The New, Faster BMW M5 Will Have Fully Switchable Four-Wheel Drive

We thought it was coming and it’s now official: the next BMW M5 is four-wheel drive. Worry not, though, ye faithful devotees of rear-driven M-cars, because it’s a new, switchable system.

That’s right; the M5 will have a driver-selectable M xDrive system with three modes: 4WD, 4WD Sport and 2WD. The last of the three modes completely deactivates the front axle, while 4WD Sport pushes more of the torque to the rear wheels and allows a bit of light drifting without sacrificing the system’s traction benefits completely.

After reporting that the semi-M 5 Series was already faster than the old M5 courtesy of four-wheel drive, we had to expect the new M5 to follow suit, but we have to confess that we weren’t expecting this.

BMW appears to have involved one of its works DTM drivers, Timo Glock, in the final sign-off of the car. He had this to say, presumably while being poked with a pointy stick by the marketing department:

“I often drive long distances and I need plenty of room for my family, but I wouldn’t wish to give up the chance to explore the car’s sporting character.

“With M xDrive, not only can the new BMW M5 be steered with the usual precision and agility, it also offers me something I really appreciate, living in Switzerland: a noticeable boost to traction and controllability – even when driving in particular environmental conditions, such as wet weather and snow, and in both everyday driving situations and when pushing the car to its performance limits.”

Power comes from an upgraded version of the outgoing car’s 4.4-litre TwinPower turbocharged V8, but while BMW says it puts out more power and torque than before, it hasn’t quoted figures yet. It does, at least, tell us that it’s faster than before, and we reckon by a long way – at least in the 0-62mph and 0-124mph sprints.

An Active M Differential splits power between the rear wheels, and can vary its locking effect from zero to 100 per cent, making it theoretically the best possible kind of rear diff setup. A small amount of slip at the rear wheels is always possible, says BMW, even in its tamest modes, which is good news seeing as the car defaults to the basic 4WD mode upon engine startup.

Elsewhere there’s a 70 per cent larger head-up display, a revised eight-speed automatic gearbox with faster shifts and smoother behaviour at low speed. It has paddle shifters mounted on the steering wheel and can make multiple downshifts in one go – something not all automatics can manage. We look forward to getting hold of the performance data…