Just test drove an '08 BMW M5
08-09-2008, 11:30 AM
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Just test drove an '08 BMW M5
UPDATED::My impressions of the Z06 8/19/08
I just couldn't help it. It's not like I have anywhere near enough money for one but I managed to make the salesman think I did
I stepped into the car and the first thing I noticed was the space - It's much more spacious than my 325i and certainly more spacious than my RX-8. Not only that but it feels more "open", none of the cramped sightlines that come with the 3 series. For an extra $9,500 this was the full leather version, and let me say that this leather was absolutely stunning. The car was white - but the leather inside was a very rich, deep, woody red with black on the top of the dashboard. Normally this with the white would have made me sick but it grew on me during my time in the car.
I turned it on to be greeted by a growling V10 engine that really doesn't sound like anything else I've ever driven. It really sounds very animal, almost like pressing the "engine start" button didn't start an engine as much as it woke up some sort of huge feline predator hiding under the hood.
This IS Chicago so there were a bunch of stoplights before I could get on lake shore drive and open it up. People have told me that the gearbox in the 5 series is clumsy at low speed but frankly it didn't feel that way at all.
This brings me to the paddle shift. Originally I was put off by the paddle shift because the ones I had driven didn't actually shift when you pressed the thing - they shifted after you pressed it, when the dumbass computer thought it was appropriate. But the one in the M5 does it when you want it to, quickly. It will auto-blip the throttle for you in a downshift and auto-blip on upshift to compensate for the fall in RPMs that occurs. This car is technically "automatic" but it has a true clutch and a 7 speed gearbox so the shifting feels very "manual".
The trick with the gearbox at low speed is to come off the throttle a little bit in an upshift. It feels just as smooth and fast as any manual I have ever driven. Even with the gear changes in their quickest, fastest, stiffest mode, just lifting off a bit would make the shift clean and easy.
I turned left on to Lake Shore Drive in 2nd gear and put the gas halfway in. At half throttle, it's accelerating about as fast as the RX-8 does in first. The engine will rev just as high and hard as the RX-8s engine and makes peak power at 7700 revs or so, so I could drive it and shift basically where I would in the RX-8. The powerband is roughly the same, just higher
The acceleration - yes it's quick. But not in the way you would think. Instead of feeling like a sterner shove in the back, it feels like a slightly sterner shove where the speed gauge's needle simply moves further. In the RX-8 I would get a shove in third gear, come off the throttle 4 seconds later and be doing 60, in the M5 I ended up closer to 100, which is easily the fastest I've ever gone down that highway.
This engine produces a surprisingly small amount of torque, only about 350lb-ft. Consequently you don't get the brute force jamming forward effect that you would in a Z06-type of car, and frankly you wouldn't want it. It would feel out of place in a car this...comfortable.
It's not like it accelerates slowly at all, you really feel the surge, but its deceptive because you feel like your moving 40mph slower than you actually are. The best way I can describe it is it's fourth feels like the RX-8s 1st, and when you step on the throttle it doesn't shove you along violently, it feels like an endless surge of power that comes smoothly and grows all the way to 9,000RPM. I didn't really fiddle around with the suspension that much but honestly even in the stiffest mode it wasn't uncomfortably bumpy.
The steering is exactly how you would expect it, you turn the wheel less and the car moves more, quicker. it's very instantaneous, you turn the wheel and your car turns, none of those stupid half second pauses you get in other cars. Very responsive for 19" wheels and 4,000lbs.
I didn't really get a chance the throw it around corners the way I wish I could have (this is a city after all) but from what I felt through "slow" corners it's very controllable. Very little body roll, it obeys you the way other cars seem to fight you. It executes the turn you request the way you want it to and doesn't offer an opinion as to how you might do it better.
I only drove it in "M" mode, the full fledged 500HP mode, and after driving it that way I can't see why anyone would possibly ever want to put it in 400 mode. It's not like its hard to drive in M, not jerky or violent, it's fine.
The price for this used car, 8,000 miles, with leather and some options, was 86,000. I think that it could be talked down to 80,000 without too much trouble and with maybe a few more miles.
All in all you cannot really compare it to an RX-8. It's like comparing a Bugatti Veyron with a Formula 1 car, they are both very exciting in different ways but very simply are designed for different levels of performance.
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _________________
Well today I went to the local Chevy dealer to test drive their supercar killer, the Z06.
To my delight, I ended up with a not so slimy salesman. He spent 15 minutes pulling the car around for us to test drive but once he got it, it was beautiful.
We had the pleasure of driving a bright yellow Z06, which in my opinion is the only color other than black appropriate for this type of car. The first thing I noticed was that the pictures of this car do not do it justice. In person this car is so much better looking, especially in yellow. It has sort of a powerful stance, like it's about to pounce or take off into hyperdrive. And unlike the M5, it looks fast. Very low, very sleek. It definitely screams speed to you.
Huge wide tires corner the car, and for good reason, as they are necessary to hold the brute force under the hood in check. It was surprisingly easy to get into, and it didn't bounce around when I did like some of the other cars that I have driven. It very very sturdy, and very solid. It has the same keyless ignition system as the my RX-8. The engine sounds very different from the one in the M5. It BEGS to be driven. When revved, it roars, like someone breaking through to the other side of something they had been digging for a year and screaming in joy. Thankfully this one happened to be a manual.
This brings me to the first thing I didn't like. The clutch is too sensitive. When you let go the sweet spot comes too fast. It's less like a clutch and more like an on/off switch. Not that the huge 7.0L V8 Can't push through it, just that I wish it was a little gentler.
I took off and went around the first corner on our test route. I cautiously pushed in the throttle. Nothing happened. This is the second thing I don't like. The gas pedal does not actually respond the first few centimeters it is pushed. Consequently, you must drive it with the gas pedal pushed in slightly, so that when you want to accelerate, it's already passed its weird buffer zone.
After figuring out this little quirk, I floored it in 3rd gear at 2.5KRPM.
You have got to be ******* kidding me.
It's like train just hit you in the back. The engine sounds like a volcano erupting, and it shoots you forward with such force that you're afraid to keep going. I was not expecting this at all so at 5k I let off. Good thing too, because I was doing upwards of 100. Fourth gear doesn't feel any less exciting either, you get the same huge punch. First and second aren't as fun because they're simply both over too quickly to matter. While second is my favorite gear in the RX-8 third is by far my favorite in the Z06.
I did get to throw this one around some corners. Those tires just have SO MUCH GRIP... Its like an annoying girlfriend - it complains when you push it but it's not going anywhere. Just don't jam the throttle too hard during a hard corner, that's when it has trouble. The car's brakes are better than its acceleration, they were one of the cars best features.
The suspension is very stiff. For the most part, people would consider this to be a con. Yes, you the bumps are harder. Yes you feel everything...but than again, you feel everything. It's bad in the sense that it's not a great ride, but it's great in the sense that you feel the road, you know where it is, like if you were to reach down and touch the floor you'd feel the pavement rushing past. Very connected to the road.
Great car. Here's the problem - It's fast, but that's all it is. While Chevy can try and fake it with full leather, an interesting sat nav system, a sweet heads up display and other trimmings, but you know when your driving it that this is not a comfortable or practical car. What it is, is a fast car. If you want a fast car, buy this. But for $70,000 all said and done - I'll pay the extra 10 for the M5 any day.
I just couldn't help it. It's not like I have anywhere near enough money for one but I managed to make the salesman think I did
I stepped into the car and the first thing I noticed was the space - It's much more spacious than my 325i and certainly more spacious than my RX-8. Not only that but it feels more "open", none of the cramped sightlines that come with the 3 series. For an extra $9,500 this was the full leather version, and let me say that this leather was absolutely stunning. The car was white - but the leather inside was a very rich, deep, woody red with black on the top of the dashboard. Normally this with the white would have made me sick but it grew on me during my time in the car.
I turned it on to be greeted by a growling V10 engine that really doesn't sound like anything else I've ever driven. It really sounds very animal, almost like pressing the "engine start" button didn't start an engine as much as it woke up some sort of huge feline predator hiding under the hood.
This IS Chicago so there were a bunch of stoplights before I could get on lake shore drive and open it up. People have told me that the gearbox in the 5 series is clumsy at low speed but frankly it didn't feel that way at all.
This brings me to the paddle shift. Originally I was put off by the paddle shift because the ones I had driven didn't actually shift when you pressed the thing - they shifted after you pressed it, when the dumbass computer thought it was appropriate. But the one in the M5 does it when you want it to, quickly. It will auto-blip the throttle for you in a downshift and auto-blip on upshift to compensate for the fall in RPMs that occurs. This car is technically "automatic" but it has a true clutch and a 7 speed gearbox so the shifting feels very "manual".
The trick with the gearbox at low speed is to come off the throttle a little bit in an upshift. It feels just as smooth and fast as any manual I have ever driven. Even with the gear changes in their quickest, fastest, stiffest mode, just lifting off a bit would make the shift clean and easy.
I turned left on to Lake Shore Drive in 2nd gear and put the gas halfway in. At half throttle, it's accelerating about as fast as the RX-8 does in first. The engine will rev just as high and hard as the RX-8s engine and makes peak power at 7700 revs or so, so I could drive it and shift basically where I would in the RX-8. The powerband is roughly the same, just higher
The acceleration - yes it's quick. But not in the way you would think. Instead of feeling like a sterner shove in the back, it feels like a slightly sterner shove where the speed gauge's needle simply moves further. In the RX-8 I would get a shove in third gear, come off the throttle 4 seconds later and be doing 60, in the M5 I ended up closer to 100, which is easily the fastest I've ever gone down that highway.
This engine produces a surprisingly small amount of torque, only about 350lb-ft. Consequently you don't get the brute force jamming forward effect that you would in a Z06-type of car, and frankly you wouldn't want it. It would feel out of place in a car this...comfortable.
It's not like it accelerates slowly at all, you really feel the surge, but its deceptive because you feel like your moving 40mph slower than you actually are. The best way I can describe it is it's fourth feels like the RX-8s 1st, and when you step on the throttle it doesn't shove you along violently, it feels like an endless surge of power that comes smoothly and grows all the way to 9,000RPM. I didn't really fiddle around with the suspension that much but honestly even in the stiffest mode it wasn't uncomfortably bumpy.
The steering is exactly how you would expect it, you turn the wheel less and the car moves more, quicker. it's very instantaneous, you turn the wheel and your car turns, none of those stupid half second pauses you get in other cars. Very responsive for 19" wheels and 4,000lbs.
I didn't really get a chance the throw it around corners the way I wish I could have (this is a city after all) but from what I felt through "slow" corners it's very controllable. Very little body roll, it obeys you the way other cars seem to fight you. It executes the turn you request the way you want it to and doesn't offer an opinion as to how you might do it better.
I only drove it in "M" mode, the full fledged 500HP mode, and after driving it that way I can't see why anyone would possibly ever want to put it in 400 mode. It's not like its hard to drive in M, not jerky or violent, it's fine.
The price for this used car, 8,000 miles, with leather and some options, was 86,000. I think that it could be talked down to 80,000 without too much trouble and with maybe a few more miles.
All in all you cannot really compare it to an RX-8. It's like comparing a Bugatti Veyron with a Formula 1 car, they are both very exciting in different ways but very simply are designed for different levels of performance.
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _________________
Well today I went to the local Chevy dealer to test drive their supercar killer, the Z06.
To my delight, I ended up with a not so slimy salesman. He spent 15 minutes pulling the car around for us to test drive but once he got it, it was beautiful.
We had the pleasure of driving a bright yellow Z06, which in my opinion is the only color other than black appropriate for this type of car. The first thing I noticed was that the pictures of this car do not do it justice. In person this car is so much better looking, especially in yellow. It has sort of a powerful stance, like it's about to pounce or take off into hyperdrive. And unlike the M5, it looks fast. Very low, very sleek. It definitely screams speed to you.
Huge wide tires corner the car, and for good reason, as they are necessary to hold the brute force under the hood in check. It was surprisingly easy to get into, and it didn't bounce around when I did like some of the other cars that I have driven. It very very sturdy, and very solid. It has the same keyless ignition system as the my RX-8. The engine sounds very different from the one in the M5. It BEGS to be driven. When revved, it roars, like someone breaking through to the other side of something they had been digging for a year and screaming in joy. Thankfully this one happened to be a manual.
This brings me to the first thing I didn't like. The clutch is too sensitive. When you let go the sweet spot comes too fast. It's less like a clutch and more like an on/off switch. Not that the huge 7.0L V8 Can't push through it, just that I wish it was a little gentler.
I took off and went around the first corner on our test route. I cautiously pushed in the throttle. Nothing happened. This is the second thing I don't like. The gas pedal does not actually respond the first few centimeters it is pushed. Consequently, you must drive it with the gas pedal pushed in slightly, so that when you want to accelerate, it's already passed its weird buffer zone.
After figuring out this little quirk, I floored it in 3rd gear at 2.5KRPM.
You have got to be ******* kidding me.
It's like train just hit you in the back. The engine sounds like a volcano erupting, and it shoots you forward with such force that you're afraid to keep going. I was not expecting this at all so at 5k I let off. Good thing too, because I was doing upwards of 100. Fourth gear doesn't feel any less exciting either, you get the same huge punch. First and second aren't as fun because they're simply both over too quickly to matter. While second is my favorite gear in the RX-8 third is by far my favorite in the Z06.
I did get to throw this one around some corners. Those tires just have SO MUCH GRIP... Its like an annoying girlfriend - it complains when you push it but it's not going anywhere. Just don't jam the throttle too hard during a hard corner, that's when it has trouble. The car's brakes are better than its acceleration, they were one of the cars best features.
The suspension is very stiff. For the most part, people would consider this to be a con. Yes, you the bumps are harder. Yes you feel everything...but than again, you feel everything. It's bad in the sense that it's not a great ride, but it's great in the sense that you feel the road, you know where it is, like if you were to reach down and touch the floor you'd feel the pavement rushing past. Very connected to the road.
Great car. Here's the problem - It's fast, but that's all it is. While Chevy can try and fake it with full leather, an interesting sat nav system, a sweet heads up display and other trimmings, but you know when your driving it that this is not a comfortable or practical car. What it is, is a fast car. If you want a fast car, buy this. But for $70,000 all said and done - I'll pay the extra 10 for the M5 any day.
Last edited by Falken; 08-19-2008 at 11:49 AM. Reason: Added Z06
08-11-2008, 03:34 PM
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Nice write-up. I always wanted to drive one of these but I still love the E39 M5 (99-03) the best as far as looks and performance. I don't know why but the V8 in this one appeals to me more than the V10's and I believe this car had much less electronic control and it perhaps (never driven any M5) felt more connected to the road or more of a driver's car. The looks of the E39 was also still classic BMW and simply an evolution of the previous two M5 generations before the flame surfacing crap.
08-13-2008, 03:31 PM
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After that, who knows? I'm going to try and drive a new one each week but for them to take you seriously you have to look rich, and the fanciest car I have to roll up in is a BMW 325i.
I could probably get myself into a few more.
08-18-2008, 11:19 PM
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I would say that the Aston Martin DB9 is the similar to the M-5. In excelleration and handling. I personally like the DB9, its sounds incredible!
I like cant afford any of the two but was told to test drive the car I love to see if I even like how it drives.
So far I have test driven the E55 AMG Wow thats a nice ride. Also Porsche 911 turbo 04, scary. MB 550 with 22in rims, very nice. Audi R-4 incredible ride. I took it very easy with the Audi.
So go ahead dream big and go to your local dreamcar dealership and just ask for a test drive.
I like cant afford any of the two but was told to test drive the car I love to see if I even like how it drives.
So far I have test driven the E55 AMG Wow thats a nice ride. Also Porsche 911 turbo 04, scary. MB 550 with 22in rims, very nice. Audi R-4 incredible ride. I took it very easy with the Audi.
So go ahead dream big and go to your local dreamcar dealership and just ask for a test drive.
08-19-2008, 11:03 PM
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the C63 AMG will be my next car. My father has a 535i and its really nice, he has the full M Tech Kit / OEM 166 M5 Wheels / ACS roof and Trunk Spoiler / OEM Carbon Diffuser. It looks bad *** for the size of car it is.
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