2025 BMW M5

Cresting a rise on the autobahn northeast of Munich, we spot a nuclear cooling tower hulking in the near distance, billowing impenetrable clouds of steam. At the same moment, a solar array winks past on the right, backdropped by a huge wind turbine atop a hill. From behind the wheel of the 2025 BMW M5 Touring, it's a fitting panorama. We, too, are currently enjoying the confluence of a nuclear reactor—the 577-hp twin-turbocharged V-8 under the hood—and something a little more 21st-century green. Tucked between the 4.4-liter V-8 and its eight-speed automatic transmission is an electric motor that can produce 194 horsepower and 204 lb-ft of torque on its own. Occasional Appearances The G90 generation is the seventh M5 but just the third M5 Touring—that's a station wagon to you, Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho. Whack-a-Mole-ing as it has through the M5's history, the Touring has a particularly incongruous powertrain lineage. It first appeared in the second-generation M5, the E34, propelled in its later versions by a 3.8-liter straight-six. The next M5 long-roof appeared two generations later, getting its own E61 chassis code and a 5.0-liter V-10 where the old six had been. The 2025 car's 717-hp twin-turbocharged V-8 plug-in hybrid setup is obviously the natural progression from an 8,500-rpm V-10. This is the third M5 Touring but the first to be mass produced. M5 product planner Daniela Schmid tells us the first two generations were “basically hand-built,” with production of only around 1,000 units each. Schmid says that offering this generation as a wagon—the first M5 Touring to be sold in the U.S.—is a way to further differentiate the M5 from the standard 5 Series. Other than the longer roofline, the Touring isn't much different from the M5 sedan. It's a quarter-inch taller, and without obstructing the view out the back, you only gain a bit of cargo space. With the rear seats folded, however, you can squeeze in nearly 60 cubic feet of spare tires. (What else would you haul, uranium rods?) The wagon is only about 90 pounds heavier than the sedan, which is a little more foam on top of 5,390 pounds of pilsner.

Even with that Chevy Tahoe–esque mass to propel, the long-awaited M5 wagon scoots. BMW claims it'll accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds, although we expected to beat that figure when we hooked up our test gear. With all-wheel drive, a fat Michelin Pilot Sport S 5 at each corner (285/40ZR20s up front and 295/35ZR21s in the rear), and the combined torque of a twin-turbo V-8 and an electric motor hitting like a wrecking ball off the line, the M5 smashes you into the seat back, the pull unrelenting as the eight-speed auto snaps through the gears and the speedometer zips around to the heady digits so rapidly you'd think it's broken. Top speed is governed at 155 mph (or 190 with the M Driver's package). There's a digital sheath around the experience, though, as even the exhaust's Sport mode augments the pulses firing from the engine with dramatizations played through the speakers. BMW reps couldn't tell us precisely what speakers are in on the chassis, but we suspect those in the front door panels play a role. With the radio off, we consistently felt a little buzz in our outboard trousers under WOT. Regardless, slightly more natural exhaust noise does reverberate through the wagon's cavernous aft cabin than in the sedan's comparatively tidy back seat. A similar level of artificiality pervades the M5's dynamic performance on curvy roads, too. Its handling is remarkable, the lessons BMW has learned from decades of building supernaturally capable SUVs paying off here in a vehicle with a much lower center of gravity. There is no perceptible body roll, and the M5's grip is so endless it feels like it might just turn in on itself like a wiener dog catching its own tail. We appreciated the steering's heft in Sport mode, but there's little feel or feedback. Nor do you get any of those telltale twitches or feints through the seat that communicate grip levels at each tire. To be fair, though, as high as this car's limits are, the slightest little slip could mean disaster on a public road.

Whereas previous M5s have consistently defined what a sport sedan (or wagon) meant for their time, the current generation takes a different tack. When Schmid outlines the brief for the G90, it sounds like he's describing more of a grand tourer than any previous M5. “The car is confident in everything and very capable on a racetrack,” he says. “But the driver should always arrive relaxed.” If that sounds like a teleprompter talking points polished by a PR machine, know that Schmid is no puppet. She has, by her estimate, thousands of laps of the Nürburgring, including nine 24-hour races—one of which was a class win—and a couple of 24-hour bicycle enduros. She appreciates performance and the need to push things forward. Electrification is the way of the future; the next M3 will be an EV. Yes, the G90 gives up some of the tactility of previous M5s, but an internal combustion heart still beats under its hood. What it forfeits in emotional connection, it makes up for in respect. Plus, it has a D-pillar. This M5 may not define its moment the way its predecessors did, but it has certainly captured it.

2025 BMW M5 Touring (Wagon) Specifications PRICE BASE $123,275 LAYOUTS Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door hatchback ENGINE 4.4L/577-hp/553-lb-ft direct-injected twin-turbo DOHC 32-valve V-8 plus 194-hp/207-lb-ft electric motor, 717 hp/738 lb-ft (comb) TRANSMISSION 8-speed auto CURB WEIGHT 5,500 lb (mfr est) WHEELBASE 118.3 in L x W x H 200.6 x 77.6 x 59.7 in 0–60 MPH 3.5 sec (mfr est) E.P.A CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON Not yet rated EPA RANGE, COMB 340 miles (est) ON SALE November

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