7:55 around the 'green hell' vs 7:56 for the Panny Turbo. Supposedly with only 560 HP, although there is very strong evidence that the car is putting out considerably more.

Depending on the road test reviews, this could be a pretty compelling alternative. Still no awd though.

 

What about the Pana Turbo S?

 

factory times, no matter which carmaker claims them, cannot be trusted as long as they aren`t verified by independent testers with the same driver, period.

 

The Germans aren't too bad in terms of 'fixing' the results. Don't see anything for the Turbo S. I would think it's a few seconds quicker. Here's the list:

 

Actually, it would be nice to think that you can eliminate all the variables by having the same driver, but that's tough. Weather conditions (temp, barometric pressure, etc) are a bigger factor than driver once you get to the 'pro' level. Then you've got driving style, familiarity with the car, etc. The 'best' times achieved by each car are probably about as good a comparison as you can get for the 'ring.

The best way I've seen to get an objective reading is to have both cars, same day, two pro/factory drivers, and have the drivers each drive both cars. BMW and Cadillac did that with the M5/CTS-V with John Heinrecy and Bill Auberlein on a test track. But - did Heinrecy drive the BMW as hard as he could??? Same for Auberlein and the Caddy. A matchup like that will be tough to schedule around the 'ring.

 

The Pana time was run with a passenger, iirc.

We'll also never know what tires the F10 had, or if it had been tweaked or modded. The time was submitted by the lead of the M5 project so he must not have had any motivation for his car to be a second quicker.

 

The F10 M5 comes with the Michelin Super Sport tires, so I think those help quite a bit.

 

the more equal variables the better, but what i meant is, that all the factory lap times should be taken with a grain of salt.
they work as a rough orientation but not much more and to be honest, i find it a bit suspicious that the M5 is that certain 1 second quicker but who knows.

 

I talked to a guy who was involved in the testing for the Super Sports, and he said they were friggin' unbelievable. This is coming from someone who has a lot of experience testing high performance tires, so I think they should be pretty good.

Tires are the biggest factor by far in car performance, and I'm sure the M5 team had their car outfitted with the best for the 'ring run. I'm very impressed that they were able to basically equal the Panny Turbo's time.

I think it can only be good news for us that the car mfg's are falling over themselves to post the best 'ring time. Let's make sure this continues!

 

The new M5 is a stunner however a different league then the Panamera.. they are saying that BMW is downplaying the output of 560hp to avoid "the hp war" .. anyhow I think it will be significantly cheaper then a Turbo ..let along a Turbo S...

 

Cheaper than a Turbo and a Turbo S yes, and probably in the shop a lot more than either one as per BMW's current reputation... as much as I hate to say that.

 

You are most likely unfamiliar with the woes that panny owners have been facing ....... if you ask me they both will need their tech's attention quite a bit and more so because their customers always have super high expectation....

 

Honestly, the 'shop time' is something that BMW handles pretty well with their 'pay for everything' warranty. My current M5 did spend a lot of time in the shop, but it didn't cost me anything for 50,000 miles, and the shop here is quite pleasant, free loaner, coffee, soda, candy, nuts ...

 

there u go:

BMW M5 7:55 (driven by some BMW test driver)
Panamera Turbo: 7:56 (driven by Röhrl and clocked by car magazine Autobild)

is there any doubt which one to trust more?

 

Ordered mine last week, should be first one that arrives in Texas.
White/Black! Sure hope it's better than my last one..the first gen
V-10 with that POS tranny...