More on Ferrari VS BMW

Having, not long ago, moved from an M5 to a 575M I knew that, as modern and luxury GT oriented the 575 might be, there will be some electric gadgets I will miss. Mind you, this is my daily drive, not my weekend fun.

Quite surprisingly, there is not much that I miss… I have upgraded the Stereo system and added a Satnav (it is a long distance GT car and I hate reading driving 180mph on the Autobahn). Quite frankly the stereo and Satnav were never one the M5 strongest points anyway to say the least.
I much prefer the simple climate control in the Ferrari over the complicated, digitally controlled, dual zone in the BMW – the knobs are big and clear, I do not have to take my eyes of the road to adjust them and in fact, I hardly need to adjust them at all – much easer to get the desired equilibrium.

Mind you, I only had an E39 M5, not that Bangled, Gizmo over loaded E60 (I do find them so over-gizmoed, almost make the driver redundant).

I do miss, very occasionally, the parking distance control… at 5’6” I do not have exactly a peripheral vision of the car’s extreme (I do like sitting very low which does not help). But I have learned how to park the car ‘blindly’ and in reality, it’s not that bad.

Laugh as much as you want, the single most desirable feature the Ferrari does not have (from my perspective) is heated seats… doh! I hate sitting on cold leather seats in a cold winter morning

A friend that made a similar move but to a 550 had a slightly different point of view… what he misses about the M5 is the knowledge that it WILL start in the morning, comes rain or snow. Comparing the two Maranellos, the improvement in build quality is very noticeable and I must say I have no such quivers.
All that while my previous M5 just had its second engine rebuild… with 26,000milles on the clock

Would be interesting to here other people’s thoughts on the matter…

 

Cannot fail that logic but wouldn't you say the same about M3?
P.S can you think of a car that is not compromised? The Zonda comes very close - at least from what I have heard -as it does both GT and Sport better then most. But luggage space still severely limits the distance you will be able to travel if nothing else.

So true...

I have had grand tours with both the M5 and the 575. Braking down from 170 - 180 on the Autobahn (I had the M5 delimited) I would much rather be in the Ferrari (doing that in the M5 I had my heart jumping up my throat each time).
On the other hand, you can bring back much more fine Belgian beers in an M5

 

Cannot argue with that... just sited one of these sparkling mid-blue murci in the City... look and sounds are simply amazing.
As a matter of fact, the sound was not way different then the 575...




With Tubi of course. The stock 575 sounds like sh**


I am learning to appreciate the ability of the Mara to make an entrance while being rather sublime. I still find myself admiring its delicate and elegant shape every day when I approach it in the car park.
At 110K for a 2004 / 2000milles... thats even more a steal.

 

Me and no other


With all fairness, both cars are fast, but the 575 is FAST! it has nearly 30% more BHP and about 15% more torque and you definitely feel it. Also, albeit both waiting 1700 kg, the BMW KGs feel heavier. The M5 was too soft to my taste, too much body roll. Neither did I particularly like the vague steering and the vaguer gearshift (even after installing an SSK). The Ferrari is no Elise but in terms of cornering and precision comes closer then you would have expected given the difference in size, weight and weight distribution. I am planning on putting P Zero Corsa instead of the Roso I have currently once these are done Apparently this is the single most effective upgrade you can do to the car.
I do find the steering wheel to be too power assisted though.

Driving on the Autobahn, I felt that the M5's natural speed is around 120mph - 130. I never felt confident trying to take it beyond 150mph. It was also very difficult to achieve such a fast speed on the busy autobahn as it did take too long to accelerate whenever the road was clear. In comparison, the Maranello feels very natural at 150mph, even 180mph felt great.

As I said earlier, the single most critical difference I found was breaking from such high speed. Again, the Fezza is so much more confidence inspiring.

 

I am sure that there are some cars that accelerate better the the 575. But at less then 10 sec to 100mph it all gets a bit academic.
Where acceleration does play a part is in how quick you get back to hyper speed when your lane clears by that last 100 mph driving uber saloon that insisted on getting in your way