RE: Tell me I'm wrong: BMW M5

RE: Tell me I'm wrong: BMW M5

Author
Discussion

gdaybruce

753 posts

224 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
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At the other end of the spectrum from the M5, I once had to ferry my student son's old style Ford Ka up to Bangor for him, driving the A5 through Snowdonia. It sticks in my memomory as one of the great drives: late at night and out of season so no traffic, the little Ka had minimial mass, just about enough performance (especially downhill) but most importantly, it was small enough to make the most of the roads and had great steering. As someone who years ago used to drive Minis in road rallies, it took me back and I arrived in Bangor feeling like I'd just done something epic!

Not exactly a relevant comparison, I know, but as has been said before, when it comes to fun, size does matter.

RichTBiscuit

430 posts

150 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
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E38Ross said:
RichTBiscuit said:
Fake Noise + Flappy st gearbox + Massive Size = Fail
fake noise i'll grant you, it's a stupid idea

st gearbox? EVERY review has said it's the joint best DCT gearbox out there, so it's clearly not st. i think the flappy paddle box suits the idealogy of an M5 - lazy cruiser when you want it to be, but still in control of the gears when you want to be.

massive size? since when has an M5 been small in comparison to other models? it's always been about the weight of the lightest 7 series of the time, right back to the original M5.
I say st in relation to flappy paddle V manual gearbox. I'm sure as a flappy paddle box it's great, but personaly I'd rather have a manual. For me, an M5 is all about driving involvement and a lazy cruiser when I want it to be - I think Manual gearbox is better suited to this. I'd have a paddle 'box in a race car, but probably nowhere else.

In relation to our roads (as they havent gotten any bigger since the original M5!) the M5 is now absolutely huge... and as the article describes, it sounds like it doesnt make driving on a british B road easy.

E39 still the sweet spot for me smile

Angry Paul

19 posts

145 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
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Perhaps it's the fact that the M5 (amongst other high performance cars) is so far away from it's peak performance at normal road speeds that it just doesn't gel on the road in everyday traffic and therefore isn't able to feel as special as it used to...

BSC

341 posts

281 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
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Article is useless. You don't drive or test a F1 on a kart track. People who buy a M5 will be in need of space (for the family or others) and like to have the power on hand to destroy nearly everything on the road, Except agricultural roads or kart tracks.

If the author had driven the M5 to LeMans for the 24 hours he would have written quite a different article.

Dave Hedgehog

14,541 posts

203 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
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bakerstreet said:
Dave Hedgehog said:
fake engine noise, instant zero

nuff said
Steady on! A lot of the modern supercars play with their exhaust sound using valves, filters and materials. Some even have an exhaust button!

Car manufactures realised that people love a decent exhaust note.
but its a real sound if a bit tuned, or bypassing the legal sound deadening part with a button

thats all fine and dandy

in this case BMW are saying are owners are fkwit retards, they are so stupid we can fob them off with fake engine noises, there basically saying the owners a

thats how i see it

Cactussed

5,292 posts

212 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
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Except that most UK M5's will be driven on congested or narrow roads with the occasional motorway blast and MAYBE the odd trip to Le Mans.

I'll be sticking with my e39 barge...

Baryonyx

17,988 posts

158 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
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bakerstreet said:
Steady on! A lot of the modern supercars play with their exhaust sound using valves, filters and materials. Some even have an exhaust button!

Car manufactures realised that people love a decent exhaust note.
They do, but petrolheads don't love fake, piped in noises.

E38Ross

34,847 posts

211 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
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RichTBiscuit said:
I say st in relation to flappy paddle V manual gearbox. I'm sure as a flappy paddle box it's great, but personaly I'd rather have a manual. For me, an M5 is all about driving involvement and a lazy cruiser when I want it to be - I think Manual gearbox is better suited to this. I'd have a paddle 'box in a race car, but probably nowhere else.

In relation to our roads (as they havent gotten any bigger since the original M5!) the M5 is now absolutely huge... and as the article describes, it sounds like it doesnt make driving on a british B road easy.

E39 still the sweet spot for me smile
i guess that's where we differ. i'd much rather a lazy car have an auto around town and in traffic, but a full on manual when pushing on. i think the decent flappy paddle boxes are a very good compromise.

sleep envy

62,260 posts

248 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
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Cactussed said:
Except that most UK M5's will be driven on congested or narrow roads with the occasional motorway blast and MAYBE the odd trip to Le Mans.

I'll be sticking with my e39 barge...
That's not the point. Aside from the fact that most will hardly see one let alone drive or even own one, they are allowed to moan about it.

Cactussed

5,292 posts

212 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
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If nobody posted an opinion unless they had direct experience, this whole forum would collapse wink

I've never actually driven an M5 either, so I'd best shut my cake hole.

Mmmm. Cake....

sleep envy

62,260 posts

248 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
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Cactussed said:
If nobody posted an opinion unless they had direct experience, this whole forum would collapse wink
Was I that obvious?

jnoiles

78 posts

155 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
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That was an awful read. The run on sentences, the random thoughts, the use of exclamation marks. It reads like it was written by a 15 year old English as a second language student. Piss poor excuse for journalism. You got given an M5 and told to go play with it in Wales. At least make an effort man.

bakerstreet

4,750 posts

164 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
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Baryonyx said:
They do, but petrolheads don't love fake, piped in noises.
Don't think so.

I doubt some people could even tell. Stand them behind the previous gen corvette and ask them if its a good sound and they would probably say yes. You'd look a bit of an idiot if you then turned round and said 'I hate that, its got butterfly valves in the exhaust!'

I love the sound of a decent engine, but I couldn't care less if the manufacturer engineered the sound or not.


dvance

605 posts

167 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
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So to sum this article up -- the M5 does not work on the really narrow British B roads? I could have told you that without having been less than a mile away from the new M5.

For crying out loud, my '01 Seat Toledo feels huge for those roads, and it's by no means comparable in size to the M5. What did you expect?

RichTBiscuit

430 posts

150 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
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bakerstreet said:
Don't think so.

I doubt some people could even tell. Stand them behind the previous gen corvette and ask them if its a good sound and they would probably say yes. You'd look a bit of an idiot if you then turned round and said 'I hate that, its got butterfly valves in the exhaust!'

I love the sound of a decent engine, but I couldn't care less if the manufacturer engineered the sound or not.
I dont think he is talking about butterflies in the exhaust - more like fake sounds being made by Audio speakers inside the car.....

kambites

67,442 posts

220 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
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bakerstreet said:
I love the sound of a decent engine, but I couldn't care less if the manufacturer engineered the sound or not.
It's certainly good news for manufacturers if lots of people are like this, because it means there is no real disadvantage to fitting a well-isolated inline-4 and then using the speakers to make it sound like a V8.

Baryonyx

17,988 posts

158 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
quotequote all
bakerstreet said:
Don't think so.

I doubt some people could even tell. Stand them behind the previous gen corvette and ask them if its a good sound and they would probably say yes. You'd look a bit of an idiot if you then turned round and said 'I hate that, its got butterfly valves in the exhaust!'

I love the sound of a decent engine, but I couldn't care less if the manufacturer engineered the sound or not.
I'm not talking about butterfly valves in the exhaust, I'm talking about phony digital engine noises. Otherwise, I'd have to moan about Aston Martins with butterfly valves in the exhaust! That said, a friend of a friend with an Aston Martin has been researching how to lock upen the valve in his exhaust so he gets to proper noise all the time. It's definitely something I'd want, though I have been spoiled by engine and exhaust noise in my MR2.

Beefmeister

16,482 posts

229 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
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Can't wait to try this new M5 out. I've got it booked for a day when I pop back to the UK in March.

Also, looks like Mr. Trent is quite handy with a DSLR, couple of really nice shots there!

jason61c

5,978 posts

173 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
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anything fast said:
THE BEST 4 DOOR CAR MONEY CAN BUY.. ON BALANCE OF POWER, SPEED, QUALITY AND PRICE, NOTHING COMES CLOSE IMO! LOVE IT!
Erm, GTR?

jbi

12,668 posts

203 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
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johnpeat said:
It's biggest problem, by far and away, is that it's MASSIVE - it's almost 7-series sized and no matter how clever it gets, it cannot fit it's bulk into the 'round hole' all that tech is aiming for.

The 'serious' M drivers all drive the 1M now anyway tho - so this remains as a way for people to waste money further up the model range smile
No it's not... it's about 1 inch longer than the old M5 and still about 9 inches shorter than the E38 and 13 inches shorter than the current 7 series