Kokomo said:
Well, you have to factor most of the things Tiff said in his review. The M5 is one fat lard of a car with all that luxury and safety equipment on it. It's not the tires... if it was it wouldn't be too much. Upgrade the tires on the CLS55 and it'd post similar times to the M5 as it stands.
I thought we were comparing cars the way they came out of the factory. If you upgrade the CLS then you might as well put pirelli's on the M5, and I guarantee you it will be ahead once again. (from what I heard they are coming with Conti's or michelins)
The Evo has standard amenties, weighs a whole lot less and screams out of corners with every acronym under the sun helping it's AWD. You also forget acceleration that's just as fast as the M5. And with the Evo IX posting 4 seconds faster than the VIII MR on the Nordschiefe, the Evo always is a performance bargain it was designed to be.
Its not just as fast, its MUCH faster at 3.5 to 60. The IX is faster than the MR because its suspension settings are softer instead of rock hard, if you put the M5 on EDC 1 instead of 2 its faster around nurburgring as well (i will have to dig up a link if you need proof.. hopefully its still in cache). And since gigantic turbos do nothing at high speeds, I have reason to believe that the M5 is faster than the evo around nurburgring. The top gear test track is small.
You also have to consider the M5 against it's Merc rival, which is better looking... more luxurious and easy to use... and that much more effortless as an everyday car. It's only a step slower... and that's on the outgoing AMG SC V8. Oh... and the Merc won't blow up after you flog it like the M5.
The M5 wont blow up after you "flog" it. Seriously, they aren't going to sell a car to everyone that keeps blowing up so stop referring to it as a sure thing. Maybe they got an early version, I dont know I dont work for bmw but I'm sure if there was a problem it would be fixed. You forget that the CLS's traction control can't be turned off, so if you were to track the car your brakes would overheat every single time just like jeremy's. Its not only a step slower, its probably a few seconds slower. The mclaren SLR is slower than a 645ci on nordshleife. Once again, the top gear test track is small.
People that buy an M5 are people that want a luxury/status car that drives like a sports car and goes like one. That it definitely does. It's slightly different from customers purchasing a high end AMG. Those customers want a blend of luxury and effortless mindbending power. If you've ever had the pleasure of putting your foot down on a 55 or even a 65 AMG you know what I mean.
I agree. Cars that go ridiculously fast in a straight line but turn like a sofa. Yes I've driven the SL55, wonderful car on the highway or the drag strip. But I dont take my mercs to the drag strip, if I wanted to I'd buy a mustang or something and tune it up.
Oh BTW, I don't want the new M5... it seems like it would spend most of its time breaking everytime it gets flogged so why not buy the E55/CLS55 and take the money you save for a Gixxer for your kicks on the track... can't quite afford the Evo IX unless you drop down to a E500 + Evo.
Because the CLS is more expensive? Like... almost ten thousand dollars more expensive? german tv vox posted base price of the M5 at 86,000 euros and the CLS at 96,164.
The new M5 fails where the old one dazzled... it's not both a comfy sedan that's screaming fast to drive. It's a fragile, overcomplicated, hairy supersedan that isn't as comfy as its rivals (RS6, E55/CLS55, STypeR, etc)... it's hopefully cheaper than a Maserati Quattroporte or else, you might as well buy that one since it didn't blow up when Vicky drove it and it has normal controls instead of crappy iDrive.
No its not cheaper than the quattroporte. If I wanted a comfy rival to the M5 I would definately consider the CLS, but I dont. Once again, it wont blow up.
EDIT: I just noticed that even on it's POS crap OE tires... the Vette is right there. Buy Vette and luxury sedan for price of M5.
Buy a vette and luxury sedan and a motorcycle for the price of the CLS. The people that want these super saloons obviously want one, I dont understand this telling them what to do. They dont want a corvette. If they wanted a real sports car they could get a 911 or something. For the record I think the CLS is a great car, I just think what you are saying is wrong.