2022 BMW M5 Competition 4.4L AWD – Full Visual Car Review

This revised 2022 BMW M5 Competition is in many ways the end of the road for the ultimate four-door BMW. At least in its current petrol-powered formula. While there will be another M5 and it will once again redefine performance for a four-door sedan, it will have the added weight of a hybrid system. While it will undoubtedly have more performance it will also go further yet from that simple and effective formula first seen in the E28 M5.

The 2022 BMW M5 Competition – What’s New?
But before we go full requiem let’s talk about what this revised M5 brings to the table. There are two key areas that have changed; ride and performance. While we never had issues with the first version of the F90 M5, BMW heard plenty of feedback that the ride was too harsh. But how do you address that complaint given that this is an M5 – a car that can and should go from the office to the track in one afternoon. M engineers went to work and revised the dampers allowing for more travel and ultimately a more comfortable ride. But crucially they also increased shock rates by 10% which helped to maintain the precision and feedback the M5 is known for. The result is a car that is slightly more comfortable yet no less effective.

Add to this the gorgeous aluminum sub-frames, aluminum forged control arms, and tons of bespoke suspension components and it’s no surprise how effective this car is on track.

2022 BMW M5 Competition - Engine

The 2022 BMW M5 is headlined by the absolutely gaudy 617 hp figure. While shy of the legendary McLaren F1 by 10 hp, the M5’s twin-turbo V8 out-produces the F1 by 79 lb-ft. While unchanged since its launch in 2018, that 553 lb-ft is really the defining factor of the M5 in any way. The broad range of the power band combined with the engine’s shocking ability rev (for twin-turbo high capacity V8) creates one of the most impressive power plants we’ve ever tested.

Much like the best M5s (the E39 certainly included) this F90 M5 is a master at doing anything and everything with excellence. That means everything from the daily commute to 2.8 seconds to 60 when necessary. Yes, this is electric car territory with all the sound and fury of a petrol engine. A big part of that performance is down to the excellent xDrive system which we found to be fairly invisible in most circumstances. And while it can be switched off entirely, M engineers have designed the torque split in a way that you’ll very likely not need to give its rear-wheel-drive characteristics. It turns out that drive isn’t the enemy we thought it was.

Despite a torque converter auto and all-wheel drive, the 2022 BMW M5 Competition still feels surprisingly more tactile and immediate than the previous car. While it loses out to the E60 in steering feel it’s the immediacy of power and even turn-in blows that car away.

But what we keep coming back to is the engine’s ability to rev quickly – all 4.4L of it. Like the new M3 and M4, BMW has focused on fitting this car, not with monstrous turbos but ones that can react quickly and feel more linear in power delivery. The result is a redline that comes up much quicker than you’d expect and a car that feels almost instinctive in the way it reacts to throttle inputs.

Another surprise was the M5 overall efficiency given the gaudy power figures. Overall, we averaged 16.5 mpg in mostly city driving. Better than an E90 M3 and shockingly not far off from the 1M in our garage. However, it was on the highway where it really surprised us to return 24.6 mpg cruising at a long stretch of 65 mph. As that speed inched upwards, we saw it fall to 21.6 – still respectable given how there are many smaller M cars that have had trouble achieving close to that.

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