There have been some marathon teases going on this year, Volkswagen having been coy about the new Golf R since January, BMW teasing the new-generation M5 since last summer in Touring form. They're both coming to the endgame, and both cars revealed a little more about themselves this week. BMW wants us to know that the M5 is almost finished with its pre-production exams and can graduate to dealer showrooms shortly.
It looks like an old-school BMW up front, the 5'er aimed at a more conservative pocket of BMW's demographic that isn't looking for avantgarde statements. It's a demo that also tends to get thick around the middle — because age plus human genome — so these buyers might feel more at one than ever with the new hot sedan. According to a BMW insider on the Bimmerpost forums, the M5 will weigh 2,435 kilograms, or 5,368 pounds. If true, it's 1,023 pounds more than the previous M5, 1,002 pounds more than today's 2024 540i xDrive. We write "if true" because this weight is also more than BMW's claimed weight of 5,247 pounds for the battery-electric i5 M60.
The BMW XM's hybrid setup will clock in here, a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six and an electric motor combining to produce 718 horsepower and 760 lb-ft. These figures generously up the ante from the previous-gen M5's 600 hp and 553 lb-ft. A staggered wheel and tire package has been brought in to deal with the extra support and acceleration workloads. The 275/40 front and 285/40 rear tires on the last M5's 19-inch wheels will become 285/40 tires on 20-inch front wheels and 295/35 tires on 21-inch rear wheels.
The most recent spy shots captured tighter came showing off greater definition in the M5's bodywork and aero. Larger openings carved out of an edgy front bumper below that reasonably proportioned, and illuminated, kidney grille. Headlights in the latest style from BMW, slab-sided doors with flush handles, and down behind the wheels, gold calipers representing the carbon ceramic brake package for all M cars. And the obligatory quad exhaust looks tucked into a remarkably chunky rear diffuser.
That Bimmerpost member says sedan production begins July 2024, the main event can't be far away, while M5 Touring production begins in November.
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