Tuesday 3rd June

Akrapovic exhaust brings latest BMW M5 to life

Less weight, more power and extra V8 goodness from new titanium pipes

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There are a long list of grievances currently associated with the new BMW M5. Take your pick from weight, design, interior - or maybe take all three. Some will take more effort to resolve than others. As far as sound goes, the twin-turbo 4.4 V8 certainly seems a little muted from outside, no doubt thanks to a glut of filters - but Akrapovi? has been working on a solution. 

Its Slip-On Line (Titanium) exhaust launched a little while back, but the video demonstrating what it actually did was only released this morning. And that’s the bit people are really interested in - see here. But there are additional points of interest to the new Akra setup, because you wouldn’t expect anything less from the Slovenian company these days. This isn’t some wild decat flamethrower, for starters, designed to work with all that’s bunged up an exhaust for EC/ECE type approval, so that’s good. 

There’s another seven horsepower to be gained from the increased diameter exhausts, which barely qualifies as a gain with 727hp - but must be better than seven less. There’s also another 18lb ft, which might make more of a difference, plus a weight reduction of 6kg over the standard pipes - which certainly won’t. But titanium exhausts are always cool, wherever they’re fitted, and that’s almost a third less than stock. Akrapovi? has its own diffuser and rear spoiler lip to draw attention to its new hexagonal or round tailpipes. 

‘Akrapovi? sound engineers have focused on delivering the optimal sound experience of an Akrapovi? type-approved exhaust’, they say, with acoustic reflectors to get external sound in the car, plus a new control kit for the valves. No small investment, you’d imagine, Akrapovi? confident that new M5 customers - probably like owners of the previous one, in fairness - might like a bit more voice to their turbo V8. We’ll let you be the judge of their success in the video, but expect to pay thousands for the privilege - the Akrapovi? expertise doesn’t come cheap. Good job there’s already money off some cars in the classifieds…   

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• 2025 BMW M5 Touring (G99) | UK Review
  
• BMW 1M Coupe | Rise & Drive

[FlukePlay]

Less weight, like trimming your toe nails before stepping on the scales?

[Repent]

Less weight

The view seems to be this is a strong case of a car derided by the internet, but leaving actual paying owners going in eyes open with the use case its designed for extremely impressed.

It ll always look pretty crap and bloated, at least it should sound less like that now.

Edited by Repent on Wednesday 4th June 13:03

[Terminator X]

I owned a 2018 M5C so pre GPF / OPF. That car sounded absolutely mental and was a monster on the road. How the mighty have fallen simply due to pathetic EU Regs, just makes me sad at the state of the car industry today

TX.

[Motormouth88]

FlukePlay said:

Less weight, like trimming your toe nails before stepping on the scales?

Nailed it

[CharverDeeksWorth]

Motormouth88 said:

FlukePlay said:

Less weight, like trimming your toe nails before stepping on the scales?

Nailed it

I see what you did there.

[CharverDeeksWorth]

Motormouth88 said:

FlukePlay said:

Less weight, like trimming your toe nails before stepping on the scales?

Nailed it

I see what you did there.

[WPA]

Not sure 6kg weight saving is going to be noticeable on something weighing 2.5 tons, crazy to see on carwow the other day the previous model (F90) was around 1.8 tons so even when a company like Evolve get 1000bhp out of the new car, you just cannot get past the weight and the impact it has on performance

[The Pistonsdead]

CharverDeeksWorth said:

Motormouth88 said:

FlukePlay said:

Less weight, like trimming your toe nails before stepping on the scales?

Nailed it

I see what you did there.

[MrBogSmith]

I had one one test for a day (the touring) last week.

Beast of car with flaws (gearbox) and, yes, a bit of weight.

Modern restrictions on sound make me consider this, and I've never had an aftermarket exhaust before.

[Wardy78]

Repent said:

The view seems to be this is a strong case of a car derided by the internet, but leaving actual paying owners going in eyes open with the use case its designed for extremely impressed.

Edited by Repent on Wednesday 4th June 13:03

Same thing for a hell of a lot of cars costing above £50k (or German). But the beige adorned PH masters of automotive knowledge will always know best, especially when accompanied with zero actual experience of the product.

[Wardy78]

Just listened to the video. It's an improvement but still nothing like a Merc AMG V8 let alone a JLR supercharged V8.

And since when do artificial pops and bangs equate to a decent exhaust note?

[emix]

Still quiet. Friend of mine put an Akra titanium exhaust on his brand new X5 M. It changed the tone a little and it is a little bit louder when pressing on, but absolutely not worth the cost. Now... if one were to remove the opf and the middle resonator, then there a significant difference in tone and volume, and that costs a lot less than buying a 8k euro Akrapovic exhaust.

These new EU regs are absolutely idiotic, but apparently a lot of complainers have requested a clampdown on noise pollution, so here we are. Imo top of the line cars should have been exempted and kept the old levels. Yes they were regulated before as well, they just decreased the maximum sound output by 10 db. Sound measuring is exponential so 10 db is a lot.

[trails]

Wardy78 said:

Just listened to the video. It's an improvement but still nothing like a Merc AMG V8 let alone a JLR supercharged V8.

And since when do artificial pops and bangs equate to a decent exhaust note?

The voice over was magic though

[Pica-Pica]

CharverDeeksWorth said:

Motormouth88 said:

FlukePlay said:

Less weight, like trimming your toe nails before stepping on the scales?

Nailed it

I see what you did there.

Stereoscopically too.

[Pica-Pica]

emix said:

Still quiet. Friend of mine put an Akra titanium exhaust on his brand new X5 M. It changed the tone a little and it is a little bit louder when pressing on, but absolutely not worth the cost. Now... if one were to remove the opf and the middle resonator, then there a significant difference in tone and volume, and that costs a lot less than buying a 8k euro Akrapovic exhaust.

These new EU regs are absolutely idiotic, but apparently a lot of complainers have requested a clampdown on noise pollution, so here we are. Imo top of the line cars should have been exempted and kept the old levels. Yes they were regulated before as well, they just decreased the maximum sound output by 10 db. Sound measuring is exponential so 10 db is a lot.

Logarithmic.

[CharverDeeksWorth]

Motormouth88 said:

FlukePlay said:

Less weight, like trimming your toe nails before stepping on the scales?

Nailed it

I see what you did there.

[Robertb]

Sounds Krap.

Dull and characterless, but louder and more irritating.

[FA57REN]

Repent said:

Less weight

The view seems to be this is a strong case of a car derided by the internet, but leaving actual paying owners going in eyes open with the use case its designed for extremely impressed.

What exactly is the use case for an M5 nowadays? It's completely overpowered for the autobahn, has too much weight as a B-road stormer and is too rigidly sprung for ferrying executives to the airport. So what's it for?

Something Alpina-ish with a Touring boot seems more relevant.

Edited by FA57REN on Wednesday 4th June 17:14

[ChocolateFrog]

FlukePlay said:

Less weight, like trimming your toe nails before stepping on the scales?

In my head Titanium is a valuable resource and this feels like wiping your arse on £20 notes just because it's paper.

[VR6 Eug]

An exhaust wont save the M5, its still ugly and still 2.5 tons!