Review: The 2025 BMW M5 Is The Product Of A Confused Auto Industry

Once you’ve figured out all the M5’s buttons, settings, and modes, it’ll hunker down, briefly spin its rear wheels, and launch you to Autobahn-conquering velocities within seconds. The V-8’s growl is intoxicating. Its push is relentless, and the consistency of a tiny electric motor assisting it in the art of forward thrust ensures no time is wasted. The quest? Getting this heavyweight sedan to cover ground faster than some supercars. The G90 M5 delivers.

But, I had to quickly slow things down. After all, I was driving the M5 on public roads. In Canada, not in Germany. Once that healthy shot of dopamine had been injected through my bloodstream, the thought of something so brutally fast and capable of carrying a car seat reminded me why the M5 remains a unique animal. An animal that, against its own will, had to adapt to its current environment in order to survive. Even if that meant gaining several, several pounds in the process.

2025 BMW M5 First Impressions

Wide, Hefty, And Very Intimidating

All generations of the BMW M5 have brilliantly managed to blend the understated, classic look of a luxury midsize sedan with the muscular stance of a sports car. The G90 M5 continues this tradition. But since the current 5 Series is a large machine, the resulting M5 is a much more intimidating, in-your-face proposition.

I have mixed feelings about the way this M5 looks. Coming at you straight on, it looks menacing, properly wide and purposeful. But just like the regular 5 Series, the M5’s face isn’t all that pretty, with a kidney grille that appears to be growing as you stare at it, and a gimmicky illuminated LED surrounding element. It just looks goofy.

Thankfully, the car’s angular appearance, high shoulders, wider hips, and 20/21-inch 951M wheels help give its side profile more visual impact. The rear end is its best angle, wide, sophisticated. It wears the iconic set of M5 quad-tip exhaust pipes, signaling this is the almighty Alpha of the 5 Series lineage.

2025 BMW M5 Exterior Dimensions

2025 BMW M5: Differences Between The U.S. And Canadian Market

Since the M5 is both a flagship model for BMW’s M division, and a trim level of the 5 Series lineup, BMW essentially sells it the same way on each side of the border. There aren’t really any trim levels for the car, just available colors and wheels, which are the same for each market.

U.S. Versus Canada Lineup Breakdown And Starting MSRP (model tested in bold below)

Driving Impressions And Performance

Still Having Trouble Getting My Head Around It

The reason it took me so long to write my review of the G60 BMW M5 is that it took me a long time to digest all of it. I still can’t exactly pinpoint if I like the way it performs and drives, but I will say that I have a lot more respect for the machine than I originally did. Look, all M5s have come with their share of controversy. And while we may not all collectively agree with the plug-in hybrid tech hiding underneath this one’s hood, the G90 was engineered this way because of the world in which it resides.

Ever-stricter emissions regulations, the rise of electric vehicles (EVs), and government mandates threatening to ban internal combustion engines (ICE) have all contributed to the M5’s gestation. Plus, since the M5’s core mission was always to be two cars in one: a sensible, daily usable midsize sedan and a top-speed rocket, plug-in hybrid (PHEV) technology was really the only way to get there in this current age.

The end result is a behemoth of a sedan, one weighing over 5,000 pounds. The culprits for such heft are a twin-turbocharged, 4.4-liter V-8, a 15-kW lithium-ion battery, a tiny AC electric motor sandwiched between the ICE and the eight-speed automatic transmission, and BMW’s well-documented xDrive all-wheel-drive system, capable of disengaging the front axle on demand.

This leads to output figures that are equally gargantuan: 717 combined horsepower and an Earth-shattering 738 pound-feet of combined twist, leading to a claimed 0 to 60 MPH of 3.2 seconds and 190 MPH top speed.

So, obviously, the new M5 is still incredibly fast. But although it feels clumsy at low speeds due to its tendency to always bounce annoyingly on uneven pavement – a result of its excessive weight – and a steering wheel that feels downright dead on-center, the M5 will still boogey hard on a winding piece of tarmac. You just need to grab it by the scruff of the neck, commit, and, wow! This thing grips for days, corners hard, tracks wonderfully, and basically transforms any driver into a daily superhero.

Like its predecessor, the M5 is also an incredibly complicated machine. Drive modes, settings, pre-configured buttons, and even a Boost feature all contribute to making this one heck of a pill to swallow. So, even after spending a full week with the M5 exploring all facets of its various personalities, I still can’t tell you if I fully understand the car. I’ll be getting the Touring model for a review in a few weeks, so that should allow me to give you more detailed driving impressions of the car.

2025 BMW M5 Technical Specifications

2025 BMW M5 Fuel Consumption, Energy Consumption And Range

The M5’s crazy performance is contrasted by its ability to transform into a hyper-quiet, hyper-comfortable EV. Charge up its battery to full, and it’ll drive up to 25 miles in full electric mode, in which case it’ll only pump out 194 horsepower and 207 pound-feet of torque.

EPA And As-Tested Fuel Consumption And Range

When running in hybrid mode, with both the electric motor and V-8 engine working in tandem, the EPA rates the current M5 at 50 MPGe. Once the battery runs out of juice, expect about 14 MPG from the twin-turbo V-8 when running on its own. Of course, these numbers aren’t great, especially for a PHEV. But don’t forget that the M5’s technology was never engineered for fuel economy, but rather for performance. I actually managed to get closer to 15 MPG while I had the car in my possession.

Interior Design And Comfort

All The Comfort And Space Of A 5 Series, But With Super-Complicated Controls

Inside, the M5 carries over much of the regular 5 Series’ qualities. There isn’t much to fault here, as this is always a spacious and comfortable sedan in which to sit. Placing a rear-facing child’s seat back there was a breeze, while the thick, sports bucket seats are both comfortable and supportive for either long, highway cruising or backroad carving.

There’s a nice play with cabin illumination, too, which syncs with the infotainment system’s themes to create a truly unique experience. My personal favorite is the M-themed lighting setting, which really gives the cabin a sporty, almost running-shoe-like look and feel. My only real gripe with the M5’s interior is the level of complexity hidden behind its drive modes and settings.

Two tiny red M buttons on the steering wheel allow you to quickly head to your favorite setup, but to set it all up, you’ll need to press another button on the center console. Another M Mode button on that same console won’t activate the M5’s actual M mode, but rather changes the way your gauges look. It’s all very confusing.

2025 BMW M5 Interior Dimensions

Technology And Ease Of Use

More Complication

While the M5’s technology is presented beautifully and responds quickly, its infotainment system and menus don’t help in reducing the car’s complexity. The main menu is BMW’s now expected hot mess of very small icons that make finding your desired menus rather hard, especially if you’re new to this system.

Look, I find it amazing that the M5 allows you to tailor it to your liking, leading to the ability to create several cars in one, depending on your mood and context. But the level of customization leads to even more complexity, with menus to adjust the hybrid system’s behavior, to a full page of available toggle switches to pre-configure, well, everything, from the car’s transmission behavior, to even its battery regeneration capabilities. It’s a lot to take in.

Cargo And Storage Space

Just As Spacious As A Normal 5 Series

Even with all this performance and extra hardware, the M5 loses none of the 5 Series’ generous cargo space. You’ll get more room in that trunk than in most midsize sedans, even popular models like the Toyota Camry (15.1 cu-ft) and the Honda Accord (16.7 cu-ft).

2025 BMW M5 Cargo Space

The M5 Of The Current Age

At each moment in history when the M5 was introduced, it marked an important technological step for BMW. Whether it was a high-revving V-10 or an automated automatic transmission that rendered the manual gearbox obsolete, the M5, for better or worse, was always fitted with the most advanced technology of its era.

So, while I, like many of you, would have preferred less weight and perhaps, only V-8 performance from the G90 M5, the plug-in hybrid stuff hiding underneath its wide body is actually how this car leaps ahead of its predecessors. The M5 is the inevitable outcome of a changing world. It may not be the way we want it, but in the current context of things, the sheer fact that BMW is still able to sell us an M5 is great news. An M5 that, although incredibly controversial, remains true to the core mission of what an M5 should be.