German efficiency at its best

RACY BMW M5: ALL-NEW G90 IS SIMPLY INCREDIBLE

- Jaco van der Merwe

Italian carmakers are renowned for striving to create emotional connections between man and machine. Ze Germans not so much. They stick to extreme proficiency sans emotion.

The all-new G90 BMW M5 plug-in hybrid (PHEV) is a prime example of German efficiency at its very best. Getting a sedan weighing 2 510kg to go from 0 to 100km/h in a mere 3.56 seconds is simply incredible.

While it's slightly slower in the 0 to 100km sprint than its non-hybrid F10 predecessor, which clocked 3.28 seconds in our road test, it does make up time the further the sprint drags on. At the quarter mile it clocked 11.38 seconds compared to 11.22 and through the half mile it ran a 17.67 compared to 17.61. At the latter mark its speed of 252km/h is already faster than its predecessor's 250km/h.

The G90 BMW M5 features the F10's 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 engine plus an 18.6kWh lithium-ion battery and rear electric motor.

This produces a system total of 535kW of power and 1 000Nm of torque which is available for 10 seconds. It is up 75kW/250Nm from before and sent to all four wheels via eight-speed Steptronic transmission. But the G90 needs to move an additional 660kg, which explains the initial deficit off the line.