F10 M5 gripes

[thr32]

Evening all,

Now, I fully expect a lighting bolt to come and find me for saying this – and I should add that I think my M5 is an unbelievably pleasant place to sit, with an engine that's a force of nature and an ICE system that isn't far from perfect – but there are a couple of things about it that really get my goat when I'm driving in town, which I do quite a bit.

The first is the way BMW has decided I am not allowed to turn off stop-start or the fan from one journey to the next... with is plain bloody-mindedness.

But the second annoys me far more. The DCT is an amazing thing, but the way the throttle responds at very low speed – in any of its three modes – is just stupid. I think I'm an OK driver: no more than OK, but I pride myself on driving all my cars smoothly. And I just cannot get the M5 to move smartly but smoothly away from the lights – you give it the right amount of throttle for the getaway I want, and.... nothing. Then your neck snaps. Try using the parking brake so I don't have to sit at the lights with my foot on the brake to use start-stop (don't get me started) and it's even worse because you need more throttle to make it take the parking brake off than you do to drive away (chat me through that). Given that the whole drivetrain is electronically controlled, why oh why doesn't it match the amount of throttle it uses to the clutch position?

AndAnotherThing... To stop without any kind of jerk at all you pretty much need to apply the gentlest amount of braking pressure from about 3 miles before you want to stop. Would it really be a crazy assumption for the car to notice I've just braked constantly from 60mph to 1 and take a view that it might want to pull the clutch in?

I'm fully expecting to get flamed for this, but am I really doing it so badly? #TellMeI'mWrong...

TH

Edited by thr32 on Sunday 1st September 17:55

Edited by thr32 on Sunday 1st September 17:57

[Pugland53]

I agree about pulling away, nothing, nothing, then WHAM it takes off. As my first non-manual car it does take some getting used to, the DCT is amazing when driving fast though.

[paulmc]

They Usually start in 2nd gear. All auto bm's have done this for years. I tend to select 1st gear makes pulling away much smoother. Pain that you have to select 1st though.

[Newc]

Agree on the coming to a stop thing.


Stop/Start is codable to "remember my last choice" by your dealer. "Always off" isn't an option.

[w5pwr]

paulmc said:

They Usually start in 2nd gear. All auto bm's have done this for years. I tend to select 1st gear makes pulling away much smoother. Pain that you have to select 1st though.

Just ever so lightly touch the accelerator and it drops into 1st....

[JapFreak786]

Do you drive it in auto all the time? I prefer to use the flappy paddles on my E93 M3, and select 1st at the lights, did the same in my old E60 M5. Always a nicer get away, wasn't the smoothest in the E60 but does the job quite well in the E93

[Dinh]

I take your point and indeed the default mode of the car is cumbersome. Driving a car with turbos also requires a slightly different driving style. As one of the previous post states, the fact that the car will hold 2nd gear in its efficient mode means pulling away "properly" is all that much harder.

When you're out of the efficient mode, the car is what it is - a highly tuned sports car - and it requires a delicate touch to get the best/smoothest acceleration. Braking is also the same. I find cars with turbos much easier to drive when you anticipate what the car will do - it needs a more progressive touch, thinking one step ahead, and people tend to overcompensate for the lag; you said yourself its kind it's either all or nothing.

I'm sure you'll get to grips with it mate and all those frustrations will cease to exist!

[RichardM5]

Both the pulling away and stopping characteristics you describe were exactly the same in an F10 M5 I had on extended test. It was the main reason why I did not decide to buy one!

[Skrambles]

The car does need to be handled with a light touch at low speeds and the get-away at times when I forget that it has stopped in 2nd is pretty gormless, but, after a bit of patience, I'm used to its minor shortcomings. Even full auto boxes, like the one in our x5 40d (or in our old x5 4.4), aren't perfect (tho' very close) and often get caught out when slowing down and speeding up again (even gently) without actually coming to a stop.