Tag Archives: BMW M5

News

BMW’s Six-Pack of M5s Proves the Color Wheel Still Matters

Choosing a favorite among BMW UK’s latest M5 press cars is less a matter of performance than of pigment. Six brand-new M5s—two G90 sedans and four G99 Tourings—have landed in the fleet, and they look like they were picked by someone who actually cares about BMW’s back catalog instead of just ticking whatever shades sell best in leasing brochures. The brief was simple: mix retro soul with modern flash. The execution, thankfully, wasn’t.

Start with Le Mans Blue on one of the sedans, a hue that immediately calls back to the E39 M5, the high-water mark of BMW’s super-sedan era. BMW UK even keeps one of those old-school V8 icons in its historic fleet, alongside a V10-powered E60 and the F10-based M5 30 Jahre Edition. It’s not just nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake either—these cars are kept in near-perfect condition, reminding everyone what “M5” used to mean before hybridization became part of the job description.

The second G90 sedan goes in the opposite direction, finished in Chalk Grey, a color that feels more Silicon Valley than Nürburgring. That modern vibe continues into the Touring lineup, where a Fashion Grey wagon shares space with three far bolder choices: Malachite Green, Wildberry, and Anglesey Green. It’s a lineup that looks more like a curated art show than a corporate press fleet, which is exactly what BMW M should be doing with a car that costs this much and weighs this much.

And yes, weighs this much. The elephant in the cargo area is the absence of a carbon-fiber roof on the M5 Touring. Unlike the sedans, which do get the carbon panel, the wagons are stuck with steel up top. It’s not a philosophical decision—it’s a logistical one. Retooling the Dingolfing plant to assemble carbon roofs on Tourings would be expensive, and the weight savings would barely register on a car tipping the scales well north of two tons. In M3 Touring terms, it made sense to skip it, and it makes even more sense here.

All six cars roll on the same hardware spec, which means the good stuff. The two-tone 951 M wheels—20 inches up front, 21 at the rear—fill the arches with proper menace, while the carbon-ceramic brakes peek through like a subtle flex. BMW UK clearly didn’t cheap out, at least not on the things that matter when you’re hustling a 700-plus-horsepower hybrid missile down a wet B-road.

And while spy photographers are already snapping facelifted M5 prototypes wearing hints of BMW’s Neue Klasse design language, don’t expect these cars to look dated anytime soon. The current styling is locked in for roughly another year and a half, with the Life Cycle Impulse models rumored to start production in July 2027. The refresh will bring tweaks, not a revolution.

For now, these six M5s are a rolling reminder that even in the age of electrification and software-defined everything, details still matter. Paint matters. Wheels matter. And when you’re driving something as absurdly capable as the new M5—sedan or wagon—you might as well make sure it looks just as special as it feels.

Source: BMW

NEW CARS

BMW Can’t Decide How Bold Its M5 Facelift Should Be—and That Might Be a Good Thing

BMW usually plays its Life Cycle Impulse cards close to the chest. Minor tweaks here, a lighting signature there, and done. But the facelifted M5 appears to be breaking that tradition—and not subtly. Since March 2025, when the first spy shots of an updated M5 surfaced, BMW has been testing not one but two noticeably different design directions for its super sedan, all while the current G90-generation car is still barely warmed up.

That alone raised eyebrows. Testing a facelift just months after customer deliveries begin is unusual, even by BMW standards. But the real surprise came later, when a second prototype appeared wearing camouflage that hinted at a completely different face.

The first test mule leaned hard into BMW’s Neue Klasse design language. Its kidney grille stretched outward, visually linking up with the headlights in a way that echoed the 2023 Vision Neue Klasse concept. BMW has already confirmed that this look will debut on upcoming production models like the next 3 Series and the electric i3 sedan, so seeing it previewed on an M5 made a certain amount of sense—at least on paper.

Then came the second prototype. Same car, same mission, but a noticeably more conservative approach. The kidneys looked closer to the current design, and the overall effect was far more traditional BMW than concept-car experiment. A recent rendering based on this newer prototype strips away the camouflage and suggests BMW may be walking back some of its bolder ideas.

Which version looks better? That’s up for debate. What’s harder to argue is what this all implies: BMW appears to be actively rethinking the M5’s facelift in public view.

Both prototypes shared some common ground. The headlights are slimmer, taking cues from the upcoming iX3, and the changes seem destined to extend beyond the M5 to the regular 5 Series lineup. The G61 5 Series Touring has already been spotted with a toned-down Neue Klasse-inspired front end, hinting that whatever BMW decides here will ripple across the range.

What makes this situation unusual isn’t that BMW is revising a facelift—it’s when and how we’re seeing it happen. Automakers frequently change course during development, but those decisions are usually finalized long before prototypes start racking up miles on public roads. Watching two different facelift philosophies play out in real time is rare.

The rumored reason for the pivot? Customer feedback. Internal studies and external research reportedly suggested that the more aggressive Neue Klasse look might not land as well as BMW hoped, particularly on a car as expensive and performance-focused as the M5. A subtler update, the thinking goes, would be safer—and more in line with buyer expectations.

There’s also a financial angle. The 5 Series and M5 are among roughly 40 models slated to receive BMW’s Neue Klasse interior and next-generation iDrive system. That’s already a massive investment. Adding extensive exterior reengineering on top of costly interior tech upgrades for cars that aren’t clean-sheet designs could push budgets into uncomfortable territory.

Of course, camouflage can be misleading, and prototypes don’t always tell the full story. For now, the facelifted 5 Series and M5 remain a waiting game. Production of the LCI models reportedly won’t begin until July 2027, putting an official reveal sometime in 2026 at the earliest.

Until then, BMW’s indecision is on full display—and for once, that might be the most interesting part of the story.

Source: BMW; Photo: Kolesa.ru

News

Dust, Glory, and V12s: The Newport Beach Time Capsule

It’s the sort of story that makes car enthusiasts everywhere both weep and grin: in Newport Beach, California, an 88-year-old gentleman has decided it’s finally time to crack open his garage and let a few legends breathe. And by “garage,” we don’t mean a humble two-car suburban unit with a lawnmower in the corner. We mean a treasure chest where modern icons have been quietly slumbering, under a film of dust but otherwise frozen in time.

The headliners? A Ferrari 550 Maranello, a BMW M5 (E39), and a Ford GT. Not tatty, tired examples. Oh no. These are so pristine they make delivery-mile exotics look like rental cars from Miami Beach.

Ferrari 550 Maranello (2000)

Let’s start with the blue-blooded beauty. The 550 Maranello — Pininfarina’s long-nosed love letter to the front-engined V12 — looks as elegant today as it did in its 1990s heyday. This particular car is painted in the deliciously rare NART Blue, paired with a sumptuous brown leather interior. Mileage? 908 kilometers. That’s fewer steps than most of us take on a trip to the pub.

After a proper detail, the car’s lines once again glistened like liquid metal, the 5.5-liter naturally aspirated V12 promising its 485 horsepower symphony to a very lucky new owner in New York. Consider this: most Maranellos out there have lived the life of a true GT, storming across continents. This one has barely made it to the grocery store.

BMW M5 (E39, 2002)

Next up, the one that petrolheads will argue over until the end of time: the E39 M5, the sports sedan against which all others are judged. This Carbon Black masterpiece has covered a scarcely believable 6,838 kilometers in 22 years. It has never changed hands since new. And yes, it’s got the six-speed manual gearbox and the 4.9-liter V8 with 400 horsepower—the recipe for one of the purest driver’s sedans ever built.

Inside, black leather and wood trim remain untouched, like a Bavarian time capsule. Now in Colorado, its new custodian essentially owns one of the best-preserved examples in the world. Lucky sod.

Ford GT (2006)

And then there’s the American hammer blow: the 2006 Ford GT. A retro homage that didn’t just nod to Le Mans history—it bellowed, wheelspun, and blew the doors off contemporary Ferraris. This one is painted in retina-searing red with white racing stripes, and like the others, it’s barely been touched. Odometer: 1,159 kilometers. Registered? Not once. It’s as close as you’ll ever get to buying one brand new today.

Underneath that aluminum skin sits a 5.4-liter supercharged V8 with 558 horsepower, paired with a six-speed Ricardo manual. Back in 2006, this was Ford flexing against the Europeans, and two decades later, it’s still one of the most charismatic supercars America has ever built.

The Rest of the Stash

Of course, those three are just the tip of the iceberg. Peek further into the Newport Beach vault and you’ll find an eclectic mix of Americana and oddities: a 1973 De Tomaso Pantera, several generations of Chevrolet Corvette, a 1970 Dodge Charger R/T, a Dodge Viper GTS, a Plymouth Prowler, a Dodge Ram SRT-10, and even a couple of Bricklin SV-1s. It’s a museum masquerading as a garage.

Some of these machines are destined to go back into climate-controlled hibernation, while others will roar back to life on public roads, scattering pedestrians with noise and nostalgia.

Final Thought

Every enthusiast dreams of finding a forgotten barn, peeling back the tarp, and discovering greatness. In this case, the cars weren’t in a barn—they were hiding in plain sight, napping in a Newport Beach garage. And now, thanks to one man finally deciding to part with his collection, three of the finest machines of the last 30 years are back in circulation. Dusty? Sure. Glorious? Absolutely.

Source: Silver Arrow Cars