ROAD TEST
An M5 with a bigger bite
More than just a power tweak to BMW super car
For most people a 441kW BMW M5, which is capable of dicing with Ferraris and Lamborghinis. would be a sufficiently high-performance car. But M5 Competition drivers aren’t most people. They’re much the same types as cyclists who spend thousands of rands on lighter components to save a few grams of weight on their bicycles, and the pursuit of marginal performance gains can turn into a one-upmanship obsession. So here are the facts about this little corner of the sports-sedan universe: a standard M5 is priced at R1,762,807 while the new M5 Competition version sells for R2,062,433. For that, BMW has squeezed an extra 19kW from the V8 turbo 4.4l engine, which now maxes out at 460kW, while peak torque stays the same at 750Nm but is available over a slightly wider rev range. All this shaves the 0-100km/h time from 3.4 to 3.3 seconds. Three-hundred grand for one-tenth of a second gain — that’s the cold, hard equation for marginal-gains seekers to chew on. There’s also a claimed 0.3 second i...
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