I recently saw the latest installment in the long-running, action-packed Mission Impossible series at the local cinema. Called Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning (Part One), this is yet another showcase of cool BMW vehicles used by the main cast.
Of course, with this being a Tom Cruise flick (he's also a producer alongside director Christopher McQuarrie, thus taking the reins of the creative effort), action and stunts are at an all-time high. My overall impression was two-fold, by the way, and it also infringes on BMW's involvement with the franchise. For starters, while it's not as a 'heavy-hitter' like Fallout, it's still plenty suspenseful (there's another train fight like in the 1996 original, this time a classic steamer, not a modern TGV). And it also has a lot of heart…
Anyway, now on to the BMW commentary – the assortment of cars and motorcycles culminates with a doorless M5 zipping throughout the streets of Rome and Tom Cruise driving it and drifting with just one hand. Interestingly, if you know your M5 stuff, you'll notice the high-performance executive sedan appears with and without the LCI applied because the global pandemic extensively delayed production.
However, it really doesn't matter they didn't use the latest F90 model – the M5 CS, it's still a subtle executive sedan that just so happens to have a V8 under the hood and lots of power! They're interchangeable, and that's still a good thing because the new one might be a little more outrageous than before – but also usable in M5 Touring format.
By the way, wouldn't it be cool for BMW to give them that feisty station wagon for Part Two? Oh, well, returning to the F90 M5, the only way to make it more visible is sometimes to give it some pink paint over the blue body! Wait, what? Well, that's precisely what happened with one of the featured BMW M5s seen in the latest quarter-mile dragstrip feature we have prepared for you.
After the most recent hiatuses, the videographer behind the "Drag Racing and Car Stuff" channel on YouTube is back with feisty action from the Bradenton Motorsport Park in Bradenton, Florida, and Orlando Speed World Dragway in Bithlo, Florida. And he won't disappoint – especially if you are a sedan fan in general and a BMW enthusiast in particular.
A couple of M5s – the pink-and-blue example plus a dark-gray or black unit – were featured in the relationship with each track. The first one dazed and amazed at Bradenton, twice, against a quirky lime-yellow Audi RS7 Sportback, winning both times with 10.33s versus 11.49s and 10.25s versus 11.33s ETs. Sorry, Audi aficionados, there's more disappointment between them.
This is because in Orlando, that other BMW M5 first whipped the floor with an Audi SQ5 crossover (10.30s versus 11.45s victory) and then also took on the mighty Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT Trackhawk. Well, Mopar fans better look away, too, because irrespective of the burgundy Trackhawk's preparations (we noticed a new set of wheels and tires for the rear, for example), it was still not enough to get the best of that high-performance German executive sedan – hence the 10.37s versus 10.6s result!
Oh well, hopefully, the upcoming plug-in hybrid BMW M5 will be just as nasty and will compensate for the higher weight penalty with enough electrified ponies!
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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