BMW marks 30 years of M5

To men of a certain age, it surely cannot be 30 years since BMW debuted the first M5. To everyone else, it most certainly is 30 years since the Bavarians reinvented the sports sedan to create an enduring legend.

BMW isn’t the type of company to miss out on celebrating any anniversary, so it has cooked up an anniversary special M5 that’s not just the most powerful M5 in history, but the most powerful car to ever wear the M badge.

With 441kW being screwed out of the twin-turbo, 4.4-litre V8 powerplant, the rear-wheel drive 30 Jahre M5 punches to 100km/h in 3.9 seconds, which is knee-deep in supercar waters.

Limited to 250km/h, the limited-edition 30 Jahre M5 takes the already-impressive standard M5 output and adds 29kW, pushing its output to just a tick more than 100kW/litre. It will also run across the standing kilometre in just 21.5 seconds.

BMW has fiddled with the engine’s management software and added even more boost pressure to the twin turbochargers, which nestle deep inside the engine’s vee angle.

The 30 Jahre M5’s power arrives at 6250rpm and is not only 40 horsepower up on the standard M5, but has 25 metric horsepower more than even the Competition Package model it’s based on. It carries over the standard 700Nm of torque, which arrives at just 1500rpm and stays until 6000rpm.

BMW’s M operation will only build 300 of the 30 Jahre M5 models, and about 15 will be made available in Australia by the end of this year.

Apart from a numbered plaque on the dashboard in front of the passenger, each car inherits the Competition Package’s suspension highlights, which include delivering an active M Differential with its own control unit for faster reactions and picking up stiffer springs, firmer dampers, tauter bushes and thicker anti-roll bars. It also rides 10mm lower than the standard M5.

The 30-year special also delivers more direct mapping for the steering servo and the Dynamic mode gives access to a more liberal DSC (Dynamic Stability Control) electronic security package.

BMW has also given the 30 Jahre M5 a unique matte paint code, dubbed Frozen Dark Silver, plus it has added black chrome to the four exhaust tips, the grille, the door handle inserts and the vents on the front quarter panels.

It has built on the look with two-colour M alloy wheels housing 265/35 ZR20 front tyres and 295/35 ZR20 rear tyres.

Inside, 30 Jahre M5 badges dominate the door sills and are embroidered into four backrests, just to make sure buyers know what they’ve paid for.

With 16 speakers, there is a choice of a 600-Watt Harman Kardon sound system or a 1200-Watt Bang & Olufsen system.

The weight of the 30 Jahre M5 is unchanged from the standard version, still settling in at a hefty 1870kg, which is a far cry from the 1430kg kerb weight of the original M5 in 1985.

The original M5, which replaced the M535i, made its debut in 1984, complete with a variation of the M1’s inline six-cylinder engine. The naturally aspirated motor featured six throttle butterflies and punched out 210kW of power.

Capable of hitting 100km/h in 6.5 seconds and stretching to a 245km/h top speed, the M5 was a revelation when it went on sale in the Northern summer of 1985.