BMW M5

The engineers were more than happy to show us the key parts of the M5 rear suspension while putting one up on a lift. What that means is that we snapped some of the first shots of the new M5 from underneath. The rear was our main focus as there is a lot of new techniques being used back there and that is where the sound comes from (in theory).

For the first time in an M5 the M engineers have essentially completely redesigned the rear suspension compared to the base 5 series model. There is extensive use of aluminum, and kinematics that are great on the street and even better on the track. Taking new techniques that were learned building the track rat M3 GTS, M made the M5 rear suspension one of the most compliant we ‘ve ever driven and that is saying a lot considering how much torque the S63tü is sending back there.

By hard mounting the suspension directly to the rear mounting points they sured up a weak link for performance. They couldn ‘t stop there, they need to add smaller amounts of rubber lower in the suspension to take out the harshness and vibration so it would not make itself known in the passenger cabin. It was a huge success as the road feel is there but there is none of the vibration or noise common in solid mount applications.

Check out the Photos and the captions for more details. The tiny size of the rear mufflers is also worth noting, the car sounds good on the outside as you ‘ve heard here before.