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Shoot out: BMW M5 vs Alpina B5 |
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Page 2 of 5 Our shoot route is the B660 between the A1
at Glatton and the A14 at Brington. It's a classic British driving road. Twisty,
fast, technical, bumpy and challenging. It's a tough test of any machinery, be
it a rally-bred rice rocket or a full-on supercar. And for a couple of big, heavy
saloons with stupendous performance, it'll take them to the absolute limit.
The tale of the tape might show that there's very
little to choose in terms of performance on paper,
but on the road the M5 is a completely different
animal. It feels at once more urgent, more visceral. It
feels more modern, too, with its plethora of
electronic systems to allow you to tailor the car to
your preferred setup. The B5, meanwhile sets its tone
with thick, embossed leather and shiny wood trim.
The M5's ride seems much firmer than the
Alpina's, even with EDC in its softest setting, but the
upside is a tauter body control over choppy
surfaces. It might give your fillings more of a
workout but it recovers its composure more quickly
than the Alpina and through quick direction changes
seems planted and more surefooted. A couple of
times the Alpina felt a bit uneasy on the way into
bumpy braking zones from speed, whereas the M5
just felt sorted and settled.
In the B5, with traction control on, the tell-tale
light flickers away like a firefly on speed. Turn it out,
and even in the dry, it's capable of vapourising its
back tyres. Because there's no LSD, the inside rear
wheel just spins up on the way out of tighter turns.
The M5's DSC copes much better due in part to the
lower torque levels in the middle of the rev range.
You can also use the M track mode to knock back the level of intervention and
even allow for some mild opposite-lockery with the back up of the computer should
you get into difficulty.
If you prefer to drive without interference, the M5
is by far the more focussed driving tool. Crank up
the EDC to its firmest setting, put the engine in
P500 S mode and use the paddles with the SMG
box at full speed and the M5 comes alive. It feels
raw and scalpel sharp, with razor-edge throttle
response, excellent steering which benefits from a
meatier wheel rim. The SMG III shift is whipcrack
fast compared to the B5's Switch-Tronic system and
the fabulous blipped downchanges are great when
you are on a charge.
Grip levels are fairly similar but the M5 feels more four-square, more level during
hard cornering and seems to work all four tyres. When adhesion is breached, the
variable locking rear diff enables the rear tyres to eke out more available traction
while also allowing the car to slide cleanly and progressively.
Braking is better in the M5, too, in my opinion. The
B5's 760LI sourced stoppers are good, and quiet,
but I'll live with the slight rumbling from the 348mm
drilled rotors on the M car. They seem to have a bit
more bite and feel than the Alpina's and on this kind
of route, you need all the help you can get.
On a proper charge, the M5 is stunning: you just
can't believe it's not an out and out sports car. The
Alpina never feels less than super fast - but it
always feels what it is: a huge, hugely powerful,
sumptuously appointed machine. I won't pretend
that the M5 is hot-hatch chuckable, but it really does
shrink to fit thanks to its on-the-button turn-in and
unflappable poise teamed to the kind of chassis
adjustability that means you're never short of options.
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