2025 BMW M5 (G90) prototype review – electrified supersaloon gets supercar power 

The new, seventh generation M5 represents the most radical shift since the model was first launched in 1986. For the first time, the M5 is a plug-in hybrid, with 18.6kwh of batteries and a single e-motor incorporated into its eight-speed auto, boosting the familiar, twin-turbo V8’s 575bhp to a huge 717bhp and swelling torque to 737lb ft. As on the outgoing F90 M5, this is distributed to all four wheels via xDrive, which is configured to send 100 per cent of drive to the rear until the rear tyres cannot cope. BMW claims 0-62mph in 3.5sec and a top speed of 155mph (189mph with the optional M Driver’s pack). 

We got to preview the car and drive a late stage prototype at the Salzburgring circuit, and the first impression is that it’s a much bigger, more imposing car than the F90 M5, which, in CS form, was our 2021 car of the year. For the first time the M5 has bespoke, flared wheel arches front and rear, giving it the look of a scaled-up M3 CS, and those arches allow much wider wheel tracks. Engineers say that even though the new car is taller, the width-to-height ratio is improved, lowering the roll centres and helping achieve the handling targets. 

> The all-new BMW M5 is here, and it’s slower than the old one

Having taken the decision to go hybrid, M GmbH elected to go all-in and make it plug-in to give some appreciable EV-only performance. In EV mode the new M5 delivers 197bhp and 206lb ft and allows a range of 42-43 miles and a top speed of 87mph. However, the weight penalty is substantial, the G90 weighing in at 2435kg, which is 570kg more than the outgoing M5 and over 600kg more than the M5 CS. The uplift in power and torque helps offset this increase in a straight line and integral, active rear-steer – a first on an M car – helps in corners. Up to 60mph it counter-steers the rear wheels by up to 1.5 degrees for agility and thereafter parallel steers them for stability.

10

It was bold of BMW to choose a race track for the first drive of an almost 2.5 ton supersaloon but they claim it has great dynamic bandwidth, with town comfort and trackday ability the bookends. The new M5 looks big, though – it’s pretty much the size of a Mercedes S-class –  and it feels big too because you sit quite high in a roomy cockpit. 

The plan is we’ll be led round by an M4 CS pace car, a car that I’ve just lapped the circuit in, and very effective it was too on its sticky Michelin Cup 2 Rs, deploying its 542bhp with ease. Once we’ve slipped quietly down the pit lane on electric power it’s impressive to discover that once its V8 kicks in, the M5 has the measure of the smaller M car. Bearing down on the chicane on the first flying lap, I’m wary of the momentum yet when I hit the brakes the M5 hauls down like it weighs half what it does, and when I turn in, it carves a line for the apex like it weighs half too. Sure, this car is fitted with a few options including carbon ceramic brakes and a carbon roof in place of the standard-fit fixed panoramic glass roof, saving 25 and 30kg respectively, and has one of the sports tyres (Michelin PS 5 S), but it’s astonishingly responsive for a 2435kg saloon. 

The M4 still has the edge getting into the long hairpin that leads onto the back straight but once I’ve shifted up to the sportiest pre-set mode, full power is deployed, the shifts are punchier and M5 has caught the M4 before we get to the next braking point. Impressive, and the M5 is resolutely stable at speed too. By the fourth flying lap I’d got the front tyres a bit cooked and in the tighter stuff it wants to push on. A little lift before each apex helps rotate the car but the M5 always feels like a big car from behind the wheel. And if it feels big on a race track, how will it feel on the road, how precise and easy to place? 

10

Price and rivals

The new car will be revealed to the public at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on July 11 with UK deliveries starting at the end of the year, coinciding with the reveal of the M5 Touring. At £111,405, the saloon is no more expensive than the current M5 Competition, which seems like good value given how much more tech is crammed in. With no sign of a new Mercedes-AMG E63 and the Audi RS7 yet to receive its next big update, direct rivals are few and far between. The new 671bhp Porsche Panamera Turbo e-Hybrid is the closest match in terms of performance, but a £141,400 price tag makes it considerably more expensive. 

The unanswered question is, how will it feel on the road? The F90 M5, especially the beautifully damped CS, managed to feel smaller than its dimensions and was remarkably exploitable and engaging, even on gnarly B-roads, but my instinct is that the G90 M5 won’t ‘shrink’ in the same way. I look forward to being proved wrong.

BMW M5 (2025, G90) specs