Jan. 3, 2007

A year after defeating a Mercedes and a Cadillac, a six-speed manual BMW M5 finished third and last in Car and Driver’s showdown with a Mercedes E63 and Audi S6.
Last place. Yes, last. BMW’s V10 M5 took last place in a three-way “Bullet Sedans Reloaded” comparison review in Car and Driver (Februry 2007). Never mind that it was first in three of the last four Car and Driver comparisons, including 13 months earlier (“Bahn Burners,” January 2006) when it knocked off a Cadillac STS-V and Mercedes-Benz CLS55 AMG. This time CD’s editors said “enough” to BMW’s quirky interactions among the transmission and DSC.

Unhappy with the clunky shifts of the BMW seven-speed sequential manual gearbox (SMG) everywhere but at the racetrack, the magazine petitioned for and received a six-speed manual this time around.


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