Peter Palmer: 2018 F90 BMW M5 Caught In The Open

Uh-oh, someone’s been caught outside in their new party dress before the prom. Gaze in wonder, my fellow gearheads, and the upcoming, new for 2018 F90 BMW M5. Yes, we know, lots of rumors, reports and gossip flying around about this car even existing, but we think these spy shots put that to rest.

First off, a big Danke! to our good buddies at BMWCoop.com for sending these shots our way. Really, tip of the hat at least for this. Head over to their site for more shots of this beast.

The fact that this car even being rumored strikes me as strange. Seems like it’s been going around in BMW circles, message boards and such that BMW might not even make a next iteration of the M5. What? You’ve got to be joking?

Why would BMW even consider something so laughable as that? That would be like Chevrolet not making a new Corvette, because, reasons.

The 5 series is, in many ways, BMW’s bread and butter mobile. They put a lot of tech into it, and they get a lot of sales out of it. And since BMW makes an M variant out of pretty much anything (M SUVs, for example) why on Earth would they not make a version of the upcoming 5 series?

The spy photos were taken November 16, 2016, yesterday as I write this, and show the upcoming 2018 F90 BMW M5 sedan wearing the now expected dazzle camouflage on the body to help disguise things. Usually, when car companies do this camo thing, it indicates that design details, shut lines, door handles, trim, creases and such, are far from the final shape.

BMWCOOP.com says that “From the start, the model promises to be beautiful…actually more beautiful and appealing than ever, with its exquisite curves and sporty touches from top to bottom. More than that, it will borrow an aggressive look from the newly unveiled G30 5-Series and add its own M parts, only that it will be more powerful under the hood.”

Yes, that’s all subjective, but if you look close, you can see where Munich is going with this upcoming M5. They’ve run the dazzle tape onto the headlight pods themselves, disguising what the final form of the car’s eyes. The same goes for the grill under the iconic twin kidneys. You can see where there’s black tape just slapped on to hide the profile of the finish work there.

Same goes for that big black area (Stripe? Vent?) on the top center of the hood. BMW has been fond of vents these days (everybody seems to be, it connotes power and all that) so that could be disguising vents. Or where the vents will go. Or could be there to throw us off.

BMW also tries to throw us off concerning the rear door windows with lots of black tape here and dazzle tape there. But it’s pretty clear to see what the entire greenhouse will look like. Nice try guys.

Now, these are just pictures of the disguised outside, and there’s no details at all about what lies beneath the skin. That doesn’t stopping BMWCOOP from entertainingly speculating though, based on reports to give us an insight on the car`s powertrain.

They think it will be a 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 engine, the same found on the 550i, but with more power, somewhere between 600 and 650 horsepower. Beefy! That power gets to the bahn via a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, being sent to the rear axle alone via an Active M Differential. Which means, if you could turn the computer nannies off, or at least down, you could slide this thing all over the place.

The COOP fellows also add that the upcoming M5 will get an xDrive all-wheel drive sibling, which would compete against the newcomer W213 Mercedes-AMG E63. Maybe? Can’t say for sure at this date, but would love to see it.

We should see the official debut of the all-new 2018 F90 BMW M5 at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show and the big M5 is aimed directly at the likes of the AMG E63 and the new Porsche Panamera.

Price? Please, have a seat. The incoming M5 is said to come with a price tag of at least €150,000, if you decide to go with all the optional goodies, like carbon fiber roof, trunk or ceramic brakes.