this is a silly review but I know how this site loves flame wars
August 22 2007: 4:59 PM EDT
(Fortune Magazine) -- There are a lot of desirable high-performance German four-seaters on the market: several Mercedes AMGs, almost everything from BMW, multiple Audis, even VWs. In my opinion, however, the granddaddy of them all is the BMW M5.
I owned the last-generation M5. It was my idea of a family car (I had just had a baby and was determined not to go the minivan route). My M5 ate tires for breakfast, and the dealer experience was appalling, but each time I drove the car I was transported to a higher, faster, better-engineered place.
And so, fair or foul, the current M5, bless its 500-horsepower V-10 soul, is the mental benchmark against which I assess all other German coupes and sedans. That seems like an unfair hurdle for the latest entry into the club, Audi's new S5, which arrives in the U.S. in November. At roughly $55,000 (as tested), it's half the price of the BMW and offers two-thirds of the M5's power.
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