2026 BMW M5: The Most Capable M Car Ever Made and the Most Conflicted
The new BMW M5 will do zero to sixty in 3.4 seconds. It weighs 2,445 kilograms. These two facts exist in a tension that the M division has spent considerable engineering effort resolving and that no amount of engineering can fully reconcile. The car is extraordinarily fast. It is also extraordinarily heavy, and the M5 lineage — from the E28 original through the E39 that most enthusiasts consider the definition of the breed — was built on the proposition that performance and mass should not coexist if the goal is driver engagement.
The weight comes from the plug-in hybrid system that pairs the 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 with a 197-horsepower electric motor and an 18.6 kWh battery. Combined output is 717 horsepower. The electric range is approximately 50 miles in ideal conditions. The engineering accomplishment is genuine: BMW has produced a car with supercar performance numbers, practical daily driving capability, and a claimed fuel economy figure that would be laughable if the hybrid system did not genuinely reduce consumption in the urban driving that most M5s will spend most of their time performing.
What It Does Well
In the corners, the M5 is remarkably composed for its mass. The xDrive all-wheel drive system — which can be configured to send power only to the rear in M mode for drivers who want the tail to step out under provocation — distributes torque with a precision that the electronics manage faster than any human input could. The chassis is stiff, the adaptive dampers are well-calibrated, and the steering, while not the organic communication of an E39, provides adequate information about what the front tires are doing.
The M5’s dual personality is genuine rather than marketing. In Comfort mode with the electric motor handling low-speed propulsion, it is a quiet, large, capable saloon that will carry four adults and their luggage at motorway speeds with minimal drama. Switch to M Mode 2, disable the stability systems, select Sport damper settings, and the car transforms into something that requires active attention and rewards precision.
What It Does Not Do
The M5 does not feel light. This is not a criticism that can be addressed through tuning or setup — 2,445 kilograms is 2,445 kilograms, and physics does not respond to software updates. In extended mountain road driving, the weight is present in every direction change, in the brake pedal feel as the ceramic discs manage kinetic energy that would not exist in a lighter car, and in the response lag that is inherent to a car that needs to manage the momentum of a significant mass before it can change direction.
The V8 sounds good. It does not sound like an M5 V8 should sound. The exhaust note is present and characterful, but the hybrid system’s intervention during transitions between electric and combustion power creates auditory moments that the previous generation’s naturally aspirated unit, and even the early twin-turbocharged S63, did not produce.
The Honest Assessment
The 2026 M5 is technically the most accomplished M5 ever produced. It is faster, more efficient, more capable in more conditions, and more sophisticated than any of its predecessors. It is also the M5 that most clearly represents the direction the M division must go — electrification, weight, performance through technology — and the direction that creates the most distance between what M cars are and what made the M5 the benchmark performance saloon for four decades.
Buy it if you want the most capable version of this formula. Seek out a low-mileage F90 Competition if you want the last version of the formula before it changed.