60, but objectively, the CTS is not in the same class). I have no knowledge of the Jag. The article made me wish I had looked at the Merc. But I think it is more expensive (because of BMW's financial incentives for the M5). I would also bet the M5 handles nicer than the Merc. And I would be amazed if any of them could touch my interior, which is way nicer than I thought it would be. I admit the article made me wish I had tested the Merc.

Gustav · 6th November 2009, 23:50

The M5 is definetly on par with the CTS-V so the M5 should definetly been in the test. That said the M5 lost vs the new E63 AMG, Panamera Turo and XFR in several German magazines

The M5 doesnt have the overall refinement to some and it might be a bit rough around the edges compared to the new offerings.

BMW M5 loses vs Porsche Panamera Turbo, Audi RS6, Mercedes E63 AMG and Jaguar XFR

JT///M5 · 7th November 2009, 00:10

Sux that BMW didn't get the E60 M5 issues all sorted out before they released it in 05. Seems like the journalist all held onto to those bad 1st impressions and have hated the car ever since. I admit when I first read about the E60 M5, I said to myself that I'd never buy one b/c it seemed very unreliable and fragile (diffs/trannys blowing up). Looks like BMW cleaned everything up since, but its maybe a little too late to change ppls opinions on the car. Oh well, THEIR LOSS!

EM_5 · 7th November 2009, 00:41

I have the the CarandDriver and read the same thing. I also have the issue where they ran the same battery of tests on the M5. The data actually show the M5 to be still very competitive (objectively, ahead in a lot of categories).... even though these are all new cars and the M5 is almost 5 yrs old.

The M5 data from Car and Driver are in BLUE
*data for M5 obtained on caranddriver.com
**data for E63, XFR and CTS-V scanned from my magazine. (do remember that the auto CTS-V is faster. This one is manual tranny)

http://www.caranddriver.com/var/ezfl...ca68b78dc4.pdf
http://www.caranddriver.com/var/ezfl...7836a597b1.pdf
http://www.caranddriver.com/var/ezfl...cb676fcee1.pdf

JT///M5 · 7th November 2009, 00:49

the M5 is still very relevant. The C&D probably didn't want to burst these new car manufactures bubbles that 5 yrs later they haven't really built a true M5 beater. That and newer cars tend to garner more advertising dollars than say a 5 yr old one. LOL. Don't forget what business they really are in. Testing cars is just a by product of it...hahaha

Benzin · 7th November 2009, 01:10

You would think that Car and Driver would have included the M5 in the comparison.
Especially if you look at the performance numbers EM_5 posted-very comparable with the other vehicles in the test.

I don't have a very high opinion of the American car mags these days(Bimmer excepted)

Give me an issue of Evo any day.

JT///M5 · 7th November 2009, 02:07

wow, that 0-150 time is amazing! an avg 2 secs quicker than any of these cars. V10 FTW! And who's complaining about the stock brakes on the M5? Still better than all these other cars.