The 2018 BMW M5 continues this trend. While you may hear whining from self-styled traditionalists about the latest addition to the vehicle’s arsenal of high-performance hardware – all-wheel drive – make sure to ask complainers which version of its history they’re pining for. Just be prepared for a personality crisis as they attempt to justify their reasoning for dismissing the mightiest M5 model yet.
The move to include all-wheel drive in what is arguably its flagship performance car is a sign that even the M division doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Facing a world where its primary competitor, Mercedes-AMG, has also gone over to four-wheel traction almost across the board in North America, and with home market nemesis Audi lurking in the background to steal away customers with the Quattro system outfitted to its RS cars, the M5’s move to AWD is a double-win for the brand. First, it satisfies the public demand for foul-weather traction (one which has been marketed to death in northern climates), and second, it allows BMW’s engineers to better process the immense output of the car’s twin-turbo V8 engine, making possible a 0-60-mph sprint of just 3.4 seconds.
The 2018 edition of the BMW M5 retains the previous model’s 4.4-liter V8, with 600 horsepower and 553 lb-ft of torque now standard. M fans will note that the previous-generation sedan was also available in a limited-production 600-pony edition (with 575 and 560 hp models in the lineup), but BMW claims significant revisions to the mill, including new turbos, exhaust manifolds, and an improved oiling system. The sizable 52 lb-ft torque bump makes this easy to believe, and max grunt starts low at 1,800 rpm and remains in the picture until 5,600 rpm.
Helping to harness the heightened horsepower are two new wrinkles in the M5 formula: the previously-mentioned all-wheel drive system, and a first-ever eight-speed automatic transmission. The latter represents the only gearbox on offer with the car, as no manual gearboxes, automated or otherwise, are available, while the former is based heavily on BMW’s existing xDrive hardware, with a few key differences. All 2018 M5s come with an Active M rear differential, which allows for torque vectoring, and a number of driveline components have been strengthened in a bid to manage both the heft and heartiness of the vehicle. The major update to xDrive that transforms it into ‘M xDrive,’ however, is found in the ones and zeros that manage what goes where when the accelerator is punched. Specifically, M xDrive doesn’t just bias power to the rear of the M5, it actually offers a specific two-wheel-drive mode that locks out the front axles completely.
Civilized and Ferocious
What’s it like on an open road? Surprisingly, M xDrive feels largely transparent at almost all speeds, with no obvious numbing of steering feel present in the car aside from the digi-caine effects of BMW’s constantly-improving electric power assist (the company claims that the front wheels are only ever engaged when required to assist with traction).
As with most modern M cars, the key to unlocking the various facets of the 2018 M5’s character are found in its various drive modes, which can be programmed into two M-button shortcuts on the steering wheel. All-wheel drive (or four-wheel drive, as the engineers continually referred to it) is active every time you start the car, but if you swap into M Dynamic mode and select 4WD Sport, stability control backs off to the point where nominal tail-sliding (and a much greater tolerance for non-linear driving) becomes possible. To go full-drift, you need to turn off stability and traction control completely and swap into ‘2WD’ mode via the iDrive screen, a series of steps that reminds you that you’re really working without a net.
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