M5 Test Drive: A Personal Experience



Phil Parratt, Devon Region Chairman of the BMW Car Club UK, purchased an M2 from Dean Braddon at Ocean BMW Plymouth in September 2022. Since then, Phil has been inviting Dean to various BMW Car Club events. Just before Christmas 2024, Dean invited Phil to visit Ocean BMW Plymouth and check out the new BMW M5 in the showroom. To Phil's surprise, Dean took it a step further and arranged for a test drive in the demo model, which truly made Phil's day!
In the January 2025 edition of Straight Six members' magazine, Phil has written a detailed report sharing his experience with the new M5. Thanks, Phil for providing such a genuine and insightful review. It's wonderful to hear your thoughts on the new BMW M5.
Phil’s Report in the Straight Six member magazine:
Welcome to 2025, I hope you all had a good festive period and that Santa delivered on at least some of your present list. Well, Autumn. ‘The season of mists and mellow fruitiness,’ according to Keats. It certainly gave us some variety towards the end of November. As I write this, we are just recovering from the west that storm Bert has thrown at us. We have had snow in places, such as Exeter and Sidmouth, followed by strong, gusty winds and torrential rain that led to numerous flooded roads.
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In the midst of all this, the opportunity arose to test drive the New G90 M5. My thanks go to Dean at Ocean BMW Plymouth for the invitation. The weather was hardly ideal, but it was an offer I couldn’t refuse.
Before hitting the road, I had a good look around a frozen painted model in the showroom, where the one I tested had a regular gloss finish. The exterior was subtle, the interior less so, I have never driven such a large (5m long nearly 2m wide) heavy (2.5 tonnes), powerful (717 bhp), and expensive (£130K+ as tested) car before.
Obviously, I only managed to scratch the surface of its capabilities, but at no point did it feel intimidating or difficult to place in traffic or on narrow roads, at all times it was reassuring with great driver feedback, and the M xDrive proved excellent traction, The in-gear acceleration is incredible and at the same time undramatic. Alongside this, the G90 has outstanding levels of comfort and noise insulation. Speaking of quietness, I tried the car in electric-only mode and the performance is adequate for normal driving, giving a range of circa 40 miles, in hybrid mode, when a 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 comes to life, it is absolutely seamless. If mid-hybrids mean that we still get M cars, then so be it. Thanks to prevailing legislation the exhaust sound, as with all modern cars, is muted with a few burbles on the overrun. There are some generated sounds in the interior which can be switched off if desired.
A lot of keyboard warriors have opinions on this car, although they haven’t driven it. ‘it’s too heavy, it's not as fast as the previous model…’ All I can say is try one and experience the latest that M has to offer, You might just be pleasantly surprised. I was!