While the rest of the world hasn’t seen a manual BMW M5 since the E39 days, customers in North America were able to buy one with a stick up until recently.
This is not a perfect world though and despite how much we’d love to see more M5s equipped with three pedals, people just didn’t bought them.
The whole concept of a manual E60 M5 sounds even more awesome these days where everything is turbocharged and automatic and it’s all because of that powertrain: a naturally aspirated 500hp 5.0-litre V10 motorsport-derived engine that can rev up to 8200rpm paired to an old-fashioned six-speed manual gearbox.
Despite the E60 generation not being the prettiest of its family tree, it certainly has its own character, a character that is further boosted by the insane V10 soundtrack. Engines don’t come much more special than this and if an engine ever deserved to burn oil, I guess we can all agree it’s this one.
Matt Farah has a go at a stealthy black example which has covered 123,000 miles at his latest One Take film. Crank up the volume and enjoy.