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| Message: | Friends. I haven’t posted since those early posts because it didn’t seem like my experience was providing value for many of the readers – for some reason, a lot of you need to convince yourselves (and others) that the M5 is the most terrific car ever built. Unfortunately, for me, it’s not. The problem seems to rest with the drive train execution in daily traffic. If one plans to drive the car regularly on the freeway, it will deliver mile after mile of pleasurable driving. If on the other hand, you find that your driving consist of stop and go traffic or having to stop and go on hills, forgetaboutit. The SMG is simply not set up for quick decisions when there is stop and go on hills. The engine also seems ill-suited for slow driving. If you have to hesitate when making a turn, then hit the gas, the car first lurches, then engages then, lurches again. It doesn’t allow for the smooth transition of an automatic, or the smooth transition of a manual that allows you to apply sufficient throttle or clutch finesse needed to create an enjoyable drive. Also, when descending a hill, the car lurches forward when it shifts. Why? Because the auto clutch doesn’t engage in a natural way, it also doesn’t downshift naturally (regardless of the settings – believe me I have tried them all – hundreds of times). In fact, if you are making a sharp right on a downhill at a reasonable speed, the car may [Oops!] up right in the middle of the turn – causing the car to lurch forward! In a normal stick, you would either shift down prior or hold your gear during the turn – this set up creates a lurch which changes the entire dynamics of the turn. Note: This particular complaint can be overcome by me as I use the paddles, but for my wife who uses the auto, it is quite a surprise – and not a pleasant one. During my last trip to the dealer, I noticed a used one for sale. The service guy informed me that the former owner just couldn’t handle the sloppiness of the transmission. I asked why he thought it was so after so many people had come to enjoy the SMG in the M3. He concluded that the M3 had better low and and it was so much lighter – two factors which made it less disturbing than the M5 iteration. Like most of you, the bad news about the M5 doesn’t overcome the fact that when it comes to comfort and handling, there is nothing out there that beats the M5. Thus, most of you are probably wondering what to do. If you fall into this category, you have my sympthies. After my original impressions (which haven’t changed in in 6 months), I went out and tried everything out there – Bentley, S65 Mercedes, Maserati, Jag, etc. None of them had the comfort or handling of the M5. For those who think they might enjoy the BMW 550, forget it, the car is a bummer next to the M5 when it comes to the thrill of driving. So, that’s it, at the risk of inviting a lot more abuse from detractors, I thought I would try and help those of you are still in a quandary about this car. Note: Whomever still wants to tell me that I don’t know how to drive, I’m rich complainer, etc. Please cool it. My intention in writing isn’t to upset anyone who loves this car. I really just wanted to give you and update from my original post “The M5 may have been a mistake for me” I believe that many of the issues we all prattle on about in that first thread have become the issues which are leading to slower than expected sales (if inded they are selling slow) and hesitation among buyers. if you have an M5 and you disagree with me, then I will interested to learn how you see it. But for those of you who only have a test drive to offer up as experience, I advise you to do more reading than writing (except to ask questions). I think everyone may benefit from those of us who have 5,000 to 10,000 miles in these cars. | ||||
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