The Myth of a Perfect Car

In the last twenty years since my interest in anything automotive was awaken, I have been aware of journalists' never-ending search for that most elusive of all creatures - the perfect car. The definition was hard to pin down, but it was generally agreed that when you saw one you knew it. The prerequisites are as follows: more power than is reasonably necessary, superlative handling, good general comfort, the ability to be driven every day, ease of service, and no special requirements whereupon the said vehicle would be out of commission for any obscene amount of time. Easy to say, hard to do. But BMW is an automaker that has come close a number of times.

It is a very serious sports car indeed that can clearly beat the M5 in the acceleration department.

Enter the E39 M5. I have owned it for 18 months and have enjoyed it to an obscene degree. It took me a year and a half, but it did finally got into my waiting hands in June of 2000. And nothing beats that first drive, especially in a car for which the waiting list was longer than the Great Wall of China.

I immediately fell in love with the rigidity of the body and how well it handled bumps, despite the harsher settings of the suspension. Wind noise is conspicuous only by its absence, and both of these factors are a testament to technology and engineering brilliance of today's designers. Such a chassis would have been impossible 15 years ago at any price. Whereupon the 540i sport feels a little unstable at early triple digit speeds, the M5 feels rock solid, even at its electronically limited top speed. Officially however, I have never been faster that 65 mph in it.

And I am happy to report that perfection has been achieved in the steering department. I don't know how BMW does it and how many Bavarian souls have been sold to the devil against their will for this secret, but all the cars from Munich exhibit this fortunate trait. The M5 just brings it to another level. Free play and vagueness do not exist here, and neither does kickback, except in very extreme situations. I always feel a direct connection to the road and very few cars do this as well.

The chassis is very composed when driven in anger. It does everything you ask of it, as long as you keep in mind its weight. Understeer is invoked easily (with DSC off) but that is engineered into many current cars as a safety feature anyway. But one prod of the accelerator is all that is necessary to make the tail slide, and slide it will. And if you're not too careful at speed, such sliding can bite you in the butt. Fortunately, I do not yet speak from experience. I usually keep the DSC turned on above sixty miles per hour. As hard as I try to believe otherwise, I am not even close to being Ralf Schumacher. But I can't be blamed for trying.

Such a chassis would have been impossible 15 years ago at any price.

The engine is another delight to savor in the car... very powerful and very flexible. Laden with sophisticated electronic and mechanical enhancements, and providing almost 400 fun-loving horsepower, it provides very usable power in any gear. The problem of course is, no matter what anybody says you always want more. How about 500? Well, hopefully BMW will see the light and build the V10 I have been hearing rumors about.

For the time being, however, the present engine will accelerate the almost 4,000 pound heft of the M5 as fast as a 355 Ferrari. This is no small feat, as the latter weighs about 700 pounds less. In fact, 60 to 100-mph times of both cars are identical, taking roughly six seconds to accomplish. In everyday life, fifth gear with proper timing will take care of most obstacles in your path on the highway. Third will do the same everywhere else.

It is a very serious sports car indeed that can clearly beat the M5 in the acceleration department. As far as flexibility is concerned, you can make 90-degree turns in town in third gear and feel no protest from the drivetrain at all.

When I need the brakes, they are always there.

Brakes, however, is where the myth starts to show its cracks. Or perhaps it is only the American brakes, for I have not driven a European car. They are of course huge and have just about as much swept area as a normally aspirated 911. And they do a great job of stopping the heavy Teutonic mass. But when my car had roughly 8,000 miles, 70% deceleration from about 130 mph to 70 produced unwelcome grinding noise. The discs were heating up too much and temporarily warping, and the condition has remained the same until the present mileage of 18,000. And yes... the run-out and rotor thickness are far from being out of spec.

I have driven many high performance cars in my life, and most can deal with this exercise quite nicely. Porsche 911s, for instance, can take harder deceleration from even higher speeds with no such protests. My Mercedes CL500 rental car in Europe only exhibited such rudeness from 150 mph. And that behemoth weighs substantially more. Unless my particular car has some defect, the brakes were not over-engineered to the same degree as other components of the car.

It is therefore hard for me to believe that an American-spec M5 can take a full lap of the Nurburgring without extreme fading or worse - boiling its brake fluid. Slower speed tracks are probably what the car can handle. But, in its defense, BMW never specifically promised the brakes were race car worthy either. And in my everyday life with the car, this fact only bothers me in theory. When I need the brakes, they are always there.

My biggest gripes with the car are the pedals and the gear selector. The former are positioned too high in the footwell. That makes it harder to stabilize your feet with your heels. You always have to have your legs uncomfortably raised to operate them. Additionally, the brake and the clutch have too much travel - just as they do in a 530i. It is understandable in the base car, meant to pacify the general driving public, but not in the twice as powerful M5.

One prod of the accelerator is all that is necessary to make the tail slide, and slide it will.

The gear lever suffers from the same predicament, even though its action is quicker that a regular 540i - but not quick enough. If BMW made the M5 to be as quick as most sports cars, and touts its ability on the race-track, then they should put in it what works best when driving fast and hard. Honda understands the need for short-throw gear selectors and short-travel clutch pedals. Anyone who has ever driven an NSX or an S2000 will understand what I am talking about. Those systems permit quick and precise gear changes over and over again, including the all-important heel and toe maneuver. And they do not have any detriments either. The faster the car, the faster the controls should be.

It is possible to heel and toe in the M5 smoothly, but it just doesn't feel as natural as in the aforementioned Japanese cars. There is nothing wrong with emulating Honda, but I have a feeling that BMW is too proud to do that. Just imagine the outcry.

The whole point of my whining is not to take away from the M5. In fact, anyone who just goes for a drive will not notice any shortcomings at all. But living with the car is a different story. The good as well as the bad aspects are magnified.

Anyone who just goes for a drive will not notice any shortcomings at all.

I did not buy this car to get an upgraded 540i sport. BMW could have put the 400 hp engine in the 540 and tweaked the suspension a bit and still would have sold just as many cars to the same buyers. But the M cars should be for a different clientele. It should be for those who enjoy true sports cars and their controls and would drive one every day if they were practical enough and had four seats. And I would not mind paying significantly more for such a machine.

But it seems BMW did not have enough courage to make the two cars so different. Or maybe the vast majority of M5 owners prefer the status quo. That is unfortunate but probably true. So hopefully someday BMW will give the M5 the brake pedal and brakes from a 911 Turbo, and the gear shift lever and clutch pedal from an NSX, and build that perfect car everyone has been talking about. Everything else can stay the same. And that's quite incredible in any car at any price.

April 2002 Boston Bimmer

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2002 Boston Chapter Ice Racing: Ice Princess by Brittany Weber

First Quarter General Meeting: A Glimpse Into The Future by Ann Marie Weber

The E39 M5: The Myth of a Perfect Car by Mark Anderson

Trends, Habits, and Tradtions by Michelle Demers

BostonMember: 10669: Not the Marrying Type by Suzin Koehler

National News: The Changing of the Guard by Reid Douglas

April 2002 New Members by Joe Marko