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AUTO
SHARPMAGAZINE.COM
WINTER 2025 95
Plug-In Hybrid of the Year
Introducing the 2025 BMW M5 and M5 Touring, the hybrid built to elevate your every day
By Matt Bubbers
T AKE IT FROM US, DOING 300 KM/H ON THE UNRESTRICTED
German Autobahn doesn’t leave you with much time or need for hand-wringing about whether BMW’s new plug-in hybrid M5 is too heavy or not.
With 717 hybrid horsepower on tap from a twin-turbo V8 paired with an electric motor, BMW’s big super-sedan accelerates from 150 km/h like it’s taking off from a standstill. Foot to the floor, the M5 sedan kicks us back into its deeply bolstered leather buckets and begins to reel in the horizon at an alarming pace: 200 km/h is nothing, 250, 270, 289. The numbers on the heads-up display are still ticking past so fast they’re barely legible. Just as we rocket past 300 km/h, a delivery van in the distance pulls into our lane and we have to rely on the carbon-ceramic brakes to slow 2.4 tonnes of Bavarian steel. They do, and we’re back to a relaxed
200 km/h cruise.
The fans were (predictably) up in arms about the super-sedan’s
porky 2.4 tonne weight, which is admittedly very heavy. It’s like if the previous M5 suddenly packed on the additional weight of a fully grown horse. The hybrid battery and electric motor alone added around 250 kilos. Since weight is the natural enemy of all fun cars, fans were freaking out. We had concerns.
But this is M Division. When it comes to their core products these guys don’t miss: the M2, M3 with a stick-shift, M4 CSL, the old M5 CS.
To compensate for the M5’s weight, engineers reinforced the chassis and added rear-wheel steering. On winding country roads near Munich, the M5 turns-in immediately. It’s shocking at first. That, in combination with 738 lb-ft of torque going to all four wheels, makes this car devastatingly rapid.
Is the new M5 graceful like a prima ballerina? No. Is it good for track days? No. But is this perhaps the greatest plug-in-hybrid vehicle yet devised? Probably. It’ll crush your commute, entertain you on weekend blasts, carry your whole family and their gear, plus it’ll even do 43 kilometres on battery power alone. The cherry on top is that, for the first time, the M5 is available as a station wagon, too. Yes, it’s even heavier but don’t worry; just go drive it.