(car engine revs) - It's the super sedan
that turned the car world on its head and made BMW the
German sports car masters. While its little brother
gets all the racing cred, this big, fast A F Sedan
proved to the world that you didn't need to be a lil coupe to have fun at the track or in the twisty. (car engine revs) (tires squeal) (bell dings) It's the undercover super car,
the luxury lap time setter, the ultimate driving machine! This is everything you need to know to get up to speed on the BMW M5. (video game music) The story of the M5 really begins with another M car, the first one. BMW wanted to develop
a mid-engine super car to defeat Porscha at
Le Mans in the mid-70s. Race chassis builders
Dallara made the chassis and Lamborghini was on board to iron out the details and produce the car for BMW. They called it the M1. (lightning charge) (car engine revs) But the project kind of fizzled out when the rules changed and
BMW couldn't even race the M1 in the class they designed it for. So that kind of sucked, but they did get a pretty sweet engine
out of the whole experiment and sweet engines need good homes. BMW had already made a souped up 5 before called the 535i, but that
5 didn't have an engine designed by BMWs MotorSport or M Division. This new one would. - Hans we have this
in-curt-able racing engine with great performance that is also surprisingly reliable for daily driving. - Oh Klaus, that is wunderbar
because I think we should put an incredible engine
with great performance and surprising reliability into a sedan. - [Both] Wunderbar! - The M1's M88 straight-six
engine made 273 herse-pers and one incredible sound. (car engine revs) And since it was designed
for the harsh conditions of endurance racing, it was pretty much overqualified for street duty. It also had individual
throttle bodies which, if you don't know, are sick. BMW yanked this engine
out of the M! Super car and shoved it under the hood
of their E28 5 Series sedan. Since this car was an M Division
creation, it needed a name. - What shall we call it, Hans? - I don't know, Klaus, how about the M5? - Economy of words, I like it. - Do you like me? - Don't be silly, you goose. Of course I do, you're my best froy-nd-ed. - Just a froy-nd-ed? - Please, don't do this again. - (huffs) Always in the foy-nd-ed zone. (film crew and James laugh) - [James] What really
set the first M5 apart from other sedans and sports cars was the fact that it was
completely hand-built. Bodies were shipped from
the main BMW factory to the BMW M Division's facility where highly-trained
technicians joined the body with their own tuned
chassis and drive train. The E28 M5 made its debut at
the 1985 Amsterdam Motor Show and it was an instant classic. When critics and owners got their hands on the finished product they
were blown away by the M5's razor-sharp handling and epic engine. Here was a big sedan that could seat five and also go toe-to-toe
with the Ferrari 308. (80s new wave music) Nothing like this had ever been done. It was unstoppable perfor-- (stammers) It was unstoppable performance
in an inconspicuous package. Just like me, James. The E28 M5 was only made for three years and since they were hand-built, a little over 2,000 of them were sold. They're pretty rare. The M5 name took a
breather for a couple years until the release of the E34 5-Series. The new M5 dropped in 1989 and
it was still hand-assembled at M headquarters with lower ride height, firmer suspension, bigger sway bars. Basically anything to
make it an M creation. (tires squeal) What's even cooler is it came as a wagon. Everybody loves wagons, whether
we're blasting over cliffs with our stuffed tiger best
friend or bringing our son, Nolan, home in the back
of a Ford Taurus wagon. The M5 Touring was the
same pavement pounding, curve bending, tail
slidin' beast that everyone had come to know and love but now it had a little hatch in the back. (tires squeal) The M5 Touring never made it to the U.S. Because nothing ever does
but that's okay because the biggest change to the
M5 formula was yet to come. And we would get our stinky
little fingers all over it. (sniffs) Demand for the M5 was so large
now that BMW couldn't afford to stipple production numbers by having them assembled by hand so,
the new M5 would be built next to their normal 5 Series brethren. But don't you think for a
second that just because it wasn't built in isolation
like the Winter Soldier that this M5 couldn't be an
absolute monster, like The Hulk. Because buddy, it was an absolute monster, just like The Hulk. - My pants. - What lurked beneath the
E39 M5's hood was perhaps the biggest departure from
the M5 formula so far. A 4.9 liter aluminum block
dual overhead cam V8. And it kept the individual
throttle bodies. Basically it's like the
Cosworth engines F1 cars used to run in the '70, but
it's bigger and lighter. What's not to love? With 400 herse-pers on tap, the new M5 had no problem roasting up the rear meats. One time I sat on the hood of my car when it was really hot out
and I roasted my rear meats. (audience boos) But this wasn't some roid
raging muscle car, no! It could still canyon
carve with the best of them and it was better looking than ever. BMW switch up the styling,
it was the new millennium. Gone were the traditional individual Beamer lights and rigid lines of the E34. The new M5 was sleek but muscular, refined but ready to rip your
face off at a moment's notice. (car engine revs) Fight me in the comments but I think that this is the best looking M5 ever. The E39 was in production
from 1998 to 2003 when the M5 name took a break once again. Big changes were again on the horizon for the world's premier sports sedan. Mainly, the engine. BMW had been dabbling in a
little thing called Formula 1, developing a high revving V10. Now you'd think that BMW would
be inspired by this alone to put a V10 in the M5 and
you'd be 75-ish per cent right. Apparently, BMW's head
of engine development was obsessed with the number 500 and wanted a five liter
engine with 500 cc's of displacement in every cylinder and 100 horsepower for every liter. He locked himself in his
office, covering the walls with equations and math stuff and realized he couldn't make this happen with a V8. They needed two more cylinders, a V10. That's just simple math. This monster V10 put down 500 horsepower and had a redline just over 8,200 RPM. Listen to this engine. (car engine revs) The E60 was still a truly
race-inspired sedan, just like the E28. America was the only region to get a manual transmission option, which means we finally got the cool thing for once. - [Everyone] Yay! - The touring option also made a comeback, which we didn't get. Which is fine, I guess, you know, like pretty used to it by now. The 5 Series got a refresh in
2010 which meant, yup, new M5. It turns out age meant gaining
a few pounds and inches to the waistline. (laughs) I mean, we all know how that feels, right? This is what I used to look like. (yells) (martial arts shout) (gentle bamboo flute) The new F10 M5 was noticeably bigger than the previous model but luckily the power figure kept
up with the growing gut. The V10 was chucked in favor
of a new twin-turbo V8. M5 purists were a little
hesitant to embrace the new forced induction, longing for the days of naturally aspirated past. But, the results spoke for themselves. BMW claimed a zero-to-60 of
4.2 seconds but some people claim they were able to
make times as low as 3.7 from a car weighing over two tons. (car engine revs) The F10 lasted for seven
years until another refresh in 2017 which gave us the current M5. The F90 raises the stakes with maybe the most mind-boggling update so far. All wheel drive. Other way? - [Crew Member] Other way. (laughs) - [James] The M xDrive system scoots the 590 horsepower M5 from
zero to 60 in 3.2 seconds. Three. Point two. Seconds. (car engine revs) xDrive can also disconnect the front axle so you can do big ol' stonkin' donuts in your $110,000 German sedan. (tires squeal) The M5 has always been
the subtle super car for the undercover speed freak. If you wanted a car that
drove like an exotic but looks like something
your accountant drives to the grocery store, the M5 was for you. It is truly a wolf in sheep's clothing. (yells) (martial arts shout) (gentle bamboo flute) Hey guys, we put out a new
video like almost every day. To make sure you don't miss any of it, click this button right here. You like BMWs? Watch this
episode of Up to Speed. You like turbos? Watch this
episode of Science Garage. Follow me on Instagram at jamespumphrey, follow Donut at donutmedia. You want to buy this dog?
Go to shop.donut.media. I'll sign him and I'll send him to you. (lip kiss) I love you.
Most "M5s" in the vid aren't even M5s, they're some variation of the regular 5 series.
Also the V8 they showed for the F10 wasn't a V8. It was a straight 6, lol.
Usually Donut kills it, and this time editors dropped the ball. I guess I can understand though, aside from German car/BMW enthusiasts, all of them can look rather similar. So all is forgiven ❤
BiL has an E39 M5. That thing is ridiculous. It'll do 120 with 2 more gears easily. I wasn't even pushing it, I was just merging and giving the same power I would to my saab when I looked down and saw the speedometer blowing past 120
Is it just nostalgia or do the E34 and E39 represent the pinnacle era of the M5's?
Apart from the E60's engine and the performance figures of the the newer F series M5's, I have never really gotten excited when I seen them in the street.
*E34 instead of E46
I love how they used a lot of basic 5 Series clips for the E28/E34/E39/E60/F10 but only folks into cars could really tell.
Did M5 really left that big historical hit tho? I've hardly ever met anybody that knows what an M5 is, and when they do, they sure as hell don't compare it to ferrari or lamborghini.
It's so sad to see manual option gone on newer M5s