2018 BMW M5 vs Mercedes-AMG E63 S | Super Saloons tested | Autocar

The new BMW M5 is a terrific sports saloon. Or super saloon. Or sports sedan. Call it what you will: it’s a big four-door executive car with a stonky twin-turbocharged V8 making shed loads of power, which it puts it through all four wheels – unless you stick it in rear-drive mode, in which case it only puts it through the rear wheels, obvs. Subscribe now:

Hello i have got with me a bmw m5 and den and i’ve come in the mercedes amg e 63 s which is the benchmark in the super saloon class and the car the m5 needs to be so we’re gonna go for a couple of drives we’re gonna find out which is more comfortable which is more refined which is more exciting which is better because that is what we do face isn’t so if you like

That please subscribe first before most so we are going to test these two so we’re starting off in the amg let’s remind ourselves what the benchmarks for this class is all about i have to say i’m a huge fan of this car i think it’s mighty yeah it rides it’s pretty firm isn’t it but it’s not it’s not harsh i think it’s fairly close to being borderline actually i

Think hit on the smooth road like this it’s fine you probably wouldn’t want any worse than this would you i think when you get onto just over there there’s one of the most challenging roads that you’ll find anywhere around this country you know it’s a real real nasty bit of tarmac and i’ve driven this car along there and it does start to feel a bit brittle right

And a little bit harsh but they generally no i don’t i don’t think it’s a huge problem yeah and i suppose after all this is supposed to be an executive saloon we don’t know that i know they’re super saloons on how they’re fast no there anything else but it’s supposed to be a car you drive every day it’s an epidemic what i like about this and what i like about va

Amg’s in particular is that they are quite exciting on it always it always feels to me like you’re in something quite special it does it does from the sound you get on startup to yeah exhaust note when you’re ripping through the revs and also when when you’re hammering this car along a good twisty stretch of road i think it’s a freakishly capable for something

Is big and heavy as this and be actually it is really good fun you can have a proper drive in this they can really enjoy it does make a good noise them it does like a good noise amg color consistently perhaps the only ones who can make a turbo engine sound really exciting again was it like steering braking addling etc that’s the kind of standout thing for me

About this car is how really really excellent it is to drive along interesting road like this one somehow it doesn’t feel its weight it is really feel it sighs i think the steering is really sweet that should be it could it could be completely numb as he passed this big heavy car it could be completely numb but i think you can really trust it lean on it and

Place the car exactly where you want to corner of the corner which yeah it just feels fantastically there actually which is unusual i think when i first drove this car and the launch back in portugal i thought there we go super saloons in terms of what we can expect from them dynamically yeah i’ve been lifted to a new level oh totally yeah i thought so because

I know it’s four-wheel drive and everything that we do we always do that if you’re asking every will driving yeah terrific the bejesus out and it’s great it’s fantastic would you ever actually use the drift mode in this or two wheel drive mode in the other car i wonder i wonder i wonder how many owners do more than once or twice just to try it just to give me a

Go just to pin it on the way out of a cars and coffee me otherwise engine has gone a little bit more power than that m5 it’s a bigger engine has no omega so generous it’s it’s responsive and i feel that felt really nice for me it feels really quick really strong more than 600 horsepower in a saloon car is completely barley a making you it you’ll be younger the

People when the mclaren f1 came out what 93 94 somebody said to you yeah in a quarter of a century time you will be able to have a stock saloon which will be very refined very comfortable very normal very dose island everywhere driving with an automatic transmission and then lots of safety differently by the way i’ll have as much power as one of these and you’ll

Get it serviced once in a maybe 15,000 miles or something yeah there won’t be there won’t be one bloke in the world you conservative you know you’ll be able to take it to any mercedes deal and they’ll plug it in i’ll just go yeah that’s fine it’s a phenomenal achievement actually what the interest rate achieved with this level of car is something else separately

Bmw mercedes have arrived they’re basically the same technical solution for a super saloon yeah 4.0 awfully yes a v8 yeah twin turbocharged yeah four-wheel drive auto try an auto transmission yes straight auto no dct two manuals it’s almost a shame that they’re so technically similar because it is well variety is the spice in the spice of life isn’t it yeah but

I think where there is consistency there is truth right so that’s not really all that’s just some eastern mysticism okay i think i think for both both manufacturers to arrive at the same solution it just demonstrates doesn’t there they this must be the dwelling must be the way to do they’re right there bang on the money as well absolutely free and post options

Absolutely i died do you know dear how much this this money’s with options what i know is that they’re both upwards of a hundred thousand pounds a hundred grand that is yes there’s so much money it’s so much money but as you pointed out to me before if well if you’ve got 30 grand in a car that you’re putting down yeah is it yeah and that is what now i don’t know

What it is 800 pound a month or whatever thousand a month yeah and that’s just what it is because just like yes i can afford x amount of months to have a car and that’s what that’s how it works isn’t it nobody actually gets you to write a check for hundred four thousand no and not many people even look at that final figure that you’re looking at smokey differences

Yeah as an optional extra though things on that bmw every line things on this that you look at the price and you think what’s absurd who would pay two thousand pound for that because nobody dance today that this goes an extra four quid a month no five yeah that’s quite quick as quick as new right will the bmw i feel this quick or b sound at that good this to me

Feels like it rise more smoothly yeah then the e63 a little less edge just kind of rounded off a little bit more rather than it’s getting info yeah i’m interested to know what you think about the interiors because they’re they’re very very different and yet i don’t feel like i’ve got a preference either way no i really just i just don’t know so visually they’re

Very different aren’t they no economically they’re both great yeah i don’t have a particular preference on them steering wheels and i have particular preference on i like the fact this has got part touchscreen these days um and i don’t always like the touchscreen and very much but when you’re when you’re stationary actually to flip around maps all that is quite

It’s quite easy these drive buttons are probably easier to slightly easier to see and i’ve got two shortcuts which is quite cool so i can select well i can preset whatever i want so every mode and full comfort mode and full noisy mode and that’s probably what i’d have is just full comfort flat out flat out that’s probably what you go for yeah as we said in the

E-class you know that they end up doing very much the same thing in terms of the fact they have different drive modes different damper modes different engine most different gearbox modes i wouldn’t mind if they just turn around a go is how it’s meant to be oh you find that work to that we’ve nailed the right yeah exactly and body can yard in there as well exactly

Turns out we’ve got a hundred engineers who are all experts in this so we know how am i supposed to drive and do you don’t so that’s so that’s what we’ve done baiting me i wonder if people are are seduced by all this stuff when they go into the showroom and i just think it’s mega i guess so does i sound as exciting as the e-class doesn’t really it sounds exciting

Enough hmm i think probably just i don’t think in isolation you’ve noticed necessarily ouch it’s ok it’s not bad is it at me but you know what i’m gonna i’m gonna i’m gonna call it here i think this feels a bit faster this has got about 600 isn’t it and the mercedes got tiny bit more yeah this has got a bit more power yeah but this yeah i think the delivery and

This is the throttle response is really good step off from rest actually is a little bit over shot but also that the brake pedal this has got the optional ceramic disc file an off-brand what to use a actually i think of fun probably 18 20 pounds a month but but they’re quite sensitive as well although you know the initial bite is really and then the modulation

Is a bit tricky too so i think from that point of view it’s almost as if nobody wants you to feel in some way that this car is a super saloon even though it doesn’t necessarily do it through its noise all ride quality yeah or even the steering feels steering’s pretty light in this mode quite smooth you’re not getting loads back at any point but then it’s what

A 1900 kilogram car what’s it gonna do just that little modulation of some of the pedals and stuff you think actually this could be a little bit it could be a little bit tiresome but fundamentally its acquires a more refined more comfortable something done de clock i’d say outsides got a slightly smoother ride quality and therefore yeah it is so actually you

Can characterize the two cars quite distinctly can’t even but the mercedes is probably the harder aged slightly rora thing yeah and this is probably ever so slightly more refined which that seems like a reversal of roles doesn’t it bmw airmen amg yeah i wonder if there is a reversal of roles because when amg started it made kind of hotrod ee versions of pretty

Luxurious refined salute isn’t it and bmws n if you go back as far as they’d be 30 and stuff it was it was making sports the ericales wasn’t it really and yeah yeah yet now you’re right i wonder if sometimes we fall into this trap of thinking that that’s what an m car should be like whose is it an early game car and actually for the past 20 years i am 11 it’s

Really play not really giving us those except for the competition bank stuff yeah that’s true and amg has morphed into this into this v8 dominated fairly fairly overly sporting thing that m just is not alright so in summary you’ve got a sports car for the weekend and you need a car for 10 to 15,000 miles a year they’re both on the same money they’re both the

Same size they’re boats as practical as each other they both do probably give you the same economy in the real world he’s your everyday car because it’s discrete enough to take to client meetings it’s big enough for the family if you were a golf estate would be fine for that which are you gonna happen i i’m finding this one extremely tough too cool i’m really

Hard yeah it’s been a while since i’ve been a part of it the twin test that’s been as tight as this yeah so it might come down to personal preference it might be maybe you think that the mercedes looks great and the bmw doesn’t in which case that’s probably a good enough reason yeah for me oh i don’t know it probably depends on the day of the week but i do think

The m5s slight extra layer of comfort might make it an easier more enjoyable everyday companion i agree i’d yet i agree i think if i’ve got another car at the garage for the weekend i’m gonna be happier i think climbing into the m5 when the weather is a bit rubbish and i just want to make a discreet i think if i was spending more time in it for it was my only

Car i might have to have the extra yes specialist of the object yeah that extra delayed yeah that little little bit of excitement but we need a winner come on come on no phone sitting oh god is so hard i think this is probably the better car overall yeah i think it’s the more complete car so from that purpose even though it’s not necessarily the one i would buy

All the time depending on my circumstances from that point of view i think this is this is more complete more rounded it does more things at either end of spectrum therefore it’s the one i would have there we go m5 latest then five the new m5 the best super saloon also

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2018 BMW M5 vs Mercedes-AMG E63 S | Super Saloons tested | Autocar By Autocar