Discussion
Ok; Superlightr's gowna kick my heed in but here goes...
Saturday night afforded me, via the beneficent hand of Captain Destiny, a ride and drive, at long bleedin' last, in this Munchen legend.
Here are my impressions:
First, I'm beholding a modern classic. And the aesthetic message is unequivocal: brutal intent. Slung low and with a profile to match, the ubiquitous charge of 'ultimate Q car' now makes complete sense, only the glorious shadow spoke alloys and magnificent quad pipe exhaust betraying it's more bespoke hegemony.
I'm beside myself with anticipation and invoke a veritable negative reality inversion, such is the rapidity with which I remove the owner's keys from an all-too tempting daggle cum offer to have a go...
Stage two and the heavy guage doors open to reveal an interior familiar from a thousand and one poured over reviews; I'd be lying if I described the colour because it wasn't registering; I was too involved in what I was about to receive. The only messages from the interior environment were subconcsious; the seat's support (lateral and otherways) was fabulous and the rack and wheel in front felt like whatever the stuff of real motorsport derivations probably feel like...somehow expertly judged, perfectly executed.
Moving off down the m-way was profoundly dull, however. But, this is a Bee-Em so refinement is always going to be a big factor but this was Lexus quiet...5th gear, 75 mph, Miss Daisy at your command. Time to give Chewie a call and hit the asteroid field.
Drop to 4th and plant. Ok, ok; well it's accelerating but I'm not exactly blown awa...HOLY SH1T!!! This is normally aspirated? Are we sure the boys from KKK haven't been playing with the induction system? KERBAM...Mr Jekyll kicked roundly in the nads and howdy doodee General Hyde...is that a werewolf you're walking ce soir?
The roar as this 'craft' headbutted 120 was simply extraordinary; as was the stance. I mean it felt properly 'I think I'm a Porsche suck me down' ground effect solid; here was part of the myth unfurling before my very eyes, beginning to make total sense.
And the steering. So criticised for vagueness on the straight ahead and yes, perhaps next to an R500 but for something this well rounded? I think churlish the best descrption for such critique for I found it almost perfect for the task. I'd go so far as to say it offered shades of EVO VII-dom on the bends which is not exactly faint praise.
Within minutes I had branded it with licence loser status (probably more so than most for it's sheer muscular effortlessness) but the crowning glory of this all too short rendezvous was a treat by the owner to a quick street side blast of the beastie at standstill.
Someone earlier mentioned cars not howling enough, on a different thread. The M5 certainly does and it soundeth monstrous.
It is one helluva car and I now have one helluva headache. Noble or M5? Answers on a postacrd!
Saturday night afforded me, via the beneficent hand of Captain Destiny, a ride and drive, at long bleedin' last, in this Munchen legend.
Here are my impressions:
First, I'm beholding a modern classic. And the aesthetic message is unequivocal: brutal intent. Slung low and with a profile to match, the ubiquitous charge of 'ultimate Q car' now makes complete sense, only the glorious shadow spoke alloys and magnificent quad pipe exhaust betraying it's more bespoke hegemony.
I'm beside myself with anticipation and invoke a veritable negative reality inversion, such is the rapidity with which I remove the owner's keys from an all-too tempting daggle cum offer to have a go...
Stage two and the heavy guage doors open to reveal an interior familiar from a thousand and one poured over reviews; I'd be lying if I described the colour because it wasn't registering; I was too involved in what I was about to receive. The only messages from the interior environment were subconcsious; the seat's support (lateral and otherways) was fabulous and the rack and wheel in front felt like whatever the stuff of real motorsport derivations probably feel like...somehow expertly judged, perfectly executed.
Moving off down the m-way was profoundly dull, however. But, this is a Bee-Em so refinement is always going to be a big factor but this was Lexus quiet...5th gear, 75 mph, Miss Daisy at your command. Time to give Chewie a call and hit the asteroid field.
Drop to 4th and plant. Ok, ok; well it's accelerating but I'm not exactly blown awa...HOLY SH1T!!! This is normally aspirated? Are we sure the boys from KKK haven't been playing with the induction system? KERBAM...Mr Jekyll kicked roundly in the nads and howdy doodee General Hyde...is that a werewolf you're walking ce soir?
The roar as this 'craft' headbutted 120 was simply extraordinary; as was the stance. I mean it felt properly 'I think I'm a Porsche suck me down' ground effect solid; here was part of the myth unfurling before my very eyes, beginning to make total sense.
And the steering. So criticised for vagueness on the straight ahead and yes, perhaps next to an R500 but for something this well rounded? I think churlish the best descrption for such critique for I found it almost perfect for the task. I'd go so far as to say it offered shades of EVO VII-dom on the bends which is not exactly faint praise.
Within minutes I had branded it with licence loser status (probably more so than most for it's sheer muscular effortlessness) but the crowning glory of this all too short rendezvous was a treat by the owner to a quick street side blast of the beastie at standstill.
Someone earlier mentioned cars not howling enough, on a different thread. The M5 certainly does and it soundeth monstrous.
It is one helluva car and I now have one helluva headache. Noble or M5? Answers on a postacrd!
Excellent post Derestrictor. Much better put then I could write of my feeling towards the M5 when it worked - at the start.
Mine just fell apart after about 1 month of ownership. I know im hard on the cars I own, but not that hard
Lemon, Friday, bank hol car is what I had. (The fact the number plate had 666 on the reverse did concern me) Im sure most M5's are fab. I would loved to have had a good experience with my M5 but fate was agaisnt me and poor workmanship and quality.
Good luck to anyone and provided its not a complete lemon like mine Im sure you will love it.
my sole is happy now Porker ownership has smoothed my feathers. 
seen the light,
Mine just fell apart after about 1 month of ownership. I know im hard on the cars I own, but not that hard
Lemon, Friday, bank hol car is what I had. (The fact the number plate had 666 on the reverse did concern me) Im sure most M5's are fab. I would loved to have had a good experience with my M5 but fate was agaisnt me and poor workmanship and quality.
Good luck to anyone and provided its not a complete lemon like mine Im sure you will love it.
my sole is happy now Porker ownership has smoothed my feathers.
seen the light,
Hail Sperlightr, hope you're well.
The M5 continues to torment my subconscience because when I take everything into consideration, it seems to keep offering me the perfect compromise.
First off, it is fast - by any standards - and off track, will most likely give a good account of itself against 95% of comers.
Second, it is genuinely good to drive. Like most BMWs, the chassis poise allows a flowing, natural line of attack which is deeply seductive for both theraputic m-way cruising and B-road blats.
Third, it would allow me conveyance of the domestic 'massiv' and associated paraphenalia, in substantial comfort and if you factor in sat-nav, it makes for highly efficient route planning.
Fourth, it is a motorsport-derived engine; which means when being wrung, it heralds Armageddon with a certain, quad-piped exuberance. The engine itself is quite simply - and I think we can all acknowledge this - a gem amongst a rather esoteric De Beers collection.
Fifth, I rather like it's appearance.
Sixth, used examples are becoming tantalisingly depreciated. I swore that my Lexus would be the last brand new shafting I would subject myself to and with the new, hyper M5 lurking in the near future, these E39 beasties will become even more 'passe' to the style conscious toupe sufferer and thus, even more of a bargain to the cognoscenti, comme nous.
You see, all this ambivalence stems from the fact that I do genuinely love my current barge but frankly, I've realised that I'm too much of a PHer and not quite old or blue rinsed enough (yet) to entirely subscribe to what Rowan Atkinson once referred to as "the Budleigh Salterton Rest Home for the terminally short of [adrenalin]."
My only reservation is with the undoubtedly significant issue of the value of auto transmission, given today's abysmal congestion; it's all very well having a 'drivers' car' but if all you're doing is clogging up the outside lane of the M6 at 10 mph then really, what's the damn point? It's a toughie.
Which then leads you into the alternate realms of consideration: F355 v. Cerbera v. Diablo(?) v. Tuscan v. T350 v. Griff v. Elise 190 v. Exige v. Noble v. Ultima, etc, etc, etc...and even here, how the hell can you even justify £55k on a decent, early Ferrari, say, when some of these others will allow possibly similar joy, more of the time for say £20-£30k?
It is a bloody nightmare and quite frankly, I blame everybody on here for having too many Goddam awesome cars!!!
I mean yesterday, I found myself accidentally pouring over a simply glorious (early) 456GT (manual), resplendent in the ultra rare 'Kevin' red, at the regional dealership. It was just sex on wheels, it really was perfectly presented, under 20k on the odo and I suspect what, in the region of £60-£65k? (No price sticker.) 4 seats, an Enzoic V12 of colossal might and, and - just too mad but maybe not quite...oh GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So what about the pretenders to the M5's crown? The uber Audis and Mercs? All phenomenal, for sure but frankly, perhaps too new to be depreciated enough for serious consideration.
I dunno, there's just something about that M5; the stance, the seats, the wheel, the ergonomics. Could it really be my ultimate driving compromise?
I'm sorry to blither on about this but it's like a tractor beam pulling me in...
The M5 continues to torment my subconscience because when I take everything into consideration, it seems to keep offering me the perfect compromise.
First off, it is fast - by any standards - and off track, will most likely give a good account of itself against 95% of comers.
Second, it is genuinely good to drive. Like most BMWs, the chassis poise allows a flowing, natural line of attack which is deeply seductive for both theraputic m-way cruising and B-road blats.
Third, it would allow me conveyance of the domestic 'massiv' and associated paraphenalia, in substantial comfort and if you factor in sat-nav, it makes for highly efficient route planning.
Fourth, it is a motorsport-derived engine; which means when being wrung, it heralds Armageddon with a certain, quad-piped exuberance. The engine itself is quite simply - and I think we can all acknowledge this - a gem amongst a rather esoteric De Beers collection.
Fifth, I rather like it's appearance.
Sixth, used examples are becoming tantalisingly depreciated. I swore that my Lexus would be the last brand new shafting I would subject myself to and with the new, hyper M5 lurking in the near future, these E39 beasties will become even more 'passe' to the style conscious toupe sufferer and thus, even more of a bargain to the cognoscenti, comme nous.
You see, all this ambivalence stems from the fact that I do genuinely love my current barge but frankly, I've realised that I'm too much of a PHer and not quite old or blue rinsed enough (yet) to entirely subscribe to what Rowan Atkinson once referred to as "the Budleigh Salterton Rest Home for the terminally short of [adrenalin]."
My only reservation is with the undoubtedly significant issue of the value of auto transmission, given today's abysmal congestion; it's all very well having a 'drivers' car' but if all you're doing is clogging up the outside lane of the M6 at 10 mph then really, what's the damn point? It's a toughie.
Which then leads you into the alternate realms of consideration: F355 v. Cerbera v. Diablo(?) v. Tuscan v. T350 v. Griff v. Elise 190 v. Exige v. Noble v. Ultima, etc, etc, etc...and even here, how the hell can you even justify £55k on a decent, early Ferrari, say, when some of these others will allow possibly similar joy, more of the time for say £20-£30k?
It is a bloody nightmare and quite frankly, I blame everybody on here for having too many Goddam awesome cars!!!
I mean yesterday, I found myself accidentally pouring over a simply glorious (early) 456GT (manual), resplendent in the ultra rare 'Kevin' red, at the regional dealership. It was just sex on wheels, it really was perfectly presented, under 20k on the odo and I suspect what, in the region of £60-£65k? (No price sticker.) 4 seats, an Enzoic V12 of colossal might and, and - just too mad but maybe not quite...oh GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So what about the pretenders to the M5's crown? The uber Audis and Mercs? All phenomenal, for sure but frankly, perhaps too new to be depreciated enough for serious consideration.
I dunno, there's just something about that M5; the stance, the seats, the wheel, the ergonomics. Could it really be my ultimate driving compromise?
I'm sorry to blither on about this but it's like a tractor beam pulling me in...
!) but I just wish the damn thing wouldn't keep breaking down!Gassing Station | BMW General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff