BMW 535i Vs 535d
Discussion
gizlaroc said:
the old M5 struggled a bit doing the wafting round and up and down the motorways.
I've not been on a long trip in an M5 but have been in an M6 with that V10 on a long trip and to say that struggled a bit when wafting is, in my opinion, absolute tosh. In any given gear and road speed for road speed it's MUCH quicker than an E60 550i. By some margin.If, however, you drive everywhere and everything at the same rpm then yes, the difference is minimal. But if you drive it according to its gearing and road speed the M5 is on another planet to the 550i.
For example, cruising along at 70mph in 7th gear the M5 is doing about 2900rpm and at that it's making about 175bhp under full throttle. At 70mph in 6th gear the 550i is doing about 2000rpm and making around 120bhp. The M5 is still a very refined engine and quiet even when cruising at 4-5k rpm, it's not working hard at those rpms, unlike the 550i engine.
If you say "OK, drive at 2000rpm in both cars and put your foot down from 40mph" then yes, the 550i might be a bit quicker, but you'd be a couple of gears higher up the gearbox than the 550i so not a fair test.
If anything, the difference between the M5 and 550i no real different now than with the E60 variant (507/367=38.1% more power!! vs 560/407=37.5% more power). Both go from NA to turbo and have similar shape of torque curves, it's just the E60 has a larger rev range so can SEEM under powered at low rpm, but simply because it does so much more top end.
hornetrider said:
Hasn't the E60 M5 got silly small range? Have to say 2.9k rpm at 70 sounds pretty busy, the 550 is far more relaxed than that.
it revs to 8250.....2900rpm is nothing. I've been in an M6 cruising at 130 for a while doing about 5k rpm, you couldn't tell the engine was working. It's still geared to over 200mph so cruising at 150mph isn't a problem for it.It's hard to explain, when the N62 is doing 3000rpm it feels like it's working harder than when the S85 is doing 3000rpm.....make sense? Under only partial throttle (eg when cruising) it's also very quiet, even at 5k rpm you can't really hear it so it's a non-issue that it's revving higher.
I realise it revs high and of course it has oodles of power. Bikes rev high too but 4k rpm is 4k rpm no matter how much of a percentage of the rev range it is.
As long as you can't hear it whirring away at comparatively high rpms for a given roadspeed that's fine. I'm guessing the high rpms and short range are what givlaroc is referring to though.
As long as you can't hear it whirring away at comparatively high rpms for a given roadspeed that's fine. I'm guessing the high rpms and short range are what givlaroc is referring to though.
E65Ross said:
I've not been on a long trip in an M5 but have been in an M6 with that V10 on a long trip and to say that struggled a bit when wafting is, in my opinion, absolute tosh. In any given gear and road speed for road speed it's MUCH quicker than an E60 550i. By some margin.
OK, this is all I have read of your reply, but....The SMG gearbox and the 200 mile range meant driving up to Glasgow and back from Norwich in the M5 was a nightmare.
It was not a nice waft machine as the smg changed the dynamics of the car completely, and having to stop half way to fill up both there and on the way back got really annoying, especially on the way home after being in the car for 9 hours already.
At that point a proper auto 'box and a tank that would at least do the 397 miles one way would have made a huge difference.
E65Ross said:
If, however, you drive everywhere and everything at the same rpm then yes, the difference is minimal. But if you drive it according to its gearing and road speed the M5 is on another planet to the 550i.
For example, cruising along at 70mph in 7th gear the M5 is doing about 2900rpm and at that it's making about 175bhp under full throttle. At 70mph in 6th gear the 550i is doing about 2000rpm and making around 120bhp. The M5 is still a very refined engine and quiet even when cruising at 4-5k rpm, it's not working hard at those rpms, unlike the 550i engine.
If you say "OK, drive at 2000rpm in both cars and put your foot down from 40mph" then yes, the 550i might be a bit quicker, but you'd be a couple of gears higher up the gearbox than the 550i so not a fair test.
If anything, the difference between the M5 and 550i no real different now than with the E60 variant (507/367=38.1% more power!! vs 560/407=37.5% more power). Both go from NA to turbo and have similar shape of torque curves, it's just the E60 has a larger rev range so can SEEM under powered at low rpm, but simply because it does so much more top end.
Sort of read the rest now and still stand by my earlier answer. For example, cruising along at 70mph in 7th gear the M5 is doing about 2900rpm and at that it's making about 175bhp under full throttle. At 70mph in 6th gear the 550i is doing about 2000rpm and making around 120bhp. The M5 is still a very refined engine and quiet even when cruising at 4-5k rpm, it's not working hard at those rpms, unlike the 550i engine.
If you say "OK, drive at 2000rpm in both cars and put your foot down from 40mph" then yes, the 550i might be a bit quicker, but you'd be a couple of gears higher up the gearbox than the 550i so not a fair test.
If anything, the difference between the M5 and 550i no real different now than with the E60 variant (507/367=38.1% more power!! vs 560/407=37.5% more power). Both go from NA to turbo and have similar shape of torque curves, it's just the E60 has a larger rev range so can SEEM under powered at low rpm, but simply because it does so much more top end.
The gap between the E60 M5 and E60 550i was much bigger than the gap between the F10 550i and the F10 M5, it is the new M5s ability to sit in full auto mode, with everything set to comfort and see nearly 30 mpg giving you a range of close to 500 miles (80 litre tank) makes it able to do the motorway thing nearly as well as a 530d, and pretty damned close to the 550i.
gizlaroc said:
Mr E said:
gizlaroc said:
The problem with the 550i saloon is I think you may as well get the M5
Does the M5 come in touring form these days?So I can't have one then, it doesn't do what I need it to do.
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