F10 BMW M5 Competition Package: Best M5 Ever?

The Competition Package is the highest-performance F10, and it’s the last RWD M5. Does it still have the M spirit?

The F10 BMW M5 is a departure from all the M5s that came before it. It has a twin-turbo V8 similar to the 550i instead of a naturally aspirated motorsport motor. It is a large, dual-personality, rear-wheel-drive rocket sedan.

One side is the quiet, calm, everyday car to whisk you off to the office in comfort. The other side is the autobahn-crushing, hair-on-fire super-sedan leaving sports cars wondering what hit them. The competition package adds extra power and a more aggressive suspension setup. The new G90 M5 is about to hit dealer showrooms. With that in mind, is the F10 the better M5, and how does it stack up to M5s of years past?

BMW’s two closest rivals in the Q-ship segment are the Audi RS6 and Mercedes-AMG E63 S 4Matic, both with all-wheel drive. The power of these cars necessitates four-wheel traction, and as a result the G90 M5 is now all-wheel drive. The F10 is the last of the breed of rear-wheel-drive M5s. In the video above, Matt Farah of The Smoking Tire has a go in a completely stock Competition Package car, and finds out how far the M5 has come.

Farrah’s experience finds him changing the suspension and steering settings out of Sport Plus and into Comfort. The suspension is too firm and the steering effort is too great for Farrah’s taste. The car in the video is a daily driver, and the owner points out the joy of the F10’s dual personality. It can go from quiet and calm to fast and stiff with just the push of a button. While giggling like a schoolgirl, Farah highlights on multiple occasions he could get in a lot of trouble with this M5. Toward the end of the video he activates the cooled seats and massage function, and then proceeds to break triple digits.

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The point Farah drives home more than once is the sheer size of the F10 M5. He feels that on a tight Malibu canyon road it may be too big. The M5 has always been a fast car, but the F10 is time-warping. Fast it may be, but M5s of the past had motors derived from motorsport engines. Does not having one make it less special, or is the F10 Competition Package the best M5 ever built? Let us know on the forums.