Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveC
Well there's no doubt that the M5 is in a different league. By that I don't automatically mean a 'better' or superior league, I mean different.
If, above all you enjoy driving, then an M3 and M5 is a different experience to an M135i. The M135i is like the very best curry, vs. the M5's evening with a top chef. The well prepared 250 dirt bike vs. the works-prepared open classer, The Phildelphia vs the Vienna Philharmonic....you get the picture
With the M5 there's more refinement, a lot more performance, superior brakes, more sophisticated suspension, superior tuneability, far higher limits, thanks to the M-Diff, nicer cabin, leatherwork, lots more toys etc.
On the other hand, the m135i is not without its significant charms. Its smaller, so easier to drive quickly along backroads, its steering is, if anything faster than the M5's, and you can have just as much fun going slightly slower.
I am delighted with the new M5 and while its clearly a larger car, that largeness doesn't translate into a feeling of lardiness. As a driver's car, its right up there....a magnificent achievement in automotive engineering. Having said that, if someone took it off me tomorrow and gave me back my M135i, it wouldn't take me 10 minutes to adapt and start enjoying the smaller car. There're simply too many good things to enjoy about it
This change has illustrated 2 things. That a full M car is definitely a very nice thing to drive and place to be and that in the M135i, BMW built one of the best value for money, fun-to-own cars on the road.
I'm now going to enjoy my new M5 to the full, but I'll bet you that if the M2 lives up to its promise, its going to set new standards for automotive fun.
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Great post that sums up many of the wonderful things about both cars.
I think if I lived in a country with wider roads and a bit less congestion, I would have made the move to the M5 many years ago. There is much appeal to having the equivalent of a Ferrari engine hidden under the hood of a full-sized, luxurious, eminently practical 5-person sedan.
I have tried to get at least halfway to the M5 at different times in my life, once in a late model E36 M3 (321hp type) and once in an E46 Alpina B3S, and although I truly loved them both, I seem to always get drawn back to the smaller, lighter hot-hatches (my Alfa 147 GTA, Golf Gti, Megane Trophy and now the amazing M135i), that seem so much better suited to Japan's narrow roads, as well as to the crazy cliff-hugging mountain blasts that have been my favorite form of automotive entertainment over the years.
I think size and weight are maybe the issues behind my reluctance to take the plunge..
Ever since I got my M3 back in 99, I've noticed the tendency for each subsequent generation of M-car to get bigger, heavier, more luxurious and more electronically advanced (the latest M3 lighter weight being the single exception I can think of). Though the continual increases in hp has meant that the 0-60 times have been going down even as the weight has been going up, it sort of feels like something has been lost in the process, perhaps the purity of the connection between the driver and the road which many light cars do well (like the amazing original M3)... This is not only a BMW thing as it is clearly a problem at Porsche too. My 2010 987 Boxster S's superb hydraulic steering and relatively old school approach to creating a tactile sports car has been almost completely lost in this latest version of the Boxster, which although faster and far more electronically luxurious in almost every way, has a dull, non-tactile electric steering unit and just way too many electronic gizmos for my taste.
The M135i is the wonderful anomaly here. My guess is some of the old school M-engineers were able to sneak this car past the bean-counters that have taken over BMW for the past decade or so. What we have is the biggest and most powerful straight-6 that BMW has ever made stuffed under the hood of the smallest and lightest body they currently offer. It's not light compared to a Lotus or even to many of my previous hot hatches, but very light for a BMW and light enough to make the car come alive when combined with that gloriously flexible engine, perfectly suited ZF 8 speed transmission (which is better than any of the dual clutch units I've owned including Porsche's PDK) and amazingly subtle and fluid sports suspension. Even the M Performance aftermarket exhaust is a thing of beauty, offering just enough extra snarls, burbles, crackles and pops on downshift to bring a smile to my face almost every single day I drive it. IMHO, this is right up there as one of the most well sorted, tactile drivers car BMW has produced in the past 25 years and truly the best bargain in their current lineup...