BMW M5 Review 2025

BMW has risked offending M aficionados the world over but taking its longest-running performance saloon lineage and chucking in a big battery and an electric motor to convert it into a PHEV. The result is that its latest M5 tips the scales at the best part of two tonnes. But if anyone can make such a beast work, it's the engineers at BMW's M division. Find out how they got on in our full BMW M5 review.

It helps the BMW M5's cause that it's still powered by a V8 engine. BMW hasn't gone a similar route to the Mercedes-AMG C63 which saw its V8 swapped for a plug-in hybridised inline four-cylinder. Shudders. Instead, here you'll find a 4.4-litre twin-turbo unit behind its angular snout, matching the displacement of the previous-generation BMW M5's engine.

This is a new unit with a fresh internal code number — S68 instead of S63 if you're nerdy enough to care. On its own, it provides 577PS of grunt but the difference between the application here and the one in other cars such as the BMW X5 M Competition is the M5's has an electric motor inside its eight-speed automatic gearbox.

This increases the total output to 727PS, a good 100PS more than the old M5, while torque is cranked-up to 1000Nm. Factor in the PHEV system's extra weight and you end up with a car that accelerates slightly slower than the previous M5. Oh.

It's not a step backwards because the hybrid system enhances the driving experience in ways other than straight-line speed. What's more, the electrical stuff is looked upon very fondly by the UK's current company car tax rules,meaning some will be able to take the keys for an extremely reasonable monthly outlay. 

If you're tempted to get an M5 matters are complicated by the presence of the BMW M5 Touring. It's the first estate version of the M5 to be sold for 15 years and it doesn't cost that much more than the M5 Saloon we're looking at here — we reckon the wagon's got the edge on coolness, though. 

Whichever you go for you won't be disappointed by the way the BMW M5 drives. Along with its exceptional power it's an extremely satisfying car to drive in a that the Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupe can't match.

When the BMW M5 was revealed there was an inevitable fixation on its weight. It's the best part of 2.5 tonnes which means it weighs more than some versions of the full-fat BMW X7 SUV. You'd never know it from driving the M5, though. 

It changes direction with just as much enthusiasm as the old one plus, in the rear-biased 4WD Sport mode, which is paired with the more lenient M Dynamic Mode setting for the stability control, it's nicely playful without making it feel like you're about to go backwards into a hedge. On that subject, there is a 2WD mode which cuts power to the front axle entirely, but it also involves turning the stability control off, so it's probably not something you're going to want to risk.

In a true rarity for a modern performance car there's some meaningful feedback coming through the steering wheel from the road surface and the weight from the power assistance feels about right in Comfort mode. 

You'll have noticed we've mentioned about modes and settings quite a bit and that's because the M5 offers a bewilderingly excessive level of adjustment. There are multiple settings for the hybrid system, engine, gearbox, all-wheel drive arrangement, brake energy recovery, steering and the adaptive dampers. There are also three overall M Modes of Road, Sport and Track. 

Once you've settled on something you like you can save it to either the M1 or M2 customisable modes, engaged using the red buttons on the steering wheel. Just don't forget to do this, or the car will deafult everything back to Comfort when you turn it back on. 

We tended to favour putting most things in their top mode with the exception of the steering, which is too heavy in its Sport mode, while the suspension is too firm for some roads even in Comfort. It's not like there's much body roll in Comfort, so the Sport and Sport Plus modes seem a bit pointless, unless you for some reason like being bounced around on all but the smoothest bits of asphalt. 

The BMW M5's sole engine option is a 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 petrol. It's what's known as a 'hot V' meaning the turbos neatly sit between the cylinder banks. This is better for packaging and shortens all the pipework between the engine and the turbochargers. 

This transfers power to all wheels via an eight-speed automatic gearbox, inside of which is an electric motor. This is able to either supplement the V8 or power the car on its own.

Running on electricity alone the M5 isn't as relaxing as most plug-in hybrids, partly because it pipes through a lot of noise through the speakers. You can turn this off but then you're left with the sound of the M5's massive tyres making a big racket, joined by the firm suspension thudding away over every pothole and speed bump. 

In any case, just pootling around on electric power would be a great waste of the M5's talents. Working in unison with the V8, the hybrid side of the equation makes for a wickedly responsive car making up for the lag from the turbos and giving an instant hit of torque the moment you hit the throttle.

Because of this, the new M5 feels so much faster than the old one, even if according to the raw figures, it isn’t — its 3.5-second 0-62mph time is slower than its predecessor. The newfound responsiveness makes for a more satifying way to cover ground. The only trouble is, it’s all too easy to go very quickly. To stay on the right side of the law, you’ll need some serious restraint.

The V8 makes all the right rumbly noises, but we preferred it with the ‘M Sound’ turned off. The main noticeable feature of this is some not particularly convincing fake V8 noises piped through the speakers. We preferred just to hear the natural sound of the engine even if it's a bit muted underneath all the M5's soundproofing. Here's hoping there'll one day be another M5 CS with some of that ripped out. 

It’s not really economically viable to smash up a BMW M5 for every single crash test Euro NCAP currently does, so we’re not expecting it to ever be tested by the safety body as a specific model. Not that its necessary in reality as the M5 is in reality a 5 Series Saloon derivative, using the structure assessed in 2023 and given the full five-star rating.

The standard specification in terms of safety equipment is decent, with autonomous emergency braking, speed limit detection, lane assistance and blind-spot detection fitted as standard. The £2,100 Driving Assistant Professional package upgrades this suite of electronics with evasion assistance, wrong-way warning and lane-change assistance. 

While it doesn’t strike us as the sort of car you’re likely to see turning up at the caravan park with a double axle four-berth behind it, the BMW M5 is indeed rated to tow — and tow a lot judging by its maximum braked trailer capacity of 2000kg.

An electrically retractable tow bar is a £1200 option for the M5.

The current crop of BMW 5 Series Saloon plug-in hybrids don't lose any boot space relative to their petrol-only counterparts but the BMW M5's luggage volume is reduced. The reason is due to fitting its clever rear differential and the high-voltage battery in a tight space, reducing the ordinary 5 Series Saloon's 533-litre capacity down to a disappointing 466 litres in the M5. 

It's a similar story with the M5 Touring which manages 500 litres compared to 570 litres in its less potent sister models but that does at least have a much wider and more useful boot opening than the narrow and awkward M5 Saloon's. 

Rear legroom is decent but the sloping roofline means taller adults won't feel like they've got a whole lot of headroom to play with. We've no complaints about space in the front, although storage solutions could be better with small door bins and a rather compact glovebox. There's also a lidded cubby under the front central armrest, two cupholders and a tray with space for two smartphones. 

The BMW M5 feels expensive inside, which is just as well for a car costing six figures. The materials all feel suitably plush and high quality, save for one particular aspect — the piano black-look glossy plastic trim which in our experience looks scratched-up and nasty within a few thousand miles.

We can't moan solely at BMW for using this stuff — it's an annoyingly common choice for most premium manufacturers. 

The BMW M5 gets the firm's latest iDrive system for its multimedia complete with a 14.9-inch touchscreen display. We prefer to use it with the rotary controller which remains part of the 5 Series's package while it's been nixed from smaller models in BMW's line-up, which is a shame. It’s far easier to use the system on the move using the rotary control plus it stops the screen getting liberally coated in greasy fingerprints.

Along with smartphone-like menus with various tiles for different features, you can also swipe left and right to bring up different screens, including the navigation and trip data — you can do this with the rotary dial or the touchscreen.

While seeming more complicated than iDrive systems from a few years ago it's not hard to get your head around. The screen responds quickly to touch and there isn't much lag when switching between different functions. We'd just rather we didn't have to use it for climate control functions. Yes the temperature controls are displayed permanently along the bottom but for anything else, you have to go into a dedicated screen. It's distracting faff to use on the move. 

If your personal preference is to bin-off manufacturer's integrated navigation systems in favour of Google Maps or similar, it's easy enough to do here thanks to wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay being included as standard. That said, BMW's nav setup is one of the better ones, being easy to read and it includes traffic information which works well. It also looks great through the head-up display. 

All BMW M5s have a Bowers & Wilkins surround sound system which provides a crisp, clear sound backed up with plenty of low-end punch. 

The £111,605 base price for the BMW M5 Saloon is a mere £2000 less than you'd pay for the estate-bodied M5 Touring. Put another way, it's a sub-2% saving going for the traditionally shaped four-door model. You might want to consider that when making your choice between the two, particularly as many will consider the Touring to be the cooler of the pair.

Either way the reality is you'll be paying a lot more than those basic prices. The standard specification of the M5 is good but there are still plenty of items on the configurator you might actually want to add, including the £1800 Comfort Pack, which includes heated and ventilated front seats, plus heated rear seats among other things. Or, you can add pretty much everything, including carbon fibre exterior trimmings and a 190mph top speed limiter increase with the £19,500 Ultimate Pack. 

This is, of course, a lot of money but then so are the M5's rivals when looking at plug-in hybrid high performance saloons and five-door coupes.

The slinkier Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupe E Performance PHEV starts at £182,450 making the Porsche Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid seem like a bargain at £151,500, while the Bentley Flying Spur cost from a little over £190,000 to whatever the budget and imagination permit.

While the BMW M5 is expensive, that crucial plug-in hybrid difference between it and its predecessor makes for cheap company car tax with a Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) rate of just 9% for 2025/2026 compared with 37% if it wasn't a a PHEV. 

What you pay will depend on your tax rate but even if you're in the 40% bracket, you can bank on paying around £300 per month. That's not a lot of money at all for a V8 super saloon with a six-figure up-front price. 

Like pretty much every plug-in hybrid the M5's WLTP Combined cycle economy figure is hilarious and only achievable while mostly relying on the electrical part of the drive system and not the engine alone. Officially it's 148.7-176.6mpg depending on options but either figure is best ignored.

You get a better indication from the figure BMW quotes for the fuel economy with a flat battery — just 27.7mpg. Fully exploit the M5's performance and you could, as we experienced, only see about 12mpg on the trip computer.

Away from fuel costs and company car tax payments, the M5 is going to be an expensive car to run. Insurance premiums will be large, although they could be mitigated by shopping around with specialist brokers. There's no escaping the bill for replacement tyres with the M5 using 285mm wide front rubber and 295mm of rear width. 

The first year of vehicle tax is only £110 but as that's factored into the on-the-road price, you won't notice that saving. You probably will notice the £425 leaving your account annually from years to six of ownership for the government's Expensive Car Supplement.

On top of that the M5 is liable from year two for the same £195 annual VED rate as any other car, with the previous hybrid discount ditched from April 2025.

BMW M5: Range and charging

Although it is possible to plummet the economy figure to two digits — possibly even one if you're committed enough — you could get away with using no fuel at all if you can make use of the 39.1-42.9 miles of electric range available to the BMW M5.

The caveat is that, judging by our energy usage when testing the car's electric-only mode, 30 miles is a much more achievable figure. 

BMW quotes a 0-100% charging time of 2 hours 15 minutes but that's using an 11kW AC connection. Home chargers in the UK generally cap out at 7.4kW so it'll take a bit longer than that for British drivers.

The BMW M5 is effectively a single trim level and and has the following equipment fitted as standard:

• 20-inch front/21-inch rear alloy wheels
• Adaptive LED headlights
• Automatic boot lid
• Ambient interior lighting
• Four-zone climate control
• Head-up display
• Electrically adjustable driver's seat
• Bowers & Wilkins sound system
• Leather steering wheel
• Wireless smartphone charging pad
• Adaptive suspension
• Front and rear parking sensors
• Reversing camera