BMW M5 at the 0–150–0-MPH Speed Test 2026

From the September/October 2026 issue of Car and Driver.

0–150–0 mph: 21.8 seconds

Base: $132,050 | As-Tested: $146,500 Power and Weight: 717 hp • 5267 lb • 7.3 lb/hp Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport S5; F: HL285/40ZR-20 (111Y) ★, R: HL295/35ZR-21 (110Y) ★ Brakes, F/R: 16.5-in vented, cross-drilled carbon-ceramic disc/15.7-in vented, cross-drilled carbon-ceramic disc

On the opposite side of small and light, we have the M5, which leapfrogs its little sibling through power and four-wheel traction. With 717 horses from a 577-hp twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8 and a 194-hp electric motor, the M5 may change your expectations of a plug-in hybrid.

The hardest part of setting up the M5 was sorting through its menus, in which hide options upon options. Get your least smudgy finger working on the screens and find the sportiest settings. Pick Sport Plus for the drive logic and set stability control to ESC Off or MDM (that’s M Dynamic Mode). Now you can hold the brake and accelerator until “Launch Control” comes up in the driver’s cluster. Watch the turbo-boost gauge and catch it on the way up. Finally, release the brakes, and, as Beard said after his run, “This big old thing will bark the tires.” Woof.

After all that, it manages to gain about a second on the M2 as it thrums up to 150 mph, and it stops just before the other BMW’s skid marks end, with a 609-foot halt versus the M2’s 634-foot finish.

Back to 0–150–0 Speed Test 2026

Like a sleeper agent activated late in the game, Elana Scherr didn’t know her calling at a young age. Like many girls, she planned to be a vet-astronaut-artist, and came closest to that last one by attending UCLA art school. She painted images of cars, but did not own one. Elana reluctantly got a driver’s license at age 21 and discovered that she not only loved cars and wanted to drive them, but that other people loved cars and wanted to read about them, which meant somebody had to write about them. Since receiving activation codes, Elana has written for numerous car magazines and websites, covering classics, car culture, technology, motorsports, and new-car reviews. In 2020, she received a Best Feature award from the Motor Press Guild for the C/D story "A Drive through Classic Americana in a Polestar 2."  In 2023, her Car and Driver feature story "In Washington, D.C.'s Secret Carpool Cabal, It's a Daily Slug Fest" was awarded 1st place in the 16th Annual National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards by the Los Angeles Press Club.