Is the BMW M5 good for families?

Leather-lined rocketship

Let’s be honest for a moment: no family really needs a conveyance with more than 400 kW on tap. In fact, around 150 kW or so will be more than sufficient to get to the school/gym/shopping mall and back, so the extra 250-odd kW will probably never be deployed to full effect. And, for pragmatic types, BMW has a few 5 Series variants which exactly meet that brief: they’re called the 520d and 520i, and they’ll be perfectly adequate for the job at hand.

 

Related: We compare the engine options in the non-M BMW 5 Series variants

 

But we’re talking about BMW, here, so enough will never be quite enough. As a result, there’s also a wide selection of ever more-powerful 5 Series derivatives as one looks up the family tree. 6-cylinders in turbo petrol- or diesel flavours, hybrids, and even a storming twin-turbo V8 make up the rest of the range. They range in speed from fast to blistering – but they still meet the basic needs of family buyers, albeit buyers with very deep pockets.

And then there’s the M5: 460 kW and 750 Nm of fury, channelled to all four wheels through an 8-speed automatic gearbox. It’s quite preposterously quick, with a 0 – 100 km/h sprint in only 3.3 seconds and a governed top speed of 305 km/h, so owners should be able to scare quite a number of supercars on those (non-existing) unrestricted freeways. But how well does the M5 suit the needs of a family?

 

The current line-up

There’s currently only one M5 for sale in South Africa, and that’s the full-fat M5 Competition, which retails at R 2 062 433 before options. Other markets still get a non-Competition M5, with “only” 441 kW and a slightly more comfort-biased suspension setup, but this M5 variant was discontinued in the local market when the Competition arrived. 

 

Related: We were in awe of the new M5's accessible power when it first arrived - and that was before it became a Competition!

 

No matter, though, as either one is far surplus to family requirements in terms of speed – exactly as an M5 has always been. At least there’s permanent all-wheel drive in the latest M5, so there’s less risk of falling off the road in a cloud of tyre smoke than there was in the previous generation.

 

It’s still a 5 Series, so there’s space and comfort aplenty.

Thanks to years of development and generations of evolutionary bloat, today’s 5 Series is quite a large car, rather than the mid-sized saloon it was in the beginning. Only 35mm shy of a full 5-metres in length and with a kerb weight which approaches the 2-ton mark, the current 5 Series is far longer, wider and heavier than the first-generation 7 Series was, back in the 1970s. 

Part of the reason for this growth is increasingly stringent safety regulations, but there’s a much more spacious cabin in the picture as well. Plenty of cabin space means that 5 large occupants will easily and comfortably fit into the M5, even with those M sports seats eating into the rear seat legroom. Two child seats can be easily and securely mounted, thanks to rear ISOFIX child seat anchors, and there’s plenty of room available to manoeuvre a recalcitrant toddler into their safety seat.

 

Related: Dialed-up to 11 - our review of the BMW M5 Competition

 

You can easily fit strollers and baby accessories into the cavernous 530-litre boot.

There’s enough cargo volume on tap to cart along the plethora of bags, toys and tools required by today’s travelling babies, and the load area is large enough to haul a few strollers without breaking a sweat. If you use only have one child seat on the rear bench (or if your children have outgrown safety seats), you can also fold down the split rear seatback to extend cargo space into the cabin. The only possible downside is that the boot’s aperture might be a bit tight when shoving an oversized pram into the load bay, but that’s unlikely in any event.

 

Safety features abound

Given the monstrous power on tap, top-notch safety credentials are critical – especially for family use. Fortunately, the M5 has this angle covered very well indeed, starting with a 5-star Euro NCAP crash safety rating. This is backed up by ABS with EBD and brake assist, traction- and stability control, 6 airbags, hill-start assist, fatigue detection, tyre pressure monitor, front- and rear parking sensors with surround-view cameras, blind spot monitoring with cross-traffic alert, lane departure warning, LED head- and tail lamps, a self-parking system, and automatic headlight- and wiper operation. 

These are just some of the standard safety features, and can be augmented by adaptive cruise control, and night vision at extra cost. The bottom line is that, even without added options, the M5 will be a very safe cocoon in which to transport your family.

 

Related: Top 6 safety features in a BMW M5.

 

Verdict

Whether there’s any need to put your family into a super-saloon like the M5 or not, the fact remains that it’s just as good for family use as a lower-rung 5 Series variant. The latest model remains true to the M5 tradition of providing supercar pace with family car practicality, and thus remains true to the age-old M5 ethos.

 

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