SoulBladeZA

Like many of you have pointed out, most of you live in or around big cities without any place to fully exploit the M5. Most people, unlike you, also don't do roadcourses so most people will never exploit the good handling of the M5 either. The general impression is that everyone wished they lived near some twisty canyon roads but most do not. The US is a huge country with alot of looooong never-ending straight highways between the states and big cities that are heavily policed no?

I don't seem to understand why my take on the situation has caused such aggravation.

My generalisation about the 1/4 mile times might have been a bit rash. For that I apologise. But you have to admit that in their mind M5 owners know that they can only use LC so many times to achieve good 1/4 mile times and yet they still opt to get the M5. This, to me atleast, would suggest that the car is not merely a funtion of straightline speed for them, but the complete package. I should've phrased it better - I believe 1/4 mile times isn't the primary concern for most of the M5 owners. You yourself already have a beast of a modded E55 that the M5 can't touch. What motivated you to get the M5 then? This was the only point I tried to bring across. No insult or offence intended.

Besides, people shouldn't take my banter too seriously, studying for final auditing and accouning exams fries the braincells

Rafal

Ag shame, man, you actually bought one, or did you win it in a raffle?

SoulBladeZA

Please read my last post

*Edit*
By the way, you ever been to SA? That was a very SA-ish thing to say :p

gmdebruyn

Your sweeping generalizations about the US is the humorous part of your post man.

Hate to break it to you, but California is a lot like South Africa. Esp the SF bay area and the Johannesburg area. Highways, twisty roads, climate, etc.

gmdebruyn

KK,

You live in Fremont. Have you ever driven Calaveras? The road that connects 237 to 84.

SoulBladeZA

The difference being the population density. Let me be the first then to apologise for my ignorance. Part of what I said does ring true though? Most of what I wrote was based upon what lots of E55 guys said their reasons were for having the E55 and besides, I'm bombarded with American television and movies every day, so I'm sure I've learnt a little there

enzom

No offense taken. Since when did this turn into a political lounge? Back to cars!!!

WayneE

I live about 35 minutes N of Washington, DC. Not as populated as a big city like New York, but we have some of the country's worst traffic. Being in a suburban environment, but still reasonably close to the city (DC and Baltimore), I enjoy some of the best driver's roads in the country including 3 road courses within driving distance and at least 4 dragstrips.

This is my driveway




The argument could be made for either car (E55 or M5) where I live, depending on the day.

SoulBladeZA

That looks awesome

vraa

Whose got fantastic phototaking skills.
Wayne's got fantastic phototaking skills.

More pictures please!

wolverine

If you are really interested, the procedure is actually very simple. If you set all this up on the 'M' button as I do, then all you need to do to achieve the best possible launch is press the 'M' button, push the lever forward and floor the throttle. When the light turns green, then release the lever and just keep your foot to the floor.

That all can be done in one or two seconds. If you're driving around in 'M' mode anyways, then all you have to do is push the gearlever forward and floor the throttle. Release when the light turns green and keep your foot to the floor.

What this does is give you a consistent launch with near optimum wheelspin - basically just what you'd do at the dragstrip. I don't think just stomping on the gas will give you your best launch in the E55.

RennTechV12

Actually, it pretty much will, you can also do it whenever you want to in the Benz, not just when your computer fairy Godmother says it's OK

a_ok2me

krispy, I might have seen your car and a blonde lady getting out of it in Menlo Park today. Right? First time I've seen an e60 M5.

a_ok2me

I don't think he's so far off. There is absolutely no elbow space in Cal, even on the twisties and especially real estate. You have billions of bikers on twisties. Go over 40 and you'll hit someone. Whereas, in other states, you can exploit +100mph. As for homes, they're literally 4 ft apart side by side and 15 ft apart back to back. So much for playing ball with the kids on the yard, if you want to call it a yard. That's my impression of Cal as a new resident.

enzom

Wolverine - do you always drive with the stability control off? In none of my sedans (including my two 540's) would I EVER disengage that thing. Maybe I am too careful, but if I had an M5, I could never see myself programming my M button to deactivate my DSC. It would be programmed for those performance settings that I would truly utilize on a regular basis. But that's just me.

Did you get your first service done? Take that thing to the strip will ya! Get us some more 1/4 mile slips to compare.

wolverine

When I'm in 'M' mode I have DSC off - especially for most of my commute through winding farmland roads. The car handles like a go-kart, it reminds me of my old Scirocco - very controllable with the throttle. It's a very easy car to throw around, and much more fun without DSC on. It feels like a much smaller car with the 'M' settings.

For shuttling around town, I use P400, 'comfort' suspension, and S4 shift settings. Very comfortable - not quite E55 comfort, but very very nice. It's great to be able to change the personality of the car with a push of a button.

First service completed last week. I'll see about getting some runs in at the dragstrip before it gets too cold.

MBH

Why don't you try posting that to the M5 forums NOT the Mercedes Forums. This NOT a BMW list. Who gives a crap how the new M5 launches. The only place I want to launch an M5 is off a cliff or bridge :p

absent

You sound very stressed....
This thread is about M5 launch after all....

krispykrme

That is not me. I think that is Barry's car. There is no way i can have a date with blond unless she is blind.

BTW, I am most in Fremont, Santa Clara, milpitas, san jose area. Ocassionaly i will venture into San Mateo for some smelly tofu.

gmdebruyn

city you live in? CA is a big state. explore a little more and you'll find some space nearby. there are definitely parts like you described. i live 25 minutes from SF and i have over half an acre. and it's not a huge mansion or anything fancy. ZA and CA are very similar, just ZA is on a much smaller scale.

Anyway, the topic of this discussion is launch control. Let's bring the discussion back to that. We can open a "where to drive" thread somewhere else.

gmdebruyn

Derek or anyone else,

Aside from putting the car in S mode and stomping on the gas, what have you found to be the best method to launch our E55's?

a_ok2me

It had a Fremont bmw sticker. I thought Barry got his from NY. Oh well.

a_ok2me

I found it useful since I'm an interested MB buyer, so it's nice to know that the M5 is slightly more complicated. But, it's not always a bad thing. For example, I prefer the complexities of Windows over Mac OS because it gives me more options and freedom to do more things, even the freedom to screw up the OS.

Redwood Shores. My experience tells me that there is absolutely no space in the peninsula (nearby). Well...except 280. So cal is worse. East bay has a little space. But, you shouldn't really have to find space whereas in other states it's not so hard to fly anywhere. It's a little off topic but it was mentioned earlier that one couldn't fully exploit the power of the M5 in big cities. I agreed; I have rarely been able to find space to go over 80 in everyday traffic. Thus, I preferred the E55. ok - end of "space".

krispykrme

hmm. It could be the idiot that paid $10k over MSRP to BMW fremont for the "1st M5".

That car was sold i believe last sunday.

DRCrowder

You have a lot to learn about OS X. The Aqua Interface sits on a unix kernal (BSD Unix). Open a terminal window and you have complete, unrestricted use of a full power unix machine. I have apache, tomcat, jboss, MySQL, and Oracle running on mine. You don't have anywhere near that power or flexibility with Windows.