The 2021 BMW M5 Competition is one of those cars that you hear before you see. That was the case when it was dropped off for the week. Once you see it, you can’t stop looking. 

Starting with the exterior, the Motegi Red metallic is more on the subtle red look. The black accents and menacing daytime LED light are the magnet to your eyes. To add to the attraction, our loaner M5 Competition was equipped with the 20” wheels that showed off the M Carbon Ceramic brake option. 

Opening the door to the BMW M5 and I was surprised to see the Midrand Beige choice was selected. When I was playing with the BMW M5 builder, it shows as a yellow tone to it which I normally avoid with red because of the ketchup and mustard reference that come to mind. Thankfully the color is more true to its beige color than the yellow in photographs. The seats in the M5 were incredible and surprisingly comfortable despite the typical discomfort that racing inspired seats can sometimes have. The rear seats also faired a good amount of space for adults as well as my kid’s child seat.

Using the remote start allowed me to be an audience member of the M5’s cylinder symphony. Under the hood you’ll find the peace disturbing 4.4L twin-turbo V8. It’s 600 horsepower is transferred to the 8-speed automatic and then to the xDrive performance all-wheel-drive system. The xDrive system allows the complete power distribution the the rear tires when you switch it to 2WD mode. I didn’t dare to switch it to that mode since it’s virtually a drift mode that BMW used to set the longest drift record in the M5.

Overall the 2021 BMW M5 Competition definitely felt more for the track than everyday driving. I felt the suspension was a bit on the stiffer side even in the “comfort” mode. The performance brakes were spectacular when getting the M5 stopped from triple digit speeds, but when were too sensitive for stop and go traffic. I can’t say this was one I’d drive to the office unless that office was up in the hills and had twisty roads free of traffic.