
Turbocharged four-cylinder engines are taking over America’s showrooms as automakers strive to combine performance with fuel economy. While these engines are decent, thankfully in the premium sports sedan and sports car world there are still a handful of V8s available to remind us what real, hard-core performance is all about.
Among the volume luxury brands, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, Cadillac and BMW all keep hearty V8 motors in their portfolios. And it is a pair of models from the last named, Munich automaker that most recently highlighted the appeal of V8s for me.
In quick succession I sampled the 2018 M550i xDrive and M5 sedans. These versions of BMW’s mainstream 5 Series sedan provide two progressive steps up from the regular models. At $72,100 (or $86,685 as equipped), the M550i is a comfortable yet fast four-door sedan. The twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 delivers a healthy 445-hp through an all wheel drive system. Quick off the line – 0-60mph takes under four seconds – the M550i will blast on towards a top speed around 180 mph. With confident, secure handling and a finely decked out interior – our car had particularly elegant ‘cognac dakota’ leather seat trim – this is a performance BMW that should satisfy all but the most hard-core enthusiasts.

And that is where the M5 comes in. The latest M5, winner of the World Car of the Year Performance car award for 2018, builds on a legacy of M5 models with an absolute take-no-prisoners high performance approach. Firstly that superb 4.4-liter V8 output is bumped up to a nice round 600-hp. Then for the first time in M5 history, an all wheel drive system is standard. Although the system allows the driver to select rear-wheel drive only (mostly for track use purposes), the new M5 accelerates hardest with AWD engaged. Acceleration borders on the brutal, with magazine testers recording 0-60mph times well under three seconds, which puts this BMW firmly in supercar territory.
My M5 test car started at $102,600 but came in at $129,796 as equipped. Accounting for the price bump are extras such as ceramic brakes ($8500) and M Driver’s Package ($2500), which allows the top speed to rise to 189mph.
The ceramic brakes are great when you are stopping hard from 160 mph, as I did at one point, but in normal use, they are grabby and hard to modulate. As for the powertrain, it is simply spectacular and pulls hard all the way up its rev range, as only a V8 can do.
What’s not to like? Well the ride quality in sport mode is on the very firm side of firm and jostles occupants over uneven roads. And the drivetrain management system is overly complex, with a hard to fathom set of controls on the shift lever, plus a byzantine menu of settings in the M Drive display screen.


All that aside, the real pleasure of such a car is founded on its combination of sedan spaciousness and comfort with the all-you-need-and-more performance of a very powerful but refined V8 engine.