BMW M5 (G90) Review

The latest M5 goes plug-in hybrid, mating BMW's 4.4 liter twin-turbo V8 to an electric motor and a battery for 717 hp and 738 lb-ft, sent to all four wheels through an eight-speed automatic. It offers around 25 miles of electric only running, comes as a sedan from $119,500 or, for the first time in the US, as an M5 Touring wagon, and can shuffle between rear-drive and all-wheel-drive modes.

The performance is monumental and the breadth is real. It will whisper through town on electricity, cruise in luxury, and still annihilate a back road or a drag strip. The interior is richly equipped, the wagon is desirable, and the ability to drive short commutes on battery alone is genuinely useful.

The problem is the scale. All that hybrid hardware pushes curb weight to about 5,390 pounds, and you feel it: this M5 is crushingly fast but less delicate and playful than the lighter cars that built the badge. The styling is heavy handed, running costs are high, and when the battery is depleted the fuel economy is ordinary at best.

It is a magnificent, slightly bloated grand express. If you want the fastest, most comfortable way to cross a country in a BMW sedan or wagon, it delivers. Purists mourning the lithe M5 of old have a fair complaint.