BMW has a new M5 on the block in the form of the 717-horsepower G90 generation, and we're already willing to bet it's going to make a strong case for being the ultimate one-car garage. But to do so, we need to look at the current pinnacle of the BMW M5 tree throughout its history to see what an M5 needs to do to become that ultimate one-car garage experience.

The E39 BMW M5 is widely regarded as one of, if not the best, performance sedans ever made. The main reason why is that BMW effectively sold you two cars in one neat package. Despite not having adaptive damping or multiple driving modes, the E39 was the ultimate Jekyll and Hyde car of its time. As a daily car, it was nothing more than a fourth-generation BMW 5 Series, which remained a class-leading product throughout its life cycle. Sure, the ride was a bit firmer, but this was well before the days when manufacturers somehow decided that dampers needed to be made from concrete in order for a car to feel sporty. The worst thing you could say about it is that the six-speed manual gearbox wasn't ideal for the rat race, but it was a compromise 100% of buyers were willing to make to gain access to the M5's other personality.

Free from the confines of the city and prying eyes, the E39 M5 comes alive. The 4.9-liter naturally aspirated V8 was a masterpiece, developed specifically for the M5 back when M cars still used tailor-made engines. This engine was shared with only one other BMW product (the beautiful but flawed Z8) and two fire-breathing Ascari models, the KZ1 and the A10. The standard engine produced a maximum of 394 horsepower and 6,600 rpm, 400 rpm before the redline. The maximum torque of 369 lb-ft was available from 3,800 rpm, which meant you could treat the engine one of two ways. You could treat it like a lazy big-bore American V8 when idling along, pulling away in second gear or happily sitting at just above idle at freeway speeds.

Or you could rev it out, sticking it into a tight corner at 6,000 rpm in second, leaving just enough revs to get the rear to step out for a second or two upon exit. The E39's handling is the stuff of legend. But what made it more of a legend is its Q-car status and the fact that it was more fun to drive than most supercars of the same era. AMG fanboys love to point out the fact that the supercharged E55 has almost 100 horsepower more, but look at used values and tell me which car ended up on top...

Why Does This Dual Personality Matter?

The M5 has always been an elegant car, apart from the E60 generation. BMW M forgot who it was for a second and blessed the E60 (V10) M5 with side gills and a smattering of M badges. The E39 had one M5 badge on the rear and subtle badges on the front doors. It mostly relied on the knowledge of car nerds to tell it apart from the standard 5 Series. (The easiest way was the quad exhausts and signature alloy wheels).

BMW quickly remedied the flamboyance with every generation that followed after the V10, and you have to say that the latest model is another prime example. Sure, the large grille may not be for everyone, but the E60 was a far more radical departure from the norm than the new 5 Series.

The M5 needs this dual personality because it has always been a sleeper. Let's not forget that the M brand effectively started with the first M5, which made its debut in 1984. After building the M1 and discovering that it couldn't be raced, BMW bolted the engine underneath the hood of the E28 5 Series and created the fastest production sedan in the world. And you'd never be able to tell just by looking at it.

Let me put it this way. If you live in a quiet neighborhood with an overzealous, environmentally-obsessed Karen, she won't give the new M5 a second glance, mostly due to its new party trick. But try and do the same in a 2023 Dodge Challenger Super Stock... She'll have the homeowner's association storm your front lawn quicker than you can say "Venti Half-Caf Vegan Mocha Latte Espresso."

The New M5 Is The Best Q-Car Yet

The 2025 BMW M5 is a plug-in hybrid. It's equipped with a 4.4-liter V8, a Gen 5 electric motor housed in the gearbox, and a 14.8 kWh battery. The combined power output is 717 horsepower and 738 lb-ft of torque, but that's not important right now. What matters is that this is the first M5 with an all-electric driving mode with roughly 25 miles of range. That allows you to escape suburbia or infiltrate anti-ICE locations without arousing suspicion. This is particularly useful as protesters have moved on from gluing themselves to stuff to pouring buckets of orange paint over things that pollute a lot. Last week, a couple of protesters tried to paint Taylor Swift's private jet orange, but they got their planes mixed up and ended up vandalizing some other poor soul's private jet. Blending in is more important than ever because orange is not part of the M5's standard color palette, although you can find even orange on the massive BMW Individual paint list.

It's also just a good idea, considering the kind of driving most people do on a daily basis. The ratio of time spent commuting vs. time spent hooning is probably 95:5, so it makes sense to have a car that can complete at least part of the journey on electricity. The M5's all-electric range is not going to win it any awards, but it does mean fewer trips to the gas pump. If you install a Level 2 charger at home, the M5's battery pack can be charged in less than two hours.

While BMW didn't provide acceleration specs for the EV mode, the car should feel quite spirited. By itself, the motor produces 194 hp and 207 lb-ft of torque, which is nearly a Honda Civic Si (even if the M5 weighs nearly two Civics).

What About The Performance?

The M5 is new, so nobody has driven it yet. I have experienced a version of this powertrain in the XM, and it wasn't particularly mind-blowing, but here's to hoping that the lower, more traditional M5 can do more. There hasn't been a sucky M5 yet, and this one is the most powerful and fastest of the lot yet. While the 0-60 mph time of 3.4 seconds is impressive, I like the 2.9-second sprint from 50 to 75 mph in fifth gear more. In fourth, it will do the same in 2.2 seconds. That's mighty impressive, given how unstressed the V8 is. The 4.4 twin-turbo V8 only produces 577 hp and 553 lb-ft of torque, which is less than the same V8 produced in the previous M5. It just goes to show how much this powertrain will rely on the hybrid components.

The car is quite heavy at 5,390 pounds, but if anyone can disguise that weight with fancy adaptive damping and a rear-wheel steering system, it's BMW. Both of these systems are standard, and you get some sizable brakes to bring this Heffalump of a performance sedan to a halt.

It's All The Car You'll Ever Need

Most of us would love to have a garage with 10 parking spaces, but the reality is that you most likely have one parking space in a garage, with the other space dedicated to your significant other's car. Explaining to your wife or husband why their Prius needs to sleep outside so you can have both a Camry and a Porsche 911 GT3 for yourself might not go down as well as you think. I know because I've been there. Telling my wife to park her car outside so my classic Alfa Romeo would have a place to sleep went about as well as you'd expect.

Like the Golf GTI, GR Corolla, and Civic Type R at the lower end of the market, the M5 aims to be all things to all people. It's an elegant grand tourer that will look equally at home parked outside a fancy restaurant and a Walmart parking lot.

It's a silent suburban cruiser that will let you do the school run without getting into trouble with Parents Against Internal Combustion. (I just made that up, but I'm sure it exists). During the daily grind, it will be marvelous because it has inherited many of the interior features and technology that make the new 7 Series such a great car. And at 200.6 inches long and 77.6 inches wide, it's bigger than a fifth-generation 7er. Oh, and you can also have it as a wagon, which is not only more spacious but way cooler than the sedan.

What remains to be seen is how good the M5 is at doing M5 stuff. We know the new 5 Series is a brilliant car, but there are some question marks over whether it will work as a performance car. We mentioned earlier that there has never been a bad M5, but this new car is a full 1,000 lbs heavier than the car it replaced. That's the biggest jump in weight the M5 has ever experienced from one generation to the next, but if anyone can figure out how to make the handling work, it's the Germans.