The wait is over YOU inconsiderate a-hole! (That is what the SA public is calling BMW drivers these days…right?). The new BMW M5 is in South Africa!

As you read this, the first batch of SA journalists are putting the 5th generation of this supreme 4-door sedan through its paces on a Cape Town track and the fun they’re having must be incomprehensible.

Let the tree-huggers meet in Kyoto until their feet grow ivy and their veins pump sap, that hasn’t stopped the engineers at the BMW M offices from shoving the most powerful engine they’ve ever fitted into an M series-produced model.

It’s the race-track hardened Active M Differential that optimises power transfer to the rear wheels and in the new M5 we’re talking 412kw and 680Nm of torque coming from the M TwinPower Turbo V8 engine.

Since the M5 is a car that’s supposed to trick you into thinking it’s a sedan, until you reach a race-track at which point it becomes a very angry corner munching speedster, the 0-100 and top speed figures will take you a second to digest. Try out 0-100 in 4.4 seconds and a top speed of an industry agreed upon 305km/h.

Despite these impressive numbers, the BMW guys have managed to increase the efficiency of this version of the M5 by a massive 30% compared to its predecessors and they put it all down the impressive efficiency of the new V8 engine. Consumption figures are 9.9 litres per 100 kilometres and CO2 emissions of 232 g/km.

I’ll get my chance to drive this beast on Friday this week, and no, I won’t be sleeping until then, lest I NOT dream of driving the BMW M5. How well do the electronically controlled dampers, M-specific Servotronic steering and stability control system work around a track and is it as comfortable to sit in and drive as it is uncomfortable and scary for your passengers to be driven in?

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