Yahoo Autos 2018 BMW M550i xDrive: First Drive
The Alps are gorgeous. Or so I've heard. It's April and it's snowing... and sticking. Visibility drops to 30 feet or so every few kilometers, with the peaks in the distance obscured by a dense curtain of gray. This is not, in fact, a good day to drive hard.
The crew from BMW apologizes for the unseasonable weather, but it's serendipity for the M550i xDrive. This is the fastest 5-series ever made-including the outgoing M5-thanks to all-wheel-drive and the computing power necessary to put 456 horsepower and 480 pound-feet of torque to the ground. The snow tires BMW hustled onto the sedans don't bode well for testing the claimed sub-4-second 0-60 MPH time, but these are exactly the conditions the M550i is destined for, and a harbinger of what's to come.
The boss of BMW M has hinted that AWD is coming to the Motorsports marque. That makes the connection between the M550i and the next M5 more than just a short-stroke V8 and a couple turbos shoved into the V. The benefits of AWD are already clear, beginning with the M550i dropping a half-second off the F10 M5's 0-60 time. What's less apparent is how two more driven wheels and an 8-speed slushbox will jive with the rest of the M modifications.
The exterior hints at something more than a stock 5er, with a diminutive rear spoiler joining metallic accents around the intakes, black chrome exhaust tips, M-branded brake calipers, and some mirror caps. It's not really a sleeper, but things get more subtle inside, with black leather seats and blue contrast stitching. The snow-friendly rubber is wrapped around 19-inch wheels (20s are optional) and the chassis sits 10mm lower thanks to the M-Sport suspension.
That lower ride height combined with the winter donuts makes for a slightly more jarring ride, but unlike the outgoing M5, there's a greater sense of sure-footedness, which actually has little to do with the four-wheel drive.
What BMW calls its "intelligent xDrive all-wheel-drive system" is normally sending power to the rear wheels, as God and Walter Röhrl intended. It's only when the system detects slip or the Konami Code of a driver hustling behind-the-wheel that power is fed to the front. That transition is more apparent than expected, with power to the front wheels felt through the steering wheel and seat when coming over a crest and dipping into a long left-hander or, say, ignoring the navigation system's pleas when running around an abandoned traffic circle.
As always, there are settings. Lots and lots of settings, albeit less than the button-mashing madness of the E60. The driver has a choice of tightening the steering, sharpening the throttle, and culling suspension roll and increasing damping. Beyond the daily driver settings, Sport stiffens everything, while Sport+ lets the leash out on the dynamic stability control, allowing more rotation with the right foot and enough slip-aided in this case by rock-hard tires-to bring the back end out of line.
But it's the sense of control that comes through the clearest. That's due in large part to the revamped ZF 8-speed Steptronic transmission, which, in this application, feels better to the dual-clutch gearboxes, matched with the V8. Launching from a stop delivers a boost of controllable but fierce acceleration, with shifts banged off both quickly and disturbingly smoothly. Puttering through small towns and villages, the M550i feels like any other 5. But as soon as the last house whizzes by, a drop of the throttle in third gear elicits a wave of torque starting at 1,800 RPM and pulling hard past five grand. The engine is a peach, revving freely up to 7k and providing plenty of motivation for the 4,400-pound sedan, but it's the set-it-and-forget-it transmission that's shockingly impressive. There are paddles, and it takes less than one hand to count the number of times I used them.
Besides the control and the comfort, the M550i gives the sense that BMW and M have plenty left on the table for its next range-topper. There remains a fair amount of body roll, even with the M-ified suspension and set to its stiffest setting. And there's no doubt that the twin-turbo'd eight is good for 600+ HP. All of that adds up to something special coming down the pike, but in the meantime, BMW has a middle-child ready for well-heeled drivers in frozen climes. And the cold consolation that fun can be independent of tire choice.
The Alps are gorgeous. Or so I've heard. It's April and it's snowing... and sticking. Visibility drops to 30 feet or so every few kilometers, with the peaks in the distance obscured by a dense curtain of gray. This is not, in fact, a good day to drive hard.
The crew from BMW apologizes for the unseasonable weather, but it's serendipity for the M550i xDrive. This is the fastest 5-series ever made-including the outgoing M5-thanks to all-wheel-drive and the computing power necessary to put 456 horsepower and 480 pound-feet of torque to the ground. The snow tires BMW hustled onto the sedans don't bode well for testing the claimed sub-4-second 0-60 MPH time, but these are exactly the conditions the M550i is destined for, and a harbinger of what's to come.
The boss of BMW M has hinted that AWD is coming to the Motorsports marque. That makes the connection between the M550i and the next M5 more than just a short-stroke V8 and a couple turbos shoved into the V. The benefits of AWD are already clear, beginning with the M550i dropping a half-second off the F10 M5's 0-60 time. What's less apparent is how two more driven wheels and an 8-speed slushbox will jive with the rest of the M modifications.
The exterior hints at something more than a stock 5er, with a diminutive rear spoiler joining metallic accents around the intakes, black chrome exhaust tips, M-branded brake calipers, and some mirror caps. It's not really a sleeper, but things get more subtle inside, with black leather seats and blue contrast stitching. The snow-friendly rubber is wrapped around 19-inch wheels (20s are optional) and the chassis sits 10mm lower thanks to the M-Sport suspension.
That lower ride height combined with the winter donuts makes for a slightly more jarring ride, but unlike the outgoing M5, there's a greater sense of sure-footedness, which actually has little to do with the four-wheel drive.
What BMW calls its "intelligent xDrive all-wheel-drive system" is normally sending power to the rear wheels, as God and Walter Röhrl intended. It's only when the system detects slip or the Konami Code of a driver hustling behind-the-wheel that power is fed to the front. That transition is more apparent than expected, with power to the front wheels felt through the steering wheel and seat when coming over a crest and dipping into a long left-hander or, say, ignoring the navigation system's pleas when running around an abandoned traffic circle.
As always, there are settings. Lots and lots of settings, albeit less than the button-mashing madness of the E60. The driver has a choice of tightening the steering, sharpening the throttle, and culling suspension roll and increasing damping. Beyond the daily driver settings, Sport stiffens everything, while Sport+ lets the leash out on the dynamic stability control, allowing more rotation with the right foot and enough slip-aided in this case by rock-hard tires-to bring the back end out of line.
But it's the sense of control that comes through the clearest. That's due in large part to the revamped ZF 8-speed Steptronic transmission, which, in this application, feels better to the dual-clutch gearboxes, matched with the V8. Launching from a stop delivers a boost of controllable but fierce acceleration, with shifts banged off both quickly and disturbingly smoothly. Puttering through small towns and villages, the M550i feels like any other 5. But as soon as the last house whizzes by, a drop of the throttle in third gear elicits a wave of torque starting at 1,800 RPM and pulling hard past five grand. The engine is a peach, revving freely up to 7k and providing plenty of motivation for the 4,400-pound sedan, but it's the set-it-and-forget-it transmission that's shockingly impressive. There are paddles, and it takes less than one hand to count the number of times I used them.
Besides the control and the comfort, the M550i gives the sense that BMW and M have plenty left on the table for its next range-topper. There remains a fair amount of body roll, even with the M-ified suspension and set to its stiffest setting. And there's no doubt that the twin-turbo'd eight is good for 600+ HP. All of that adds up to something special coming down the pike, but in the meantime, BMW has a middle-child ready for well-heeled drivers in frozen climes. And the cold consolation that fun can be independent of tire choice.
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