Bauer
November 2nd, 2003, 21:35
On Saturday I met up with Cohenfive also know as Richard to do a little photo shoot. Richard and I have been trying to get together for about a month and a half:eye: ....and we only live 2 minutes away from eachother in the SAME town. It has been quite comical trying to get our calanders to work.
Anyway, I spent a little time talking cars and getting to know Richard, I wanted to find out what makes someone buy a BMW:D :D (just kidding of course).
We talked at lenght about the styling directions that Audi and BMW were heading. Richard had recently driven the new E60 530 and said that the suspension and steering are big improvement to the out going E39 body. We both had our resevations about the styling and agreed that the color makes a HUGE difference on the look of the E60. IMO it is VERY color dependant and there are some angles I think it looks very good, others that make it look like a pontiac.
We decided to go out to a road close to where we live and swap cars. The road has some tight twisties, fast sweepers and some nice straight aways. It is a place that people go to have a little fun in their car...... or for a 45 minute detour for milk:incar: "I will be right back honey".
I got in Richards beautifull M5, which I might add is in perfect condition, I think I may have found someone more anal about their car than me:D . Took a little time getting the seat, mirrors and steering wheel adjusted. We pulled on the the road, me following Richard in his M5 while he drove my RS6. Then started to get familiar with eachothers car, power, handling, breaking and so on.
One of the things I notice right away was how responsive the throttle was on the M5, its a right now thing. Touch the peddal and the motor is off to the races, the RS6's throttle seems to hesitate a little in comparison. The power is very linear and smooth.....however it doesn't seem to have the umph the RS6 does but it is a fun motor that loves to rev. I left the ESP on as I like Richard and didn't want to put his M5 into a ditch. The sport mode however, was turned on. This increases throttle response and provides better steering feed back. The system work very well and is noticable.
The ratios in the gear box took a few minutes to figure out as first gear is very short. Once I had it worked out it was very easy to select the right gears as we worked our way through the corners. The manual was easy to operate and I found the clutch easy to work as well, I know some have compalined that the clutch is hard to master, but I did not find this to be the case for me.
The M5 is a car that requires a lot of driver involvement. Which in this case was a lot of fun for me, I really enjoyed the car. It was easy for me to feel comfortable with the handeling, power and breaking....it did not take a much time to figure out the car. I however was not pushing it as hard as I could of as it is not my car.
One thing I did notice was that comming out of the corners and laying the power down, I was able to get the ESP to come on quite often. I guess I have been used to the quattro system where putting the power to the pavement is not really an issue. There is someting to be said for both. A rear drive manual car is a lot of fun to drive, it can be a blast to hang the rear out and counter steer through the corners. By the same token, being able to aply the power earlier in the corner and feel the g force pull on you as you exit the corner can be just as much fun IMO.
There was part of the road that had fast sweepers where we got up to about 80mph and if we were pusing it we could have gone 100mph to 110mph. The M5 felt very balanced and connected to to road in a different way than the RS6 but balance and connected non the less. The steering feedback provided all of the information needed to feel very in control of the car.
As for the breaks they are not as touchy as the RS6 but VERY effective at taking speed off a two ton car. I never had any doubts about their performance.
All in all the M5 is a very fun car to drive that involves you in all aspects of the vehical and its performace.
Afterwards over a beer I told Richard that if I had more time and the car was mine that I could see ultamently why people love to drive the M5. It is a different driving experience then the RS6, I love the quattro and will always have it but I understand how and why the other half drives.
Thank you once again Richard I had great time meeting you and driving your M5:cheers:
Pictures to follow.....sorry Erik I have to email them to you again:rolleyes:
Anyway, I spent a little time talking cars and getting to know Richard, I wanted to find out what makes someone buy a BMW:D :D (just kidding of course).
We talked at lenght about the styling directions that Audi and BMW were heading. Richard had recently driven the new E60 530 and said that the suspension and steering are big improvement to the out going E39 body. We both had our resevations about the styling and agreed that the color makes a HUGE difference on the look of the E60. IMO it is VERY color dependant and there are some angles I think it looks very good, others that make it look like a pontiac.
We decided to go out to a road close to where we live and swap cars. The road has some tight twisties, fast sweepers and some nice straight aways. It is a place that people go to have a little fun in their car...... or for a 45 minute detour for milk:incar: "I will be right back honey".
I got in Richards beautifull M5, which I might add is in perfect condition, I think I may have found someone more anal about their car than me:D . Took a little time getting the seat, mirrors and steering wheel adjusted. We pulled on the the road, me following Richard in his M5 while he drove my RS6. Then started to get familiar with eachothers car, power, handling, breaking and so on.
One of the things I notice right away was how responsive the throttle was on the M5, its a right now thing. Touch the peddal and the motor is off to the races, the RS6's throttle seems to hesitate a little in comparison. The power is very linear and smooth.....however it doesn't seem to have the umph the RS6 does but it is a fun motor that loves to rev. I left the ESP on as I like Richard and didn't want to put his M5 into a ditch. The sport mode however, was turned on. This increases throttle response and provides better steering feed back. The system work very well and is noticable.
The ratios in the gear box took a few minutes to figure out as first gear is very short. Once I had it worked out it was very easy to select the right gears as we worked our way through the corners. The manual was easy to operate and I found the clutch easy to work as well, I know some have compalined that the clutch is hard to master, but I did not find this to be the case for me.
The M5 is a car that requires a lot of driver involvement. Which in this case was a lot of fun for me, I really enjoyed the car. It was easy for me to feel comfortable with the handeling, power and breaking....it did not take a much time to figure out the car. I however was not pushing it as hard as I could of as it is not my car.
One thing I did notice was that comming out of the corners and laying the power down, I was able to get the ESP to come on quite often. I guess I have been used to the quattro system where putting the power to the pavement is not really an issue. There is someting to be said for both. A rear drive manual car is a lot of fun to drive, it can be a blast to hang the rear out and counter steer through the corners. By the same token, being able to aply the power earlier in the corner and feel the g force pull on you as you exit the corner can be just as much fun IMO.
There was part of the road that had fast sweepers where we got up to about 80mph and if we were pusing it we could have gone 100mph to 110mph. The M5 felt very balanced and connected to to road in a different way than the RS6 but balance and connected non the less. The steering feedback provided all of the information needed to feel very in control of the car.
As for the breaks they are not as touchy as the RS6 but VERY effective at taking speed off a two ton car. I never had any doubts about their performance.
All in all the M5 is a very fun car to drive that involves you in all aspects of the vehical and its performace.
Afterwards over a beer I told Richard that if I had more time and the car was mine that I could see ultamently why people love to drive the M5. It is a different driving experience then the RS6, I love the quattro and will always have it but I understand how and why the other half drives.
Thank you once again Richard I had great time meeting you and driving your M5:cheers:
Pictures to follow.....sorry Erik I have to email them to you again:rolleyes: