How the BMW M5 Defined the Concept of Sport Sedans
Should the four-door sedan one day go the way of the dinosaur and its history written in full, there’s liable to be a whole chapter on the BMW M5. The high-performance version of the 5 Series has, arguably, defined the concept of the sport sedan for generations — and arguably is the right word, because few production cars have generated as much controversy among fans with each generation as the M5.
Over the span of its 40-year history, however, a few things have generally remained true: each subsequent M5 has been more powerful; each subsequent car has been more expensive; and, perhaps most controversially amongst its legions of fans, each new version has been larger and heavier than the one before. (Of course, that’s not the only source of strife to affect the M5 over its seven generations, but we’ll get to that in a bit.)
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The M5 is also still very much alive and well; there is even likely the wagon version coming to the U.S. sooner rather than later, the type of gift to certain enthusiasts that it feels like you see less and less of these days. We’ll probably still be talking about the M5 40 years from now, in other words, as we have for the past 40.
So walk with us, then, as we survey the four decades and seven generations of cars that have come to make this otherwise unremarkable alphanumeric moniker one of the most celebrated names in the automotive world.
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E28 M5 | 1984: A Legend Is Born
After the second generation of the 5 Series rolled out at the start of the 1980s, the folks at BMW’s M division had an idea: why not take the 3.5-liter inline-six created for the mid-engined M1 sports car and plop it under the hood? So equipped, the first M5 whipped up 282 horsepower — except in the United States and Canada, where a catalytic converter and other North America-specific changes restricted output to 256 horses.
Still, given that it was only about the size of a 1996 Honda Civic sedan and weighed less than 3,200 pounds, the engine made the first M5 a firecracker for its day. And with only 2,241 examples made over its four-year production run, the first M5 is the rarest by far.
E34 M5 | 1988: Don’t Mess With Success
While the E34 generation marked many firsts for the 5 Series — the first V8, the first six-speed gearbox, the first station wagon variant, and the first availability of all-wheel-drive, among others — the M5 largely stood by a don’t-mess-with-success mantra. Under the hood, drivers still found an inline-six — a modified version of the previous M5’s motor, still displacing 3.5 liters but now making 311 hp and 266 lb-ft. Slightly offsetting that extra power: the E34’s increased dimensions, with the car now stretching four inches longer than and weighing an extra 650 pounds over the E28 version.
Once again, the U.S. was deprived of the best stuff; while Europeans saw the M5 upgraded to a larger 3.8-liter engine with 23 more horsepower for the ’92 model year, Americans (and South Africans) stuck with the old 3.5. The E34 generation also marked the first BMW M station wagon, the M5 Touring — but this, also, never came to the U.S.
E39 M5 | 1998: Enter the V-8
The E39 generation that entered production in 1995 brought a new sense of streamlined style to the 5 Series, making it look sleeker and faster than ever. To match the fresh appearance, BMW M decided it was time to give the M5 a V-8. The 4.9-liter eight-pot made specifically for the M5 cranked out 394 horsepower and 369 lb-ft, enough to break its 0-60 mph time into the four-second range — impressive today, let alone in late 1998 when the E39 M5 began rolling off the assembly line.
And much as the E34 grew bigger over its predecessor, so too did the E39 M5 over its forbear; it was about two and a half inches longer, and now weighed in at just a hair under two tons.
E60 M5 | 2004: Big Changes Afoot
When the E60-generation version of the M5 arrived, it came accompanied by controversy for more than one reason. First, the E60-gen 5 Series — which had arrived one year earlier in non-M form — boasted the new BMW design language launched on the 7 Series in 2001. The look, associated with design chief Chris Bangle, broke from the clean lines long associated with the brand, trading them for undulating “flame surfacing” and rear ends often mocked as “Bangle butts.” The E60 was also the first M5 to feature the complex click-wheel infotainment control known as iDrive, notorious for its byzantine menus that complicated tasks formerly performed by a single button.
There was also a bit of discussion generated by the new M5’s motor. As with its E39 predecessor, the E60-gen car added two more cylinders beneath the hood, bringing the total to 10 (and creating BMW’s first, and so far only, production car V-10). The 5.0-liter engine was a high-tech 8,250-rpm screamer, with its maximum power of 500 horses arriving at 7,750 rpm and peak torque of 384 lb-ft showing up at 6,100. To help owners wring the engine out properly, the M division made another controversial choice: instead of a stick shift like all past M5s, the E60 would come with a seven-speed sequential gearbox, or SMG, that was shifted via a lever or paddles — or could even change gears automatically, although complaints arose that its shifts could be jerky at anything less than full throttle. (It proved divisive enough that BMW eventually offered a six-speed stick, albeit just to North American customers who’d complained the most.)
And, of course, the E60 M5 was bigger than its ancestors. The weight now crossed the two-ton mark, hitting 4,081 lbs for the sedan and 4,301 for the Touring station wagon that returned after skipping the E39-gen model. The wheelbase grew almost three inches versus the E39, and the E60 sedan’s length grew by roughly the same amount.
F10 M5 | 2011: Turbo Time
The second new M5 of the 21st Century, based on the F10-generation 5 Series that debuted in 2010, backtracked a tad away from the revolutionary nature of its E60 antecedent. The Bangle-era styling was revised to a smoother, more muscular — if, arguably, a little puffier — look. Under the hood, the cylinder count dropped back down to eight, but for the first time, forced induction joined the party. The 4.4-liter V-8 used twin turbochargers to help generate a maximum of 553 horsepower and 502 lb-ft, the latter available in a broad spread from 1,500 to 5,750 rpm. The SMG transmission was gone, replaced by a seven-speed dual-clutch that shifted more smoothly in both automatic and manual modes; North Americans still had the option of the six-speed stick, however. And, for the first time, starting in 2014, the Competition Package was offered, upgrading the car’s performance with a stiffer, lowered suspension and extra power.
But thanks in part to its new features, the M5 grew once again. Weight climbed to 4,387 pounds, the wheelbase stretched out 3.1 inches, and overall length grew by more than two.
F90 M5 | 2017: All-Wheel-Drive Arrives
At first glance, the sixth-gen M5 — confusingly known internally as the F90, though it’s based on the G30-generation 5 Series —seems like an evolution of the F10 that came before it. As with the move from first to second M5s, the engine carried over from its predecessor, gaining more power in the process: the twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8 was ramped up to 591 horsepower and 553 lb-ft. The big news was how the car would make use of it: with a conventional torque converter automatic and all-wheel-drive.
While all previous M5s had sent their power solely to the rear wheels, the F10 became the first of its breed to use the M-tuned xDrive system already found on the likes of the C5 M and X6 M. (A rear-wheel-drive-only drift mode was offered for those who insisted on incinerating their tires, however.) The slushbox/AWD combo paid dividends off the line: BMW’s official 0-60 mph time dropped a full second versus its forebear, falling from the F10 M5’s 4.4 seconds to 3.4. If that weren’t wild enough, the Competition Package returned in 2018, once again adding power (now taking the M5 to 617 hp) and swapping in a lower, sportier suspension. Weight actually went down slightly, according to BMW — independent tests found the F10 and F90 actually weight about the same — but the wheelbase grew by half an inch, and overall length increased by more than two inches.
G90 M5 | 2024: Enter the Plug-In Hybrid
BMW only took the wraps off the latest M5 — code-named G90 and based on the G60 5 Series that arrived in 2023 — in June 2024, revealed as the first hybrid to ever wear the fabled super-sedan’s name badge. And not just any hybrid: a plug-in hybrid, pairing a yet-again-updated 4.4-liter twin-turbo V-8 with a 14.8-kWh battery and an electric motor. That’s all connected to all four wheels once again (and yes, drift mode is back), with an eight-speed automatic tying kit all together. It’s a high-tech set of kit — all of which makes a combined maximum of 718 horsepower and 738 lb-ft of torque.
But the G90 M50 pays a price for its hybrid heat: it weighs in at 5,390 pounds, a full half-ton more than its predecessor. (As a result, BMW claims the same 3.4-second 0-60 time for the new car and the F90.) The 2025 model year M5 is also the longest version yet: its 118.3-inch wheelbase is almost an inch longer than the previous model, and at 200.6 inches long, it’s 5.1 inches longer overall — as long as a last-generation 7 Series, and longer than a 2000 Chevy Tahoe. On the plus side, if you don’t mind length, the M5 Touring is coming back once more — and this time, it’ll be sold in America.
