The F10 M5 facelift is imminet.

[mondie]

I haven't seen much in the UK press on this but found this Australian article:

http://theage.drive.com.au/motor-news/revealed-bmw...

Couple of points of interest:

BMW has also added an M5 performance enhancement pack. The M5 Competition Package sucks an extra 11kW of power from the high-tuned 4.4-litre twin turbo V8 engine for a total of 423kW. With the extra power comes suspension changes, with the Competition model riding 10mm lower and featuring stiffer stabiliser bars and retuned suspension and damping for more cornering stability. It also gains standard carbon brakes, and newly designed, model-specific 20-inch wheels.

Sounds like a nice upgrade but probably at a 12k + premium...

At the top of the line-up, the 550i’s turbocharged 4.4-litre V8 gains an added 30kW and 50Nm over the previous model, endowing it with 330kW and 650Nm of torque – sufficient, according to BMW’s official figures, for 0-100km/h acceleration in 4.5s and a top speed limited to 250km/h in combination with average fuel consumption of 8.8L/100km and CO2 emissions of 199g/km.

That is some serious performance and closes the gap on the stock m5.

So I have to wonder if 0% PCP's are still going to be around later this year, if so the competition pack could be a winner. I hope BMW have got the new alloy wheel design right as the F10 M5 needs a lift to me eyes. Its this or an RS6 for me next.

Cheers
mondie

[Palmball]

The wheel design is poor IMO. Here it is....

On the M5






On the M6






Also, whilst the power increase will be undetectable, the suspension and steering changes sound promising. Just a shame about the wheels.

M5post have more details on it of you look there.

[mondie]

Thanks for those pics of a pretty uninspired wheel design. Its time BMW poached a few wheel designers from Audi! Will have a look at that other forum you mention.

[Palmball]

Thing is, they're all going for these boring designs.

Mercedes put a similar set on the E63 when they launched the bi-turbo 18 months ago.

Audi now use this thin spoke design on their new RS4 and facelift RS5 (admittedly, they look a good design on the RS4, less so on the facelift RS5 where I much preferred the previous deep-dish 5-spoke designs).