This 600bhp BMW M5 costs from £30k, and it’s quicker than its £100k successor

The Story

The F90 BMW M5 added polish and all-wheel drive to Munich’s super saloon formula, making it quicker than even its 2026 successor.

Powertrain devastatingly effective; more dynamically capable than rivals and beautifully builtIt’s big; steering lacks life; soundtrack is too augmentedBy the time the F90 BMW M5 Competition arrived, the BMW M Competition recipe was pretty well refined. Simply take an existing M-car, add a touch more power and treat the suspension to a few well-chosen tweaks aimed at sharpening the driving experience, add a discrete ‘Competition’ badge and there you have it. It’s an approach that has been applied to the M2, M3, M4 and M8 and was also applied to the F90 M5 Competition, which sat alongside the evo Car of the Year winning M5 CS. The F90 M5 was replaced with the V8 hybrid G90 in 2024.

For the Competition upgrade, BMW breathed on the F90’s twin-turbocharged 4.4-litre V8, raising power to 616bhp from 596bhp with torque unchanged at 553lb ft. Performance gains were minimal, but the optional M Driver’s pack did raise the top speed from a limited 155mph to 190mph. Of more interest were the changes aimed at sharpening the handling, with a 7mm lower ride height, 10 per cent stiffer springs, recalibrated dampers and altered geometry. It culminated in a car that was more involving and agile than before, yet with barely any reduction in comfort. What the updates didn’t do, however, was shrink the size of the BMW, so it still feels vast, even if its replacement dwarfs it.

External changes over the standard M5 are small but worthwhile, particularly that ride height drop, which gives the car more of a hunkered and aggressive stance. A new 20-inch forged alloy wheel was also designed for the Competition and a subtle gloss black finish for the trim and the badges. Inside it’s business (class) as usual, with only the red-finish starter button giving the Competition game away.

While the BMW M5 Competition was certainly a lot of money at £111,425 when new, it was also a lot of car, and today with prices starting at £35,000 for higher mileage examples this is the most M car for your buck. Even with the G90 now a regular sight on the road the F90 doesn't look or feel dated, if anything, it’s the more contemporary and elegant of the two.

For the first time in the history of the iconic supersaloon, BMW released an M5 CS variant in 2021, with a 626bhp output making it the most powerful M5 ever produced. With a 70kg reduction in weight and a much more focused chassis, it even took the title of evo Car of the Year 2021.

Powering the F90 M5 Competition was BMW’s familiar S63 twin-turbocharged V8 producing 616bhp (an increase of 24bhp over the previous ‘standard’ M5), while torque remained unchanged at a rippling 553lb ft. Drive is sent through an eight-speed torque-converter automatic gearbox, which is connected to BMW’s trick M xDrive four-wheel-drive transmission. This specific engine, gearbox and all-wheel-drive set-up appeared in the M5 before spreading to the BMW M8 and X5 M/X6 M twins.

Turbo lag is only hinted at with BMW's S63 V8, and once engaged and under full throttle it felt good for every one of its 616bhp when new and today still has enough firepower to keep a more modern super saloon honest. The flat torque curve barely recedes at high revs either, keeping the engine's urgency strong even if you don't really need to keep it in that low gear for the performance.

The transmission only accentuates the almost endless-performance delivery of the engine, with its short ratios and super slick changes delivering a good impression of DCT-quick changes. Keep your foot buried for more than a moment and you'll be quickly exceeding UK speed limits to an alarming rate though, making it a sometimes frustrating car to drive on challenging roads.

Its 0-62mph time was 3.3sec, however, by the time the F90 M5 Competition hits 124mph it’s three-tenths ahead of its less powerful non-Competition sibling, which is useful to know. That 0-62mph time also happens to be quicker than the claimed 3.5sec of its much more powerful (and expensive) 717bhp G90 successor, which just goes to show how much weight matters.

In all honesty, any performance gains are hard to detect, the Competition accelerating with the same deranged intensity that puts it toe-to-toe with some seriously exotic sports cars. What the Competition did add is a little extra spice in the form of a new Sports exhaust. This set-up allows the V8 to find the full baritone bark of its voice, and while it’s not as bombastically loud as the Mercedes-AMG E63 S, the M5’s more restrained soundtrack is more in keeping with the Q-car character of a true supersaloon.

Many of the F90 M5’s Competition’s upgrades were concentrated on the chassis, with the aforementioned 7mm lower ride height over the standard M5, which in combination with the 20-inch forged alloys gives the Competition a much more purposeful stance. Its 10 per cent stiffer suspension springs were paired to recalibrated adaptive dampers with firmer anti-roll bar mounts front and rear also fitted. There were also new ball-joints for the rear toe links and more negative camber for the front wheels. Finally, the engine mounts were changed for 50 per cent stiffer ones.

Elsewhere the Competition was the same as the standard M5, which meant you got the same M xDrive four-wheel-drive system. This allows you to run with all four wheels driven, or to disengage the front axle for some good old-fashioned M-car rear-driven fun, although you need to also disengage the stability control to engage this function, so you’ll need to be on high alert behind the wheel. Happily, it has a rear-biased feel even in its standard mode, so you can have fun without fear of taking up the whole width of the road on the exit of a corner.

Why It Matters

You could reach into its power curve and meter out the performance exactly as required, enabling you to trim entry and exit speeds with far more precision than either an M3 or 4 has allowed since they adopted a pair of blowers.

CarMotion Daily’s Take

BMW M5’s reputation as the most dynamic of supersaloons hasn’t quite been the foregone conclusion it might have once been over the last couple of generations. Watch this space over the coming weeks. Markets rarely reward single announcements — execution over the next two to four quarters is what closes the gap between press release and customer. How this lands depends less on the announcement itself and more on the rollout, dealer support, and after-sales story behind it. Specifics on pricing, availability, and regional rollout will tell us whether this moves from headline to delivery. Independent verification and follow-up coverage from rival outlets tend to firm up the picture within days.