BMW M5 Prototype 2024 Review – International

The new-generation 2024 BMW M5, or the G90 to the BMW fanbase, is not yet on sale in Australia, or anywhere else for that matter, and won’t be driving into showrooms Down Under until November.

It’s only just made its world premiere, with this review timed to coincide with the reveal, so local pricing is still to be confirmed.

But with its move to a plug-in hybrid powertrain, amid myriad other changes either unique to M5 or as already seen with the latest G60 5 Series, the price is sure to increase.

With the 2023 M5 Competition listing at $273,600 plus on-road costs, we’d expect the new M5 to be around the $300,000 mark, with the forthcoming M5 Touring attracting a 10 per cent premium.

The details for Australian versions of the 2024 BMW M5 aren’t confirmed yet, but there’s only one wheel size on offer (and one optional design), so that’s nailed down at least.

There are Hankook, Michelin and Pirelli options for the tyre “group” with lower rolling resistance, and there’s a no-cost option for grippier Michelin Pilot Sport Cups, all at 285/40ZR20 front and 295/35ZR21 rear sizes.

There are four zones for the climate-control system, the front seats are heated, there’s a Bowers and Wilkins audio system and a wireless phone charging tray.

There’s also in-car gaming, a digital payment option for parking fees and fuel, a 5G-enabled aerial and an AC charging cable.

It uses BMW M’s specific (read: obese) steering wheel rim, M-specific content in the infotainment system and instrument cluster, and a panoramic glass roof.

M5 options will include an array of M Performance Parts, mainly carbon-fibre bits, an Alcantara headliner, a heated steering wheel, active seat ventilation (actually recommended) and, for the brave, a towing hitch (which also needs a different rear diffuser), though there are no pricing indications for Australia on any of these yet.

It will include BMW’s usual five-year/unlimited-kilometre factory warranty and you should be happy there’s a fair bit of equipment in it because, at 2345kg, it’s a full 475kg heavier than the 1970kg M5 it replaces (and we already thought that one was too heavy).

You expect full fruit from every angle in a line-topper BMW and the 2024 BMW M5 isn’t any different.

The passive safety list includes front and side airbags for the driver and front passenger and head airbags for all four outboard seats.

The array of active safety tech is indeed dizzying, and ranges from an Evasion Assistant, to help escape dangerous situations, to a lane departure warning system that works in parallel to its lane keeping assistant, active cruise control (that is Level 2+), automatic speed limit assistance, traffic light detection, plus a parking assistant that can optionally be operated from outside the car via a phone, with the car remembering the route for distances of up to 200 metres.

For the first time in seven generations, the 2024 BMW M5 will have different track widths to the standard 5 Series sedan, which just goes to show what all this weight and grunt demands.

The front track is fully 75mm wider than on the 5 Series, while the rear track width adds 48mm, both of which dictate unique bodywork.

There are a lot of forces at play here, so M added stronger engine and rear-axle support mounts, a strut brace in the rear, more strut braces between the front suspension towers and the bulkhead and still more between the towers and the front of the car, and even more that can’t be seen.

There is integral active rear-wheel steering (up to 1.5 degrees), an active rear differential, a double-wishbone front-end and a five-link rear suspension architecture, all topped off with variable rack-and-pinion steering.

The standard brakes are metal (with six-piston fixed callipers up front and single-piston floating callipers at the rear), but there is a carbon-ceramic option and M gives the driver the option of two pedal-feel settings.

The 2024 BMW M5 is a plug-in hybrid, but that’s environmentally friendlier than the old car in the same way that a punch from a 50-year-old Mike Tyson would hurt less than when he was 25.

Sure, the M5 can eke out a WLTP-verified 69km EV range from the combination of a 22.1kWh (gross) lithium-ion battery and a ZF-sourced electric motor mounted inside the eight-speed automatic transmission, but it’s not what people come for.

Instead, BMW has mated all of that with a revised version of the 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 petrol engine to make an absolute thumper of a plug-in hybrid, all-wheel drive powertrain, with 1000Nm of torque and 535kW of power, capable of blasting from 0-100km/h in 3.5 seconds.

It’s officially limited to 250km/h, except with the M Driver’s Pack, which lifts it to 305km/h, but that’s another electronic limiter. The testers admit pulling 307km/h through Döttinger Höhe on the Nurburgring, so there’s more in it…

There’s also 145kW of power at 6000rpm and 280Nm from 1000-5500rpm from the permanently excited synchronous electric motor, which joins in with the V8’s 430kW from 5600-6500rpm and 750Nm ’twixt 1800 and 5400rpm, so there are no flat spots in the rev range.

The M5 can be configured by the driver to run in hybrid mode, electric mode, eControl mode (for stronger energy recuperation) and Dynmic and Dynamic Plus modes, for greater performance.

The German manufacturer has yet to make an official claim about the 2024 BMW M5’s economy rate, but it quotes between 37 and 39 grams of CO2 per kilometre, which converts to between 1.6 and 1.7 litres per 100km.

The bad news is the battery only recharges at 11kW (AC).

Likewise, BMW doesn’t yet quote a figure for electron consumption, but it makes between 67km and 69km of range in EV mode from a battery with a nett capacity of 18.6kWh, which puts it somewhere around 26kWh/100km (at up to 140km/h).

There’s no way of getting around the fact that the 2024 BMW M5 is both brutally fast and immensely heavy.

The two facts of life dominate everything the M5 does, and the way it does them. No longer is the M5 twinkle-toed enough to whip delicately through corners to play with the throttle out the other side.

Those days had gone when the last generation was 1970kg, and now at 2435kg they’re hard to even remember.

So the powertrain technology piled on the weight, then M piled on more weight to manage the weight, with an extremely clever all-wheel drive system and a skid-control apparatus that’s freaky to watch at work.

That’s because it almost certainly gets around a track more quickly than its lighter brethren thanks to the hybrid system, the all-wheel drive and the active differential on the rear axle.

And so the giant forces itself into and out of corners via technology fighting momentum, and while it’s undoubtedly effective and impressive, it’s not exactly engaging or, whisper it, fun.

Our drive was limited to six laps of the Salzburgring, and the powertrain blasted through all of them without depleting its battery pack.

Svelte has been replaced with strength, and there is a lot of it. There is no point in the rev range, in any gear, where the M5 can’t snap a neck back against the headrest and we saw more than 280km/h on the back straight before braking, changing down and turning-in to a fast right hander, still in sixth gear.

While the little brother M4 CS moved with this track’s undulations to generate pace, the M5 felt like it crushed them, keeping its body flat and forcing the track to respond to its demands.

The noise is phenomenal and it keeps pulling, no matter what. At the end, it will run out of grip in the front most of the time, and the long wheelbase and wide tracks also help it to remain rock solid and stable, even with 1000Nm heading to just the rear wheels.

But it’s always stable, handles reliably and can even run silently when you want it to.

Much of the 2024 BMW M5 interior was hidden beneath camouflage cladding, but we saw enough to be convinced.

Firstly, there’s the same dash and interior layout as the 5 Series, with a couple of notable inclusions, like a single button to turn off the DSC (skid control) and a bunch of unique M5-ish stuff in the software.

Sitting in the driver’s heated sports seat, you’ll stare at a 12.3-inch instrument cluster and look left to the 14.9-inch multimedia display, both sitting behind a single curved screen.

There are unique M5 displays on the screens, including a lap timer, boost-control function, g-force analyst and all sorts of other fun/gimmicks.

It carries over the 5 Series’ ability to play computer games in the car, and also has the scroller and voice activation (that is starting to work better than the iDrive controller).

The obese-rimmed, flat-bottomed steering wheel sports its own functions, including the M1 and M2 buttons that can be driver-configured to suit, but which BMW had as Sport and Track modes on test.

There is a standard head-up display (again, with specific M5 content), augmented viewing in the navigation system and BMW’s astonishingly useless gesture-control system to control multimedia functions.

It even has 466 litres of luggage space, and its 505kg of payload takes its GVM out to 2850kg, and that’s not very sports sedan at all.

Nothing I could write would convince a diehard fan not to buy a 2024 BMW M5, but the reality is that it now really feels like a BMW M7, with all that weight and a 3006mm wheelbase and a 5096mm overall length.

Yeah, the powertrain is there to make all that mass move, and do it in a way that keeps M sweet with its EU7 emissions quotas, but the mass deadens the car’s reactions while making it more comfortable.

It’s not a car for a track attack – unless you have bigger tyre and brake budgets than even BMW – but it’s immense inside, will punch from anywhere and, in day-to-day work, won’t even cost much to run.

And, if you have to have the XM powertrain, at least it’s less ugly.

2024 BMW M5 at a glance:
Price: $300,000 est (plus on-road costs)
Available: Fourth quarter 2024
Powertrain: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 petrol-electric
Output: 430kW/750Nm (electric motor: 145kW/280Nm)
Combined output: 535kW/1000Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Battery: 18.6kWh lithium-ion (22.1kWh gross)
Range: 69km (WLTP)
Energy consumption: 26kWh/100km est (WLTP)
Fuel: 1.6-1.7L/100km est (WLTP)
CO2: 37-39g/km (WLTP)
Safety rating: Not tested