Beastly BMW M5 Competition proper Mercedes-AMG E63 S slayer

BMW’s M5 has always been the brand’s high performance offering for the slightly more mature hooligan in terms of customer profile.

The man with a family, that wants space and sedan type styling, while still being able to call on that much needed adrenalin rush at will. For him there is the BMW M5 Competition on test here!

The aforementioned adrenalin is courtesy of a brutal sounding, bespoke sports exhaust equipped, 4.4-litre twin turbocharged V8 that produces a full 460 kW of power and 750 Nm of torque. And just like on the M8, at the press of the M Mode button, you can instantly toggle between the Road and Sport settings and transform the car’s personality to match your mood.

Ready for blast-off

Because this is the Competition version, if you keep the M button pressed down, you will activate Track mode. Doing this deactivates all the comfort and safety functions of the driver assistance systems, and the business suit façade is discarded in an instant and replaced by a race suit.

Be warned though, this is an extremely fast car, and it will demand respect and skill to extract the best out of it should you be brave enough to tackle the twisties with the safety systems off.

You see, the M5 Competition offers you the ability to switch off the all-wheel drive system and force all the power and torque to the rear wheels only. But in doing this, and as fun as it is, you are only testing your guardian angel’s sense of humour and creating plenty very uncivilised and expensive tyre smoke.

The twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 monster under the bonnet.

The car’s default mode sees the power and torque channelled to all four wheels courtesy of BMW’s xDrive system, and through a super smooth shifting eight-speed M Steptronic transmission. I would normally call this civilised, but to be honest, as fast as the M5 Competition sounds, is as fast as it is, and this means it hits like a sledgehammer on a mission to destroy the average super car.

Activate launch control and this 1 850 kg full house luxury sedan bolts to 100 km/h in a mere 3.28 seconds, which makes it quicker than the likes of Ferrari’s 488 GTB or Mercedes-AMG’s GT-R, but maybe more importantly, it is quicker than its direct competitor, the recently refreshed Mercedes-AMG E63 S. Just a few months ago, the Merc clocked 3.52 sec.

The performance bludgeoning of all comers continues with a 11sec quarter mile at over 200 km/h and a 1 km speed of over 260 km/h. Of a somewhat more academic nature, but still important in terms of bragging rights, the top speed of the M5 Competition is electronically limited to 305 km/h.

BMW M5 Competition badge

For the full results, click here.

Sticking with quick changing personality of the car, the handling is refined and easy when required, and then as sharp as you would expect from an M sedan thanks to the likes of 20-inch wheels as standard, stiffer engine mounts, Active M Differential, adjustable M Servotronic steering, 7mm lower ride height, M8 Gran Coupe shocks and other suspension tweaks.

My guess is that you will want to enjoy this car the way it was intended, then I suggest you go for the optional M carbon ceramic brakes that are lighter and better suited to hardcore driving, and you just might have the ultimate fast family car in your garage.