SEPTEMBER 2017 57I
s the F10 M5 the best M5? We wouldn’t
like to be the ones to give an answer to
that question because each generation is
championed by hordes of die-hard fans
and we’re not ones to cause trouble.
But, you can’t deny that it is the best at a
lot of things. It’s the quickest M5, the most
powerful, also the most economical and
thus, in many ways, the most practical and
a genuine contender as an everyday car,
and that’s important for a lot of people
shopping for a car like an M5. If they
didn’t need a saloon then there’s plenty of
high-performance machinery to choose
from at the £70k+ price point, but having
four doors, fi ve seats and a big boot
wrapped up in a relatively discreet body
with a whole heap of power makes for a
perfect package. We could probably, ands the F10 M5 the best M5? We wouldn’t
like to be the ones to give an answer to like to be the ones to give an answer to
that question because each generation is
championed by hordes of die-hard fans
and we’re not ones to cause trouble.
But, you can’t deny that it is the best at a
lot of things. It’s the quickest M5, the most
powerful, also the most economical and
thus, in many ways, the most practical and
a genuine contender as an everyday car,
and that’s important for a lot of peopledidn’t need a saloon then there’s plenty of
high-performance machinery to choose
from at the £70k+ price point, but havingwrapped up in a relatively discreet body
with a whole heap of power makes for a
perfect package. We could probably, andrelatively safely, say that the F10 M5 is the
best all-round M5, then, and its appeal is
undeniable. We want one, badly. As we’ve
established, the performance is a big part
of that appeal and there is an awful lot of
it thanks to the S63 V8 that you’ll fi nd
under the bonnet. It may not have the
purity of the S38 straight-six, or the sheer
lunacy of the S85 V10, but it has a lot of
power, a lot of torque and two turbos, and
that means that, if you are so inclined,
even more power is readily available and
easily achievable.
Nick Sutton is that way inclined. He’s
only owned his Monte Carlo blue example
since last year and in that space of time
it’s gone from being completely stock to
quite possibly the most powerful F10 M5
in the country. Not that you’d know aboutSEPTEMBER 20 1 7 57relatively safely, say that the F10 M5 is the
best all-round M5, then, and its appeal is
undeniable. We want one, badly. As we’ve undeniable. We want one, badly. As we’ve
established, the performance is a big part
of that appeal and there is an awful lot ofpurity of the S38 straight-six, or the sheer
lunacy of the S85 V10, but it has a lot of
power, a lot of torque and two turbos, and
that means that, if you are so inclined,
even more power is readily available andNick Sutton is that way inclined. He’s
only owned his Monte Carlo blue example
since last year and in that space of time
it’s gone from being completely stock to
quite possibly the most powerful F10 M5
in the country. Not that you’d know aboutit, mind, because aside from a few very
subtle additions (and the noise) there’s
really nothing here that gives the game
away, just how Nick likes it. This is, in
fact, his fi rst BMW, which comes after
many, many extremely highly-modifi ed
Japanese performance machines, a hard
act to follow but it’s safe to say it’s doing
a sterling job. “I’ve always loved Japanese
performance stuff, it’s so tunable,” he
explains and that’s always been a huge
draw, with so much potential performance
ready and waiting to be tapped into, but
BMW’s move to turbos has redressed the
balance. “I’ve had over ten Skylines,” Nick
continues, “and for my next car it was
between this and a GT-R. I knew I was
going to mod the car before I bought it, I
did my research, and I wanted somethingPBMW217.f10_m5.ed3.indd 57 07/08/2017 08:28