Once upon a time, carmakers used to be able to depend that the pictures and information released under embargo would remain tightly locked away until the predetermined time release date. Thanks in large part to that wonderful anonymous information-sharing tool known as the Internet, however, those days are long since gone. So even though BMW was planning on revealing the all-new 2018 M5 to the world this evening…we can see it in all its glory right now.
Granted, this isn’t the first time we’ve caught a glimpse of the new M5. Our inaugural uncamouflaged look at the sports sedan came back in June, when the M5 was revealed as the cover car for a new installment of the Need for Speed video game franchise. The game art, however, only revealed the front fascia of the car—a far cry from today’s leak, which was posted to YouTube by a South Korean user on Sunday. The video—which is actually just a series of low-resolution photos that appear to be official press shots—offers up by far our best look yet at the super-sedan, revealing its buffed-up body from almost every angle.
But while each of said pictures may be worth a thousand words, the slideshow does effectively bupkis to reveal any of the secrets of the new BMW M5’s specs. For that, we’ll have to wait for the official reveal tonight…but we can make a few educated guesses ahead of time.
The new Bimmer is expected to use a revised version of the existing car’s twin-turbo V8 cranked up to around 600 horsepower. Reports have been shooting around the Internet suggesting the new M5 could 680 horsepower or more, and be capable of a 2.9-second 0-60 dash and a top speed of 230 miles per hour; these rumors, however, appear to be based on an Instagram post of questionable authenticity—so until we hear otherwise, we’re considering those reports to be, in the words of @realDonaldTrump, “FAKE NEWS.”
The Instagram post in question that appears to have started the rumors.
We do know, however, that it’ll send that power to all four wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission—and that like its arch-nemesis, the Mercedes-AMG E63 S, it’ll offer the ability to transform into a rear-wheel-drive car at the tap of a button.
Well, considering this is BMW’s iDrive system we’re talking about here…it’ll probably take a few taps.