Cruisin Napa Valley, In A BMW M5

Last month, my family and I took a trip to San Francisco to visit the "In-laws". There was much debate about whether or not I wanted to go but as the mention of an M5 came into the conversation, my tune quickly changed. Although not truly considered a "Supercar" the BMW M5 is powerful enough to compete with and often times beat most sports cars on the road today. Oh, and did we forget, it has four doors!

Upon landing, we rushed to the baggage claim, swiftly picked up our things and headed outside where the M5 awaited. A little background regarding this particular car. It is currently being driven by my wife's sister who, since it's purchase, has backed it into a pole, and has the transmission go out twice (due to her inability to properly work the SMG). Needless to say, it has never been driven the way BMW engineers had originally intended. We spent the evening tooling around San Fran checking the sites, going down to Fisherman's Wharf, yawn! I know, not very exciting but, tomorrow was the big day and so I had to pace myself.

Until then, I had never driven an M5 so like any car enthusiast, I was etremely excited to get behind the wheel and find out what this vehicle was made of. My inability to suppress my excitement undoubtedly did not win any brownie points from my wife as she emphatically made it a point to remind me that this vacation was not about a car but about spending time with the family. Drifting off into lala land as I received my reprimand, I couldn't help but wonder if there would be enough open road to fully appreciate the marvels of BMW's engineering.

The next morning, I got the lowdown on how to drive the M5. Partially insulted, I almost felt like I had to remind my in-law of all the performance cars I had driven in the past. Nonetheless, I took it in stride as I climbed into the cockpit and planned our excursion into the iDrive. Now, if you've never used an iDrive in a BMW make no mistake, it takes a lot of getting used to. But, if you can master the toggling and twisting of the iDrive knob, you will begin to find it a little easier to scroll through the screen selections and accomplish navigational and entertainment tasks.

Pulling out of the parking garage, I was cautioned to keep the M5 in Passive mode which restricts power and doesn't allow for full HP usage. Little did my in-law know that I had already researched the M dynamic button before the trip. The M dynamic mode gives you the ability to launch the M5 into outer space with one touch of a button on the steering wheel. Depressing the button and mashing the pedal as we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, I suddenly felt the tire roasting 507 horses come to life. With the windows down, one could hear the rumbling of the exhaust as if those same horses were trying to escape through the muffler.

Although I personally would have preferred a manual gearbox, BMW does not offer it for the M5 but instead sells consumers on the 7-speed SMG Drivelogic system which features gear-change paddles on the steering wheel and a selection lever on the central console. According to BMW, gears change within milliseconds, without having to reduce speed, decrease engine power or use a clutch. Special functions such as slip recognition or hill recognition adapt to the gear shift points required by the given driving conditions. Maximum acceleration comes courtesy of Launch Control: it ensures that speed is maintained across the entire range of gear changes.

Again, I don't claim to be a professional driver but, the SMG system is something I've never really gotten used too. If you've test driven a BMW or are planning too, try stepping on the gas and shifting with the paddles. You'll then notice a very violent jerk as the transmission attempts the switch from gear to gear. Having driven an M3 with SMG, I've actually discovered a way to alleviate the whiplash effect by slightly easing off the gas, up shifting, then giving it gas again almost simultaneously. Downshifting is a different story.

The hour and a half drive from San Francisco to Napa went quickly, mainly due to a little highway run with a 911 Carrera who was unarguably no match for the M5. "What, he wanted to race!", I said to my wife as she stared at me with her piercing eyes. "You think everyone wants to race!", she quickly shot back. Oh well, we were in Wine Country, we managed to avoiding a speeding ticket on HWY 101, and most importantly, I was driving an M5 for the day. What more could one ask for?