The M5 weighs greater than many electrical efficiency sedans. Speak about dropping the plot.
Jun 26, 2024 at 2:15pm ET
BMW simply debuted the brand new 2025 M5: A twin-turbocharged, V-8, all-wheel-drive hybrid sports activities sedan with 717 horsepower. It additionally weighs 5,390 kilos, which makes it heavier than some electrical sedans, SUVs, and even a pickup truck.
That record contains:
- 2022 Chevrolet Tahoe 2WD (5,356 lbs)
- 2024 Ford F-150 Supercrew 4WD (4,941 lbs)
- 2024 Lucid Air Sapphire (5,336Â lbs)
- 2023 Mercedes Maybach S-Class (5,346 lbs)
- 2024 Vary Rover Sport (5,090 lbs)
It is an absolute monster when it comes to curb weight, and in comparison with the earlier era, it is barely slower on paper. BMW claims its dash to 60 miles per hour takes 3.5 seconds, in comparison with the previous automobile’s 3.2-second dash. Its power-to-weight ratio can also be worse than the previous automobile—it is over 1,000 kilos heavier than the outgoing M5.
It is eye-opening to trace this sudden heft improve within the context of each different M5. Referring to the graph beneath, you’ll be able to see the development has been comparatively gradual. The E39 M5, as an illustration, weighed simply 110 kilos greater than the E34. The final era earlier than the brand new M5, the F90, truly misplaced 17 kilos as in comparison with the previous F10.
It makes the sudden addition of half a ton much more jarring.
The tables have turned within the face of the automobile’s American competitors. Autos derided for being heavier and lazier than the M5 at the moment are welterweights by comparability. The outgoing Dodge Charger Hellcat weighed 4,570 kilos, a full 820 kilos much less. The most recent CT5-V Blackwing—the M5’s direct American competitor—is lighter by a jaw-dropping 1,267 kilos. It isn’t even just like the M5 is a a lot greater automobile, both. The CT5’s wheelbase is inside two inches of the 5 Sequence.
Embarrassingly, even the brand new totally electrical i5 comes out forward. The i5 M60, a dual-motor BEV with over 80.0 kilowatt hours of battery capability, is 143 kilos lighter.
We may dive into European emissions laws, BMW’s platform-sharing electrification technique, and different influences to find precisely what contributed to this big weight achieve. Nonetheless, the actual fact of the matter is that we all know it would not need to be this manner from a technological standpoint.
Hybrids do not need to be heavy; You do not want an 18.6-kWh gross battery pack to get 190 horsepower. The Corvette E-Ray makes use of a 1.9-kWh gross pack to get 160 hp (and it is barely heavier than the newest BMW M2). Hybrids additionally do not need to be plug-ins. The added weight of an onboard charger would not assist with mass—and remind me once more why 25+ miles of electrical vary is critical in an M5? European emission laws are extra stringent than their American counterparts, positive, however the final automobile to take the hit in BMW’s lineup needs to be the corporate’s hallowed efficiency sedans.
A battery with excessive energy density, not essentially excessive vitality density, is the way you make a light-weight hybrid efficiency automobile work. Porsche continues to show this with the brand new 911 GTS. BMW has not taken this route. The corporate’s technique of integrating a motor into an current combustion drivetrain undoubtedly has benefits throughout its lineup, however saving weight is not one in all them. The M5 has a traditional all-wheel-drive system with an automated transmission, switch case, entrance driveshaft, and extra. They merely slapped an electrical motor on prime of that.
We do not know all of BMW’s engineering and regulatory constraints. From the shopper’s perspective, although, that stuff is nearly invisible. The M5, irrespective of how competent—and it appears to be very competent—will by no means escape the truth that it weighs greater than a full-sized F-150. In comparison with immediately’s lighter electrical efficiency vehicles with four-figure horsepower, it makes you marvel how for much longer BMW’s M vehicles will actually have a combustion engine.
Keep in mind when manufacturers like Audi, Cadillac, Jaguar, and Mercedes-Benz had been all gunning to take down the three and 5 Sequence, particularly the M3 and M5? None of them ever actually did. Their respective opponents had been nearly at all times within the shadow of the Bavarian big.
Seems, all they needed to do was sit again and wait.
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