Guess I'm in the minority here but I prefer the V8 sound of a tuned 550 exhaust over that of the V10. Sure, I'd take the M5 over the 550 but the deep grunt of that 550 V8 is more appealing to me. The V10 sounds more like a highly tuned inline 6 IMHO. I know, I'm nuts!

 

Hey, you like what you like....can't fault you for that. I've never driven a 550i, so I can't compare it.

 

Hi All,
as an M5 owner of almost a year now, my experience started like your test drives. The dealer drove the car for about 5 miles with me, then I let him out (at the dealership) and I took the car for another 35 miles unsupervised. I took the power pretty much on trust, as I stuck to the advised limits, but I was keen to assess the handling and balance as my 330Ci had always been a little disappointing in its responses.
They don't normally give M car demo drives to casual customers, but they know me, we have spent a good deal of time together chatting about cars, I have bought 4 BMW's from them and they knew the M5 was my "dream car"

The M5 sold itself on that drive, I wrote my cheque (check) out on my return. One other thing that swung it was the rich selection of options already included in the M5. I've been skewered by the options list before at BMW.

One year in, the thrill is still there, I still feel a mix of happiness and excitement every time I press the start button.
It is clear however that the car is easy to drive, but it takes time to get the best out of it.
I am actually enjoying its dynamics more and more even at this point when I have previously been bored in other cars which have had nothing left to show me.

I recall one vivid impression from the test drive, the fuel consumption indicator was showing only 10 miles per UK gallon (8.3 per US gallon), I did wonder what kind of fuel monster I was takng on.
Over 8000 miles it has averaged 18.7 miles to the UK gallon, about 15.6 per US gallon. The fuel consumption is seriously affected by being in town in slow moving traffic, I have seen as low as 7 mpg in that scene, and at legal highway cruise out of town it goes as high as 23.5.

 

When I buy my M5 it wil be Performance Center delivery.

I don't trust the regular dealers with the cars. The fact that the salesman let you run the car this hard, is proof I won't be buying one from their lot.

 

 

Why is everyone worried about this?

When you test drive a car you want to know what you get from the car not just what you get for the first 1500 miles, and hope the real car after break in is going to match your expectations.

Also the demo car will be sold at a discount, whether that makes up for the flogging is personal preferance.

When you get your M5 you get your's made to order and delivered new with hopefully less than 10 miles on it.

 

Great point. Well said.