BMW M5 (E39) vs M5 (G90) | PH Origin Story

The M5 to end them all meets the latest plug-in chapter of the lineage...

By Stephen Dobie / Saturday, 4 April 2026 / Loading comments

The curious dynamic of the car enthusiast means this looks like a one-sided comparison. One in the older, much less powerful car’s favour. This is far from the first PH Origin Story, but on first impressions it looks the least sympathetic yet on the modern-day instalment – and the chance of it demonstrating its lineage. The reason? Cars get barely any more godlike in the eyes of most PHers than the E39 M5. A controversial 2.4-tonne hybrid taking on arguably the best saloon car of the last quarter century (and perhaps beyond) has only one outcome, right?

Hope is handed to the G90 by the wonderful work of the BMW UK press office, who’ve had the brilliant idea to specify this example in the same Le Mans blue as their beautifully kept heritage E39. Even the most curmudgeonly cynic has to concede this is a great-looking pair, the latest M5 a bit less burly without an estate body and wearing this blue on silver getup. The low-key menace and unmistakably early noughties angel-eye lights of the E39 still quietly upstage it, yet these two complement each other magnificently in the metal.

But we want them to share ideas and philosophies, not mere paint codes. A quick scan of their spec sheets or a cursory walk around makes them appear far from equals. A naturally aspirated 4.9-litre V8 driving the rear wheels only versus a twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 hybrid and all-wheel drive. A six-speed manual playing an eight-speed auto. A car whose weight figure is topped up by cute contemporary luxuries like double-glazing, a six-disc changer and an integrated Motorola flip phone, parked beside one possessing a battery two-thirds the size of a fully electric Twingo’s. And with its bodywork straining at the seams, it looks every inch like that’s the case.

The fact a V8 still lives up front spurs the G90’s recovery, though. An engine manufactured right here in Britain, no less, the Hams Hall plant in the Midlands taking responsibility for S68 production when Munich retooled for the Neue Klasse revolution. It’s a factory that can claim Mini GP and BMW i8 engines in its 25-year history and it feels like a welcome slice of industry positivity that it now motivates one of the most illustrious models of all.

It’s a headbanger of an engine, too, a real gem hidden among the wider headlines about the G90’s mass and complexity. Crucially this is a PHEV whose zero-emission miles are a bonus to be sought out, not a hurdle to its performance – simply get in and drive the thing with abandon and you’ll consume its petrol and electric power like the disparate elements of a Jaegerbomb. Body control is decent enough, too, though the softest Comfort setting of its damping is as much as you’ll likely tolerate on the road – Sport feels very tense indeed – and it’s not a car many folks will immediately gel with, rather one to figure out as the miles pile on and a favoured setup is tagged to one of its bright red M buttons. As you might expect, next to the E39 its intense configurability looks overwrought, but I think modern M cars do get this stuff right. Always rousing and up-for-it right out the box, with the potential for more as you hold the setup menu on-screen and adjust its parameters on the fly.

Something I typically toggle every time I get in the car is the DSC button, winding it back to mid-way, ‘4WD Sport’ mode where the M5 is more than feisty enough for road driving without ever being spiky. It feels more agile than a car of this heft ought to, diving its nose into bends keenly, the feeling of an astute front axle it shares with an M2 or M3 allowing you to have more confidence teasing some playfulness from the rear. You’re just always mindful of its sheer size; it never, ever escapes its width, even in tamer driving as you wince on spindlier urban and rural roads when traffic approaches. Aggressively taking up so much space without truly warranting it does have a whiff of ‘manosphere’ about it, I have to admit.

Such issues never plague the older car, even though it too must have felt a sizeable thing in the context of its late '90s launch. It’s a decade that’s quickly nominating itself as a real high point for the character we crave in cars; generous spoonfuls of sound and interaction, allied to enough refinement and grip to feel usable every day. So long as you’re rust aware. Whether it’s an F355, Elise, Williams or a humble little Puma, the icons of this era all have one thing in common: the sense of a cohesive engineering team all pulling precisely together in the same direction. You glean a similar sensation here, not least against the backdrop of its 2020s successor attempting to hit several competing targets at once.

This is my first shot in an E39 M5, and life behind its wheel is a little calmer-paced than I’d anticipated. It feels good for its 400hp when on song, and it’s jolly quick whichever gear you’re hauling – but it requires work to hit the hedonistic heights it’s capable of. With its slightly ponderous manual gearbox and no forced induction, frenzied acceleration is more deliberately acquired than in the three decades of sports saloons that followed in its wake. You dictate its flow with your inputs, not drive mode selections, which is surely music to the ears of most true enthusiasts. But there’s no denying it’s harder work than the newer car. On a challenging B road you can keep it in third or fourth and string together a smooth, subtle flow of maintained momentum and minimal forearm movements as the V8 alters enjoyably in tone and timbre as you go – or wrap your head around its more languid shifts and get stuck into changing gear to keep the whole thing on the boil, tension in the chassis, grip limits within grasp. At which point the true superstar surfaces.

It is no less impressive when cheerily settling back down to a fuss-free cruise. Indeed, it feels built for very long distances. It’s damped beautifully, the steering is light and subtle (but still satisfying) and its thick glass ensures top-notch refinement. Over the bumpier roads that make the G90 feel fraught, the E39 communicates just enough of the road surface to keep its driver in the loop but not so much that it disturbs the ambience inside. Shame it only takes six CDs at once – you could happily drive as long as it takes to work through your whole collection. The G90 is fab on a long-haul too, of course, sitting at much lower revs and whispering along without any engine buzz at all in the right conditions. The screens look bamboozling on static display, though they work wonderfully on the move; invest some time in the potential of its tech and the staggering size of its remit begins to reveal itself.

Considered together, these two feel like a perfect diorama of the growing size, weight, performance and technology in cars, not least with the same visual spec to act as the control. Crucially, they both still demonstrate similar strands of DNA. The E39 isn’t a big-hitting thriller on first impression, demanding your commitment to show its true M tricolours, whereas the G90, like all modern M cars, allows its thrills to be more hastily accessed thanks to the quick actions of its paddleshift ‘box, its coddling mid-way stability systems and the cheat-code press of an M button to tense all its muscles in one go. Oh, and the small matter of the instant torque of its electrification…

It borders on a contractual obligation for a car journo to complain about its weight and elaborate tech, though your stein must be very much half-empty to not then acknowledge that the latest M5 still has the power to gratify despite either issue. To precisely no one’s shock, the E39’s iconic reputation remains nailed on after a day in its company, and it's hard to imagine another revisit in 25 years ultimately conferring that status on the G90. But for now, in the presence of greatness, the latest M5 can at least depart with its chest as puffed out as its shoulders.

Specification | 2026 BMW M5 (G90)

Engine: 4,395cc, twin-turbo V8, plus 18.6kWh battery and permanently excited synchronous motor
Transmission: 8-speed auto (electric motor incorporated), all-wheel drive
Power (hp): 727 (engine 585@5,600-6,500rpm)
Torque (lb ft): 738 (engine 553@1,800-5,400rpm)
0-62mph: 3.5secs
Top speed: 155mph (189mph with M Driver’s Pack)
Weight: 2,435kg (DIN)
Price: £114,095

Specification | 2001 BMW M5 (E39)

Engine: 4,941cc, V8, naturally aspirated
Transmission: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 400 @ 6,600rpm
Torque (lb ft): 369 @ 3,800rpm
0-62mph: 5.3secs
Top speed: 155mph
Weight: 1,795kg (DIN)
Price: £52,000 (new), £25,000-£55,000 (now)