One of the stars of the Nurburgring industry testing sessions that take place these days is the 2018 BMW M5. Heck, judging by how hard the engineers are pushing the four-door monster, the Bavarians could be aiming for the sedan record.
The all-wheel-drive nature of the new M5 is responsible for the composed hooning you can see in the piece of Ring footage at the bottom of the page. As we've done on previous occasions, we'll remind drift junkies that the Bimmer will pack an RWD-only mode.
If the 2018 M5 is indeed aiming for the Ring sedan record, this means BMW has landed in the middle of a fight between Porsche and Alfa Romeo.
You see, while the Porsche Panamera Turbo managed to grab the said title from the Alfa Romeo Giulia, the 8-speed auto incarnation of the 510 hp machine took the accolade back to Italy. Nevertheless, since Zuffenhausen has yet to deliver a lap time for the 680 hp Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid, the war is far from over.
The F90 M5, which will be animated by a 600 hp twin-turbo V8 mill, has been teased on countless occasions, with BMW even claiming to offer us an aural sample of the family-friendly athlete.
And the countless spy pics/spy vids targeting the M5 have brought us previous clues, with the latest example of the sort even taking us inside the super-saloon.
That's how we were able to check out the new shifter of the 2018 BMW M5. And the big news is that the gear lever seems to pack a pair of buttons that allow the driver to control the shift intensity for the eight-speed auto tranny of the model - the buttons have migrated from the center console.
Until we get our hands on more info (the unveiling should take place this summer), we're inviting you to check out the 2018 M5 doing its thing on the Nordschleife.
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
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