The 2025 BMW M5 Touring review: Way more power, way too much weight

When BMW introduced the original M5 to the European motoring public in 1984, the automaker effectively established a new vehicle segment. By combining the practical and understatedly rakish E28 5-Series with the motorsport-derived six-cylinder engine from the M1 supercar, the automaker had created a “do-it-all” performance machine, a vehicle that could serve as a tasteful and luxurious sedan one moment and a charismatic sports car the next.

It’s a concept that has guided the development of not only subsequent generations of the M5 but also all of the other sports sedans that have dared to go toe to toe with it over the past forty years. For decades, it’s been the benchmark by which all big, fast four-doors have been judged, but after spending a week with the all-new $125,275 G99-generation M5 Touring, I can’t help but wonder if that era is coming to a close.

A range of factors have contributed to this seismic shift. While other automakers have been chasing the M5’s ghost around the Nürburgring, BMW has purposely started to reposition its M Division vehicles as the pinnacle representation of the brand rather than the pinnacle representation of BMW performance. It’s a move that has yielded models like the XM, a vehicle that certainly has plenty of firepower under the hood but ultimately prioritizes style over substance.

The iconic sport sedan badge returns with a burly hybrid powertrain and an array of high-tech hardware designed to mask its substantial heft, but the end result has me longing for the past.

Bradley Iger

The iconic sport sedan badge returns with a burly hybrid powertrain and an array of high-tech hardware designed to mask its substantial heft, but the end result has me longing for the past. Bradley Iger

Practical but heavy.

Bradley Iger

Practical but heavy. Bradley Iger

The iconic sport sedan badge returns with a burly hybrid powertrain and an array of high-tech hardware designed to mask its substantial heft, but the end result has me longing for the past. Bradley Iger

Practical but heavy. Bradley Iger

And as BMW contends with customers’ undying thirst for more, it must also contend with an array of European regulations aimed at quelling everything from emissions to road noise. From an engineering standpoint, this creates a significant challenge: How do you make your new sports sedan more capable and engaging than the last one while still adhering to the rule of law? For BMW, the answer appears to come in the form of a vast array of technologies aimed at convincing you that the experience is more thrilling than it actually is.

I don’t mean to imply that the new M5 is a bad car, or even bad at executing the mission of an M5. In some respects, there’s cause for celebration: For the first time in the M5’s history, the Touring model has made its way stateside to do battle with the RS 6 Avant, Audi’s high-performance wagon. Opting for the longroof not only scores you an arguably more stylish M5; it also expands its cargo capacity to a crossover-like 57.6 cubic feet (1,631 L) with the rear seats down.

But the pursuit of more seems to have been a core priority during the development of the new M5, and more doesn’t always equate to a better automobile.

For example, there’s quite a bit more power on tap than in the outgoing M5. Under the hood is a 4.4 L twin-turbocharged V8 that dishes out 577 hp (430 kW) and 553 lb-ft (750 Nm) of torque, and for the first time in an M5, it’s paired up with a permanently excited synchronous electric motor that’s integrated into the eight-speed transmission.

The electric motor can deliver up to 194 hp (145 kW) and 207 lb-ft (280 Nm) on its own, and with a 14.8 kWh battery pack onboard, it can provide roughly 25 miles (40 km) of all-electric range. All in, the M Hybrid powertrain delivers a grand total of 717 hp (535 kW) and 738 lb-ft (1,000 Nm) of torque to all four wheels.

But while gains of 100 hp (75 kW) and 185 lb-ft (250 Nm) over the outgoing M5 Competition are substantial, they come at a significant cost to the M5’s curb weight. Now tipping the scales at an almost unbelievable 5,400 lbs (2,449 kg), the latest M5 weighs roughly a thousand pounds more than the outgoing model and is actually heavier than its all-electric counterpart, the i5. That equates to an M5 with a power-to-weight ratio that’s worse than its predecessor’s, along with an official 0–60 mph time that, at a still furiously quick 3.4 seconds, is two-tenths slower.

The hybrid system isn’t entirely to blame for the additional heft, though. The latest M5 has also grown in proportion by more than four inches (101 mm) in length and two and a half inches (63 mm) in width. With flared fenders, huge air intakes, and a hunkered-down stance, it gives the M5 significant visual presence on the road, but behind the wheel, it sometimes feels more like you’re driving a low-slung SUV than a svelte sports sedan.

M5-specific front seats, unique lighting treatments, and a flat-bottomed steering wheel with chunky paddle shifters and a pair of bright red M buttons bring a sense of occasion to the cabin, but it’s the 14.9-inch touchscreen infotainment display that will capture the majority of drivers’ attention. As we’ve seen in other recent BMW models, we’re left with only a small collection of capacitive buttons, a rotary knob, and (mercifully) a volume dial on the center console.

Basic functions like adjusting the fan speed of the air conditioning system require taking your attention off of the road to call up the comfort settings on the display, and if you dare to venture further down the rabbit hole to adjust something else, you’ll find an app drawer-style menu filled with ambiguously named icons that rarely get you where you want to go the first time out.

Do I change the damper stiffness by pressing the M Mode button on the center console, or is it in the Drivetrain and chassis submenu under Driving Settings? The answer is neither. (In fact, you should use iDrive’s excellent voice commands so you can keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road—Ed.)

With adjustments for throttle response, brake regeneration, steering weight, brake pedal responsiveness, transmission behavior, all-wheel drive system modes, simulated engine noise volume, and other performance-related features, you can create literally hundreds of different combinations of vehicle settings, but thankfully, the aforementioned M1 and M2 buttons on the steering wheel provide an easy way to call up one of your two favorite presets on the fly. The bigger concern, though, is how all of these augmentations and enhancements seem to conspire to hide the shortcomings of BMW’s design decisions but aren’t successful in doing so.

This will be the last generation of BMW iDrive to use a rotary controller, and we'll miss it.

Bradley Iger

This will be the last generation of BMW iDrive to use a rotary controller, and we'll miss it. Bradley Iger

CarPlay is present and correct. And not at an additional upcharge.

Bradley Iger

CarPlay is present and correct. And not at an additional upcharge. Bradley Iger

This will be the last generation of BMW iDrive to use a rotary controller, and we'll miss it. Bradley Iger

CarPlay is present and correct. And not at an additional upcharge. Bradley Iger

Chassis upgrades are a prerequisite for an M car, and with an M-tuned adaptative suspension, additional structural bracing, massive brake discs with six-piston calipers up front, four-wheel steering, and torque vectoring all on board as standard, the M5 certainly isn’t short on them. Given that, it’s reasonable to expect that an M model will have a firmer ride quality than its garden-variety counterpart.

But the vehicle has an additional measure of harshness as compared to previous M5 models, even under normal driving situations with the dampers set to their most relaxed mode, which I theorize is related to the suspension tuning needed to keep body motions controlled and maintain a sport-oriented feel despite the weight involved.

Don’t get me wrong, this is still a grand tourer of the highest order. Triple-digit speeds can be accessed with a brief stab of the throttle, and thanks to the improved ergonomics of the latest 5-Series and the model-specific sport seats that are both comfortable and supportive, the M5 will still devour highway miles with the best of them. At times when both the electric motor and the V8 are working together, the hybridized powertrain also delivers the kind of instant-on throttle response that’s typically reserved for EVs.