Driving and owning the M5

[FC]

I just found out that this is the radar detector that the M5 came with: https://radenso.com/products/radenso...te-edition-2-0

Apparently it's $2k or more! And this clearly professionally installed. Holy cow. I'll have to see how well it works.

[Josh (PA)]

Originally Posted by FC

I just found out that this is the radar detector that the M5 came with: https://radenso.com/products/radenso...te-edition-2-0

Apparently it's $2k or more! And this clearly professionally installed. Holy cow. I'll have to see how well it works.

where did they mount the display?

[FC]

To the left of and up against the rearview mirror on the glass. Right against the headliner. It's pretty small ~ 1"x2"?

[FC]

First commute into work today. My feelings are mixed.

I'm still getting to know the car, but I'd say that in full comfort/default mode the car is both excellent and boring. It is an incredibly comfortable car. I can talk about that more later, but I'll start with the driving.

In default/all-comfort/efficient mode, while at steady speeds it is a very luxurious ride though far from plush. The suspension is still great for handling, which I love. But because the car is in 8th gear, even with a light to moderate application of the gas, the car will down shift a gear or two. Smooth as the shifts are, they are noticeable and feel unnecessary. Then it will promptly shift up again. I guess I am not used to that because of driving manuals or the LR4 having only 6 gears and a torquey V8 so it will not downshift in the highway unless you press the gas pedal an appropriate amount. There is a temptation to want to try out the car's speed, and when giving it gas it will drop multiple gears. This will always feel odd to me (Mrs. FC's Mini does this too). I am not used to a performance automatic with so many gears. Usually I'm in a manual choosing what I want. The paddles are great, but again, not awesome when you find yourself 3+ gears away from what you want. It also doesn't help that the "road" (normal/comfort) display does not show you the gears except in a tiny lower corner in the dash. The Sport display will have to do to know where I am, but you lose other info. Perhaps this is configurable.

In sport mode, the car will hold 7th gear at 60-70mph which makes the car much more responsive and seems better suited for morning commutes with traffic. There is just a lot less shifting. I do suspect it would make fuel economy suffer from what is already a not-good EPA 17/21 rating (though hysterically, still significantly better than the LR4's 13/17 rating).

So far I see no reason to not be on comfort suspension all the time. The car has excellent reflexes for its size and I cannot see why I'd want to sacrifice ride comfort except for very aggressive driving. That should be rare.

For now I suppose I should not be surprised with the tradeoff. The car is nowhere near as exciting as the M3 and one could argue the GTI is more engaging and fun to drive. But it is sooo nice inside and relaxing in traffic. Then there is the absurd amount of features and creature comforts, and of course, outrageous levels of too-easy-to-access performance.

It will take a bit of time to digest how surprisingly uninvolving this car is. At the same time, I am very glad I did not get an M550i. I honestly think I may have been better served with a loaded M340i instead of an M550i. I also say that because even a loaded M550i would not have had all the features the M5 has. And I did a bunch of searches on 540i's and that was significantly worse.

[Josh (PA)]

I do think you can configure suspension, transmission, steering weight, and throttle independently in individual mode. You might also want to have the driving adaptations reset so it 'forgets' the habits of the previous owner and more quickly learns your style.

With BimmerCode you should be able to change the default gauge cluster (at least I could on the G05 X5), you might find one that shows the info your interested in better.

Hopefully it will be a fun couple of months for you learning the car and getting it dialed in the way you want it. I'll be interested to see if longer term you prefer this beast to your F80 M3 (and get your wife's feedback as well).

[FC]

Originally Posted by Josh (PA)

I do think you can configure suspension, transmission, steering weight, and throttle independently in individual mode. You might also want to have the driving adaptations reset so it 'forgets' the habits of the previous owner and more quickly learns your style.

With BimmerCode you should be able to change the default gauge cluster (at least I could on the G05 X5), you might find one that shows the info your interested in better.

Hopefully it will be a fun couple of months for you learning the car and getting it dialed in the way you want it. I'll be interested to see if longer term you prefer this beast to your F80 M3 (and get your wife's feedback as well).

Thanks. Yeah, there are still lots of things to play with. I just connected my car to my Apple watch (crazy!).

As for my wife. She already loves this A LOT more than the F80. Massaging heated seats with a nice interior and a better ride? Forget it.

[Josh (PA)]

Originally Posted by FC

Thanks. Yeah, there are still lots of things to play with. I just connected my car to my Apple watch (crazy!).

As for my wife. She already loves this A LOT more than the F80. Massaging heated seats with a nice interior and a better ride? Forget it.

happy wife = big win! Is she enjoying her mini too?

[dan]

yeah I've only used Comfort mode twice in the 16 months I've had my car, both times on road trips. Can't imagine using it with any regularity.

I'd say 95% of my driving is in Sport

[wdc330i]

I use Adaptive Mode 90% of the time. Does the M5 have that? It's in between Comfort and Sport and uses Nav, throttle, and steering to adjust to curving roads and driver demands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N91TWlhRPBk

More:
https://g30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1824765

[Alan]

Originally Posted by wdc330i

I use Adaptive Mode 90% of the time. Does the M5 have that? It's in between Comfort and Sport and uses Nav, throttle, and steering to adjust to curving roads and driver demands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N91TWlhRPBk

It’s funny I was just about to suggest that … in fact I never really used adaptive mode until you suggested it

Also FC’s post brings me back to the post below … yes I get it’s an M5 not a M550 or 540 but the luxury still comes before sporty on a car this size …

http://forums.carmudgeons.com/showpo...9&postcount=43