A quartet of M5s - one each of the breed's first four generations - blasts into the Spanish Villa forecourt, accompanied by Metallica's Master of Puppets blasting through the house stereo. It's a fitting, if slightly uncomfortable, introduction to the launch of the fifth-generation M5, which arrives at the presentation's conclusion, finished in satin-like Frozen Black that's darker than an Ozzy Osbourne anecdote. It's fitting because both the original six banger E28 - the black sheep" as BMW marketed it back in its day - and the thrash metal anthem were game-changers in the mid-'80s era. And it's slightly uncomfortable because, today, the seminal Master... tune has been glossed over as a symphony orchestra cover version for BMW brass and journos alike. The F10, as the new M5 is designated, certainly arrives with its fists pumping. Its twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 beats its chest to the tune of 412kW and 680Nm, making it the most potent M engine ever, by a narrow four kilowatts, over the X5M/X6M siblings with which it shares its quite unorthodox engine architecture (where the exhaust and turbochargers are plumbed to the heads from on top, in the valley of the vee). Both the unprecedented forced induction - an M5 first - and that it's an SUV-derived unit has caused a bit of controversy with M diehards who believe that, like the F10's V10-powered E60 forebear, a real M5 gets its own, extra-specialised, proprietary M engine.
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