About a year ago BMW’s M Division debuted its most powerful car to date, the BMW M5 CS. The very first of this limited edition model has just been delivered to a customer. As initially reported, only a handful will be sold to local fans. Our sources report that 10 units are making their way to SA. Five of these are painted in Frozen Green, as pictured, with the remainder finished in Frozen Grey. Our original story follows with local pricing at the bottom of the article.

A few weeks ago we drove the latest BMW M car to be released onto the South African market (read our BMW M2 CS driving review here). Today BMW’s M Division unveiled another CS product, the first-ever BMW M5 CS. Judging from that green and gold colour scheme they could just as well have called it the BMW Springbok Edition. Good news for local fans, the Springb… err, BMW M5 CS will be available in limited numbers from the third quarter of 2021. 

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The first of its kind

The first-ever BMW M5 CS gets the same treatment as  its CS forebearers. The luxury sedan loses a few kilograms and gets a slight increase in power, along with some bespoke touches around the cabin, suspension and body for it to earn those hallowed letters. The BMW kidney grille surround, “M5 CS” badges on the kidney grille, the gills on the front wings and the boot lid are all finished in Gold Bronze, as are the 20‑inch M forged wheels . The door sill finishers come with illuminated “M5 CS” badges.

Mass reduction

The bonnet, front splitter, exterior mirror caps, rear spoiler, rear diffuser, and intake are made from carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP). Some exterior design elements also feature exposed carbon fibre. Standard specification for the M5 CS includes a stainless-steel sports exhaust system with quad tailpipes and M Carbon ceramic brakes with calipers in red as standard or gold as an option. Most notably the car has four individual (carbon-backed items up front) bucket seats. The liberal application of lightweight CFRP means the first-ever BMW M5 CS sheds 70 kg of mass. 

More power and better dynamics

BMW’s engineers have liberated a few more ponies from the standard M5’s 4,4-litre twin-turbocharged V8. The M5 CS offers 467 kW, which makes it the most powerful road car in the history of BMW M. BMW claims some impressive performance numbers for its new creation. The BMW M5 CS is said to sprint from 0-100 km/h in 3 seconds flat, and from 0-200 km/h in a stonking 10,4 seconds. Top speed is limited to 305 km/h.

The motor is coupled to an eight-speed automatic transmission. Power is still sent to an all-wheel-drive system, which offers a pure rear-wheel-drive mode for smokey sideways action. To harness the extra power BMW has retuned the springs and dampers as well as adopting Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres that measure 275/35 R20 (f) and 285/35 R20 (r).

Price

R3 840 000