Highly debatable and subject to endless discussions... BUT great cars nonetheless

 

Damn these cars are close upto about 230km/h, then the M5 seems to pull, its hard to tell because the PTTS stops at around 250km/h.

PTTS:

http://youtu.be/2yf_T7cl76U

M5:

http://youtu.be/Wzv2Bc4ylGY

 

Per the previous comment, I am someone who would cross-shop the two, and I did. I considered the new BMW 650i as well. In the end, the BMWs left me somewhat cold, and concerned about reliability. My 3 series has not been cheap to maintain (such as all four window regulators failing within the first 50K miles due to being plastic), and statistics lead me to believe things have gotten much worse since 2001, especially in electronics.

The other relevant factor for me is space. In BMWs in general, and the new 5 series in particular (including the M5), there is very little elbow space. If you are tall enough to have to slide the seat back, and have any muscle girth in your arms and chest (or presumably fat as well), your arm gets pressed in by the B pillar (the pillar between the front and back doors) so you just aren't comfortable driving long distances. I just tried it again at the auto show and am surprised this not a more obvious issue for people in deciding among cars. The Panamera is great that way.

Chip