YouTube comment

[groucho]

"bmw m5 will do 180 in 6th gear, when u hit 7th it slows to 155mph because 7th is restricted."

Just pulled this off youtube whilst watching some race vids. Is it true?

[M5 Mark]

Nope!

IF the limiter is on then you can get to around 165 in 6th. You can get to the same in 7th but it feels slower because the you are expecting more forward motion. Take top speed limiter off then change up at between 180-185 then it will keep accelerating, OBVIOUSLY not as quick acceleration as 6th or 5th etc due to physics! But change into 7th at 180 and it will happily climb above 200 with enough road

[ecain63]

If im correct, i think the E61 has a more generous limiter than the E60, somewhere around 175mph to 180mph. Clarkson and another journo had E61s above 175mph on a couple of occasions. Just BMW's way of keeping up with Jones's at Merc / Audi.