More Power, Way More Weight: Please Welcome the Seventh-Generation 2025 BMW M5
Roll the dice, and the latest iteration of the 40-year-old BMW M5 is coming up sevens: The M5’s seventh generation, 717 horsepower, and 738 lb.-ft. or torque. The new 2025 M5 sedan is the most powerful one yet.
Hard to believe that the M5 was introduced in 1985, assuming the performance mantle from the M535i. Power was from the 286-horsepower 3.5-liter inline six-cylinder, originally developed for the BMW M1. Each generation of the M5 since then has brought something new, including a switch to V-8, then V-10, then back to V-8 engines.
The sixth generation was introduced in 2017 as the first BMW equipped with M xDrive, the all-wheel-drive system that could be deactivated if the driver wanted some pure rear-wheel-drive time. The 4.4-liter twin-turbo V-8 was capable of 600 horsepower, and the M5 would hit a 189-mph top speed with the optional M Drivers package. The last sixth-gen M5 was the 2023 model; there was no 2024.
The 2025 M5 will make its world premiere at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England in July, with production in Germany beginning the same month. The worldwide market launch of the new BMW M5 will be in November. BMW has already priced it: It’ll start at $119,500, plus $1175 for shipping.
So what’s new? The powertrain, for one thing. The 2025 M5 still has a twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8, pumping out 577 horsepower through a new sport exhaust. But now the engine is aided by a 194-horse electric motor that is integrated into the eight-speed M Steptronic transmission housing. Coupled with the M xDrive all-wheel-drive system (which, like its predecessor, can be turned off for rear-wheel drive tomfoolery), BMW claims a seemingly modest 0-to-60 mph launch of 3.4 seconds, but remember, this car weighs 5390 pounds. Top speed is limited to 155 mph, or 190 with the optional M Drivers package. You’ll want that option—it gets you a lot of additional fun stuff, including the ability to turn off all driver aids for track purposes.
The plug-in hybrid M5’s electric motor is fed by a high-voltage, lithium-ion battery stashed in the car’s undercarriage, so it takes no space away from the passenger compartment or the trunk. The estimated pure-electric range is 25 miles.
Three rather conservative driving modes come standard, but the two optional modes included in the M Drivers Package, Dynamic and Dynamic Plus, “ensure the combustion engine and electric motor are both active and that the cooling system is conditioned for track driving.” Helpful on track will be the “extremely stiff” body structure, made so by “strengthening elements” distributed up and down the chassis. Four-wheel-steer is standard; BMW calls it Integral Active Steering. There’s also a new, optional Boost Control feature, which, prompted by holding the left paddle for more than one second, will shift all the car into its sportiest powertrain and suspension settings.
And you’ll be excited to learn that your new M5’s chassis has “model-specific kinematics and elastokinematics to give it exceptional dynamic potential.” In 10 years, take your 2025 M5 to your neighborhood mechanic and ask them to check the elastokinematics and see what happens.
Inside, the cockpit has been restyled: There’s a new three-spoke, flat-bottomed steering wheel, and in the center console you’ll find a new gear selector, iDrive controller and M-specific buttons for the setup options. Front and center is the “Bowers & Wilkins Surround Sound System with 18 speakers and 655 watts of crystal-clear power.” And up top is the 33-inch “Sky Lounge Panorami Roof.” Wait, is that really Panorami roof, or did BMW accidentally drop a C? Well, if you want you can replace it with the optional M Carbon roof, which trims the weight by 66 pounds.
Outside, styling has been tweaked, too. Says BMW: “The sides of the body, including the front and rear wheel arches, have been completely redesigned specifically for the M5. This has resulted in an increase in the width by three inches at the front wheels and 1.9 inches at the rear when compared to the standard BMW 5 Series. This means no additional flares on the wheel arches are required to accommodate the wider tires [which are 285/40 ZR20 front, 295/35 ZR21 rear, on new double-spoke wheels].”
We look forward to driving the seventh-generation 2025 BMW M5, especially to see how light on its feet BMW can manage to make the car feel, since it’s more than 1000 pounds heavier than the sixth-generation M5 was when it was introduced. If anybody can make an elephant dance, it’s BMW.
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