An afternoon with the BMW M5 and X5

We have just spent the better part of a lovely, sunny afternoon romping around in a couple of BMWs, cars that we will not tire of calling as truly the ultimate driving machines. Making matters doubly intoxicating was the fact that said vehicles were not merely any garden-variety yuppie-mobile BMWs. We drove no less than the new X5 sport-ute and the scorching M5 sports sedan. Now this is the problem car writers have. When the afternoon treat was over, how now were we supposed to come home to our plebian econoboxes?

With much pain, that’s how.

Un-SUV-like X5

The X5 is the German automaker’s take on the immensely popular sport-ute genre. But as BMW is known for delectable sports cars and sedans, the company deemed it necessary to surgically remove most-if not all-the characteristics that make SUVs clumsy and cumbersome out of the X5. In fact, BMW prefers to call the X5 as an SAV, or sports activity vehicle.

Unlike most other carmakers, BMW did not take any of its existing floorpans to serve as the platform for the X5. The company instead built the X5 from the ground up, with its own unibody and sharing only the engine with its siblings. That ultimately assured that the X5 bears un-SUV-like manners.

Since the unit we drove was the top-model 4.4i variant, power is courtesy of BMW’s acclaimed V8 engine and not the 3.0-liter diesel motor that most other X5s in the country will have. This 4.4-liter V8 aluminum engine, which produces 282 horsepower at 5400 rpm and 324 pound-feet of torque at 3600 rpm, is quite a sophisticated piece of machinery, with twin overhead cams and employing the company’s VANOS variable valve timing technology to govern all its 32 valves.

Every bit as complex is the X5’s five-speed automatic transmission with Steptronic feature. This feature allows the driver to use the auto box as if it were a manual-sans any clutch pedal footwork. Simply flick the gearshift lever up or down to row through the gears. Though shifting gears manually with Steptronic isn’t as quick as with a true manual transmission, it’s nonetheless acceptable, with silky jerk-free gear changes all the time.

All the company’s electronic traction control gizmos are also present in the X5. With BMW’s Dynamic Stability Control (DSC), included in the package are adaptive ABS, traction control, Automatic Differential

Braking (ADB) and Hill Descent Control (HDC). Specific to four-wheel-drive application for the X5 this time, BMW calls it DSC-X.

The X5 wears large 18-inch wheels and tires all around, and suspension duties are handled by independent arms and springs front and aft.

Despite all these equipment, though, the X5 is still pretty nimble and quick, thanks mainly to the gutsy yet smooth motor and the bank vault-tight solid construction. Braking, with the X5’s huge four-wheel discs, is also top-notch, especially considering the X5’s 4800-pound heft. That’s twice the weight of average sedans.

Adding to the mass, of course, are all the leather-and-wood, six-disc CD player, power-operated stuff and safety airbag features that befits a luxury vehicle. But who would complain about being pampered too much? Especially when all these goodies are wrapped in a hard bod that-once again-is un-SUV-like gorgeous.

The ultimate M5

If the X5 was enticing, the M5 may well be the biblical apple. This, after all, is a car the highly authoritative Car and Driver magazine hails as "the fastest production sedan in the planet." Top that!

Starting life as one of BMW’s mid-sized 5-series sedans, the latest M5 is the fourth generation in the distinguished M5 family tree, and the first not to derive its powerplant from the M1, BMW’s first and-to date-only supercar. That does not mean, however, that the latest M5 is so-so when compared to its forebears. Because the latest M5 is the best ever.

Like the X5, or all BMWs for that matter, the M5’s athletic prowess begins with its solid and rigid body and platform. But the M5 takes the average 5-series’ skidpad figures to new levels. The M5 received stiffer springs and revised damping rates. Combined with the lower ride height and more aggressive 18-inch wheels and rubber, the car corners like it’s on railroad tracks. Or at least, it’s supposed to, because we weren’t able to drive the car fast enough for it to even breathe hard, let alone break a sweat.

And hustling the M5 is no hard task. Under the car’s hood lies the same V8 motor that can be found on the X5’s. This time though, the engine received numerous bits and pieces and has undergone endless tweaking. The same DOHC aluminum V8 engine has been bored and stroked, increasing the original 4.4-liter displacement to almost 5 liters. New induction and exhaust systems produce a freer breathing engine. And BMW’s double VANOS technology ensures power is on tap over a wide rev range.

The result? How does almost 400 horsepower at 6600 rpm and 369 pound-feet of torque at 3800 rpm sound?

Sounds like a heck of a lot of fun, that’s what. Adding to the fun quotient is the smooth shifting six-speed manual transmission, which slots into gear more like a toggle switch than a gearshift lever. The clutch, though, is a bit on the heavy side. No, let’s correct that. The clutch is heavy. But that’s expected, since transferring that much power from the engine to the transmission requires a sturdy clutch.

Inside the car, luxury is the order of the day. Despite the M5’s sporting character, it remains a BMW luxury car. Leather and Alcantara line its interior, and every power gizmo is available, from the standard navigation system to the auto-leveling Xenon headlamps. As BMWs go, the M5 may well be the ultimate driving machine.

Which really makes stepping out of these cars a difficult task. While that afternoon romp may not even amount to a one-night stand, it’s enough to elicit huge doses of emotions. As brief as the affair had been, an affair it still was. Unfortunately, everything must come to an end.

Both the BMW X5 and M5 are available at PGA Cars in Edsa. The X5, though, will mostly be sold in 3.0-liter diesel engine guise. It costs around P6.5 to P6.8 million, while the M5 carries a price tag in the rarefied neighborhood of P8.5 million. But according to PGA, everything depends on the peso exchange rate.