amgdriven

I must admit.........I did not like the M5 at first due to the hype that the BMW lovers made out as the holy grail of cars. In fact, was irritated by your ani-Benz feelings on this forum and hoped that the M5 disappointed you.

BUT.............

by reading your experienced results, I have found a new respect for the M5.
Different car for a different purpose. Being that you are so pro-BMW and anti-Benz.........I'm suprised by your honest results. You could lie @ the results, but choose to be honest and EVEN give the dated E55 props

Thanks for your honest posts and apologize for the **** I dished to you

krispykrme

I don't mind racing you. hehe. I am actually leaving for vacation this friday evening, so this will probably have to wait until i come back in mid jan.

anyway, i have find a good spot to race during late night and early morning.

I live about 10 minutes away from automall in fremont.

Not sure if any of you guys now that the cushing parkway has been exteneded from fremont blvd to automall parkway. You have about a mile of perfectly new pavement that is straight and NO TRAFFIC AND COPS early morning on weekend.

Perfect for run. (That's where I ran with the wife).

krispykrme

No problem and peace.

There really is no reason to lie. Since eventually other M5 owners on this board would probably find out the same thing that M5 is really slow at dead stop launch.

I am not really anti-benz. More like dissappointed thus far. I have so many quaility issues with mercedes, it really bugs me. It's very sad to have enterprise lady knows you by name and say "you are back again" on weekly basis.

Also, by jumping from M3 directly into E55 was probably a mistake too. The E55 was the 1st high performance cruiser that i have owned. Coming from an agile car to E55 requires adjustment in expectation which i did not expect.

E55 does have its merit. After living with M5 for past month and half, I have better perspective on the E55. E55 will never be as fun to drive or as agile. But for daily use, it gets job done much better than M5. M5 is utterly boring for daily use since you really can't enjoy this car without serious run-in with law. Thus far, I can say that 90% of the time in the M5, I am in the P400 and S5 mode just driving normally.

Both car has different purpose. My recommendation for people that is looking at these two car to check what your priorities are. For daily use, E55 is a better choice of the two. But if this is your weekend fun car, M5 is the car to have. I really don't see these two car as competition to each other.

Peace

E55_POWER

Sorry Spero, I've been in bed for the last 4 days
Went to hospital and got some IV (antibiotics I assume), had pneumonia...they tried to keep me there but I told them I rather be miserable at home than there. At least I can watch **** at home J/K

It's been a crazy week. We're suppose to settle on the new house tomorrow and I couldn't help my wife much packing since I'm in bed like a cry baby (actually glad I was sick this week...hate packing/moving but hey wife gets to enjoy 365 Days a year while I'm out there busting my ***)

I'm feeling 1000% better. I think my cell phone is in my M5 in which case I'm sure it's close to being frozen as the car has been out there for days now and I heard it was cold as f@ck out there.

I should be up and around tomorrow...my settlement has been pushed back til Tuesday (cool builder, they let me push back due to my health)

Bilal

It is the gearing and also the M5's magnificent engine. The linear and SUSTAINED torque curve well into the high revs enables more torque to be at the higher end of the rev range.

The gearing of any car multiplies the torque. It is basically gear ratio X final drive X engine torque - any power losses = what torque you put down. The E55 with weak torque at the top end (pesky superchargers) and with longer gearing (ie lower ratios vs M5's higher ratios and quicker gearing) enables the E55 to put up a pathetic response at 100mph+ speeds due to the torque multiplication being lower as opposed to the M5.

The M5 at higher speeds is subsequently holding more torque in the higher rev range, coupled with quicker gearing (high ratios) means its multiplication effect is asssraping the E55 = whoooooppppaaaaassss...ah!

The E63, if with only just over 500bhp, possibly lesser weight, 7G tronic and the ML63's final drive, will annihilate a stock E55 and beat the M5....just you wait. :v

DJE55

I would be willing to bet the pulley/ECU upgrade would make a huge difference gainst the M5. I'm sure the M5 is strong on top but I also think the modded E will suprise you. The car pulls a lot stonger on top with these mods.

krispykrme

Don't know. But i still don't believe that E55 can make up 7 second difference from 0-150 with minor pulley/ECU upgrade. That is a huge margin to make up with no change in gearing.

jkrutch

I agree with Bilal...the 63 motor will close the M5 gap. The 63 motor will be absolutley amazing. If only MB would tweak the chassis and add a fun tranny, I would be back in a heartbeat. The looks of the M5 are better in person, but still not CLS pretty. For now though, the M5 really is a blast to drive. I never thought I would ever say this, but I really prefer the M5 interior as well. It grew on me and now I am hooked.

What I can say is that the M5 feels much more nimble than it is, but in actuality, the handling between the CLS55 I traded and the M5 is much closer than other M5 owners would like to admit. Someone earlier in the thread made a very valid comment....some M5 owners are over the top and can't accept that other cars even exist let alone compete. However, some are normal as well. I will always go with what I think IMO is the best and that really has nothing to with brand loyalty. I do have a strong bias towards German cars, but if Lexus came out with something that rocked, I wouldn't not do it because it is a Lexus. I heard the next RS6 is a V10 based on the Gallardo motor....hmmmm I do love my Gallardo!

krispykrme

How do you like your gallardo?

I have always wanted to get one but just don't fit well in a sport car (since i am really short and fat).

RS6 is the next car that I am looking to get since I am totally inlove with DSG.

I really would like to hear your comment on gallardo's powertrain.

DerekFSU

Nice review Krispy, thanks!

jkrutch

All I can say is that the Gallardo is the most amazing car I have ever owned. The straightline performance of all of these low 12 sec 1/4 mile cars will be very simialar, but that is where the similarity ends. The feel and handling of the Gallardo is miles ahead of any AMG or M car. It also wastes the 911TT I had prior. The balance is absolutely perfect and I can take turns at speeds I never thought possible in any other car I have owned (which includes the NSX, Vipers, Z06, 996TT's).

As an M5 owner (Krispy), what is interesting is that both engines (M5 & Gallardo) are virtually identical in terms of displacement (5.0 liters), 10 cylinders, HP (500), torque (383) and redline ~8,200 RPM. What is drastically different, however, is the torque curve. The Gallrdo is much more flat and the torque comes on much earlier in the rev band. Therefore, between the much lighter weight (~1,000 lbs) and better use of torque, the difference in speed is VERY noticeable.

Oh yeah, on the subjective topic of looks....I feel like a celebrity every time I drive the car. That's the iceing on tha cake.

To sum it up....I love the Gallardo!

DJE55

I must have missed this class. What is the 7 second difference? Is the M5 7 Seconds faster from 0-150 than the E55? That doesn't sound right to me?

MrAMG

Let's try and do it when you come back from your vacation! And I hope you have a good one! Happy Holidays to you!

krispykrme

No problem. I will be back in the states on the night of the 8th. So we probably can hook up the weekend of the 15th.

krispykrme

nice summary. I am 100% sure that if RS6 does comes with DSG and Gallardo's engine without detuning, i will get one.

One thing that i don't like about the M5 is lack of low end punch. Had BMW been able to do a little better job, I would probably love the M5 even more.

krispykrme

Depends on which report you read, the time for 0-150 has M5 win by high 4 second to almost 7 second range.

I know the latest C&D has show a high 4 second difference between the CLS55 and M5 at 0-150.

I am not sure if my memory is correct, but i did read somewhere from a magazine in europe that did E55 and M5 run to 150 and show M5 has 7 second adv. Then again I may be wrong on this.

KarlE55

I don't know about everybody else here but my 06' E55 has not had any quality issues. I must have to assume that the early '03 and '04 's had a lot of problems. I am very happy with my car so far (3k miles).

skratch77

nice runs.do you think you could get some of these on tape and host them up for us.Maybe even a few 20-100 pulls in first?

you might want to try something on your m5 to get some more power out of it.Some have found out that there is 2 extra carbon airfilters in the airboxes on the us cars and have made 15more whp with them out.

it has somthing to do with us epa crap.

TopGun32

just 1 quick point...

E55 have shown to run a bit quicker than the CLS55..

so the only comparison we have to 0 to 150 is from C&D..

the difference was about 4.2 secs.. i have not see or read any other major US magazine compare a 55k motor vs the V10 5.0L

since the drivetrain is about the same, i don't expect a huge difference, but the 1/4 mile and 100mph times should be better for an E55

doing a quick search C&D, MT and R&D have the E55 at
4.2 to 4.3 secs
12.39 to 12.6 /114- 116mph
9.7 to 9.8 /0-100
0 to 150 (may 03)C&D has the E 24.5 compared to 24.9 as the latest CLS test with C&D

please note the E55 wagon ran 0 to 150 in 24 secs flat.. (see sept 5 of C&D)

almost 1 sec improvement!

The m5 at 20.7 o to 150 is impressive, but given that the M5 tested showed to be really good of the line. Which help the overall time from o to150. It must of been a really knowledable M5 driver or must of taken a few attempts to acheive those times. My assumptions are based, just by reading the M5 owners we have here in this forum. Krispy, E55, jkrutch.. M5 needs to be driven skillfully to acheive its full potential. I think we can all agree on that point.

my point is the following:
7 sp trans helps and by far the M5 shines after 100mph, but let's not get carried away adding more secs to the times.. 7 seconds seem far fetched (as mentioned before)

I think in real world driving it would be more like 3 to 3.5 secs.

I still believe adding a pulley and chip, probably will knock off 1 to 1.5 seconds of the 0 to 150 time, closing the gap but the overall gear ratios of the AMG are its down fall..

I tried to search Kleemann or Renntech test... the only one I found that may add value is the C55k S8 test by C&D

Please note that the time to 100 is 1/2 second faster than the M5, and too bad they did not reach the 150 mark. Test weigh is about 3800lbs. Add another 500lbs and about the same output of a k2 car... it could be close?
================================================== ====



Kleemann 55S8
Vehicle type: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan
Price as tested: $99,003 (base price*: $94,398)
Engine type: supercharged and intercooled SOHC 24-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injection
Displacement: 332 cu in, 5439cc
Power (mfr's claim): 570 bhp @ 6500 rpm
Torque (mfr's claim): 580 lb-ft @ 4200 rpm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Transmission: 5-speed automatic with manumatic shifting
Wheelbase: 106.9 in
Length/width/height: 181.5/68.0/55.6 in
Curb weight: 3830 lb

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zero to 60 mph: 3.8 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 8.9 sec
Zero to 130 mph: 15.2 sec
Street start, 5-60 mph: 3.9 sec
Standing 1/4-mile: 12.2 sec @ 117 mph
Top speed (redline limited): 187 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph: 160 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.90 g
*Base price includes all performance-enhancing options.

skratch77

A chipped e55 should kill an m5 till 120 ish,but is that fair to a stock m?

hamann is claiming 603hp with chip,headers,race cats,and exh

now that would be a fair race with a chipped 55

vraa

No, a fair race versus an M5 with chip, headers, race cats and exhaust would be an E55 with chip, headers, race cats and exhaust.

But who the hell cares? Race for the hell of it and for fun. Besides, BMW had three extra years to (no not catch up but) beat the E55 with their M5. If you have to add a 100more hp or so, to fight with a car that has 493 + 30 (RENNtech chip) to make it fair....

skratch77

ya we could go both ways on that one,lets not forget one is NA and all if you want to get all technical F/I vs F/I would be the way to go

Improviz

Your point being what, exactly, troll?

vraa

Who knows man.
I can't find any information on the Hamann parts, link skratch77?

TopGun32

I dont' see why not...

same class level
same prestige
direct competitors

its like saying a blown vette vs a stock Viper... is that fair?
or SC/S2000 vs 350z turbo or RX8 turbo (2.2,3.5, 1.3)?
C55 vs M3 3.2 vs 5.5L?


5.0l V10, 7 spd SMG vs 5.5l kompressor 5sp? its a wash! In one hand the kompressor is good, but the 7sp helps the M5.