On the outside, the new 2017 BMW M550d with quad-turbo diesel is practically indistinguishable from its M performance brother with the V8-Biturbo – only the lettering at the rear reveals the auto-ignition, which should be in much more demanding in Europe than the gasoline variant. The BMW G30 M550d can, of course, also be seen when looking under the hood, because here “only” a straight-six cylinder is waiting and not the eight-cylinder engine.
In view of the 400 hp and 760 newton meters of torque, the most powerful diesel version of the BMW 5 Series is already present in performance level that were reserved only a few years ago to the strongest petrolers. For the sprint from 0 to 100 km / h, the preliminary data announces a time of 4.4 seconds, a tenth of a second faster than the sprint ability of the then BMW F10 M5. Even the new BMW G31 M550d Touring requires an official 4.6 seconds time, it’s still only two tenths of a second longer than the outgoing M5.
The power is transferred using ZF’s tried-and-tested eight-speed automatic transmission and a special rear-wheel drive xDrive, which adapts to the current driving situation with a fully variable force distribution. For maximum agility, the BMW M550d 2017 is also equipped as standard with the integral-steering linkage steering, which is also available for all other variants of the 5 Series G30 / G31 and supports the driving behavior with counter-steering or equal-steering.
The combined fuel consumption is 5.9 l/100 km for the sedan and 6.2 l/100 km for touring.
BMW has not officially comment on the price of the new top-diesel, but the basic price of 82,700 euros for the M550i sedan should also be a good indicator of what to expect.
[Photos: Bimmertoday]
