2003 BMW M5 (E39): The Freshest M5 Ever.

Performance:

• Acceleration 0 to 60: 4.8 sec
• Braking 70 to 0: 156 feet (not from 60 mph)
• Quarter Mile: 13.2 sec
• Skidpad: 0.90 g
• Slalom: 67.6 mph

The BMW M5 E39 is probably the freshest M of all time, Why? Simplicity. When this car was conceived in 1997 as a 1998 model, M was in it’s absolute prime. The battle for numbers and putting down lap times was certainly present, but it did not dominate the engineer’s mentality. Cars of the M5’s caliber were not built around the concept of “Oh, we must make the car faster and more powerful than all of it’s competition.” No, the M engineers made the car balanced. The E55 Mercedes of a similar model year may have had 470 hp when Mercedes went to “Kompressor” (supercharger) technology. BMW ran the E39 M5 for a very long time; 1997 to 2003 and not once did BMW feel the need to increase the power of their car to compete with the 2003 Audi RS6 and the aforementioned E55 AMG with 450 and 470 hp respectively. M GmbH realized and knew that their M5 was a better, more “well-rounded” car than any of its competitors. The results speak for themselves. The M5 dominated the segment, during virtually all of it’s exixstence.

The most amazing thing is that the M5 held it’s own against the Audi RS6 when it came out in 2003. The svelt brute that the RS6 is, with it’s BiTurbo V8, packing 450 hp, and putting down numbers that were comparable to the E60 M5 and E55 AMG, people thought that the Audi would finally take the leed on the M5 as it had been around for nearly 7 years. But no. No, the dynamic ability and balance of the E39 M5 make it the winner in my heart and in all the other enthusiasts’ hearts. This (I believe) is the case with all but the newest M-cars. Each M-Car’s total value is worth more than the sum of it’s parts. Performance data is really only part of the story with the E39 M5, people buy an M for the feel not the hard facts that go along with it.