BMW M3 vs BMW M5

What's the difference?

There’s no point waxing too lyrical here, because the facts surrounding the M3 Touring are more than exciting enough.

It’s a (kind of) family friendly wagon with oodles of space and practicality. It’s also an unhinged performance weapon with a thumping 3.0-litre twin-turbo-petrol inline six-cylinder engine.

And it has been years — decades, even — in the making. So, has it been worth the wait? Let’s strap in and find out.

Balancing luxury car comfort, hot hatch agility and supercar speed is no easy task, yet that is what made the six previous generations of BMW's M5 so iconic. 

In seventh-generation ‘G90’ guise, the M5 has another skeleton in the cupboard: the toughest emissions regulations that Europe, and now Australia, have ever seen.

A twin-turbo V8 was untenable and going battery electric was not an option. Plug-in hybrid was the only answer. For the new M5, BMW combined a revised 4.4-litre ‘S68’ bent eight with a punchy electric motor for 535kW and 1000Nm. 

Problem is, the G90 is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest BMW M cars of all time, especially in CS trim. And thanks to a circa-600kg weight hike to nearly 2500kg, the new M5's 0-100km/h claim is actually slower than the old 'F90' M5. 

Doesn’t exactly sound like a big leap forward, does it?

A drive through the Central West of NSW and around the iconic Mount Panorama racing circuit gave us answers to two questions. Does the M5 work on Australia roads, and does BMW M's latest super-sedan represent progress?