Another compelling feature of the new car is the engine, which is a V8 in the mold of the E39 M5. Again, this seems to be a more proper mill for the M5, as just like the E39, the F10 has gobs of torque low in the rev range, which makes for much better drive-ability. Although the S85 V10 is in a league of its own, it could only really be enjoyed in the upper rev ranges. Of course, since the competition now boasts of 500 horsepower motors, it’s only fitting that the engine on the new M5 be fitted with turbos to exceed that kind of output. You would think that because of the turbos, the F10 M5 would have a subdued sound. But BMW’s M division is a master of engine tuning, so extracting the right tone from the fuel-efficient, turbocharged motor is child’s play for them. Those who’ve missed the earthy, goose bump-inducing growl of BMW’s 32-valve V8 in an M5 will the rejoice at the return of an 8-cylinder beast that surpasses the performance of the V10 in every way.

And the sounds this F10 M5 makes with a stock exhaust set up are incredible… it’s likely going to slow sales for the aftermarket exhaust tuners, because the factory exhaust set up sounds great.

Watch and listen to the video below and decide for yourself.

As you will see, these cars are very evenly matched, and who will win or lose in a variety of faceoffs will depend a lot on the driver. Whether a specific course will favor one or the other will once again depend on the track as a course with plenty of tight curves will probably favor the E36 M3. A course that favors a torquey car will most likely help the V8-powered M5. On the street, the E39 M5 would be the better choice as a daily driver in terms of comfort. On the other hand, the E36 M3, with its relatively smaller engine will have better fuel economy.

The best situation of course would be to own both cars, dedicating the E36 for fast road and track day use and keeping the E39 M5 stock for use as a daily driver.

Watch how an E39 M5 with an ECU tune and freer-flowing exhaust matches up to this M3. You don’t see too many engine swaps on M cars because they’re very well balanced as they come. Owners who want more power out of their M cars usually settle for an ECU reflash if they want just a little more power. For the ones who want big gains, the common route is through forced induction. But a more powerful normally aspirated engine is also a well-established route to a much-improved power-to-weight ratio, and you will see the justification for this mod in the clip below.

Making things just that little bit crazier is the fact that DSC has been disengaged. The car’s not well-suited to the track because it’s narrow and twisty, and you’ll notice the driver staying in one gear a lot of the time. But it’s fun to see the car stepping out once in a while and the driver making large corrections to keep the car in line. While a 600 horsepower M5 sounds just right, you’ll also need to find a suitable track to make the most of that power.

Posting videos like these can sometimes be the reason for the law to come knocking on your door and it’s probably a good idea that the car is tinted. Because BMW M5s bring out the teenager in you, it’s best not to be easily identified for all the world to see how silly your car can sometimes make you, even if it’s all in good fun.

In the case of this E39 M5, the owner added more than 50% horsepower mainly through the use of a supercharger kit from RMS, boosting at 9 psi. Engine internals remain stock, although a set of Supersprint headers were also installed to help with the exhaust flow. The engine reportedly makes more than 600 hp now so an upgraded clutch was installed and a set of KW coilovers were used to upgrade the suspension. No carbon fiber body parts will be found here, as the car still bears its stock weight.

The video will show how hard the car launches and the sound of the V8 is just beautiful. You’ll want to repeat the video a couple of times just to hear that beautiful V8 song. 600 horsepower cars from the major manufacturers are pretty common these days, but this E39 M5 has matched that figure with the addition of forced induction and some intelligent tuning.

You have to look closely to spot this as a clone because this dude is wasting so much rubber in this clip it’s hard to see whether or not it’s actually got four pipes. But the square mirrors give it away… that the car is just a cloned E39 painfully wishing it was a real M5.

REAL E39 M5s just beg to driven hard, and BMW has ensured that they can take the punishment, but this definitely isn’t what the development engineers at the M division had in mind.

According to the caption accompanying the video, the driver was flagged thrice by track officials, reputedly for excessive drifting. But based on what you can hear from the throttle inputs and the attitude of the back of the car, this driver was just very enthusiastic but not smooth at all. Instead of rolling on the throttle, you hear on/off barks from the exhaust which reflects how the throttle pedal is being modulated. But then, maybe the driver just needs more seat time to get to grips with how to handle the torque and power hits being given by that 400 horsepower V8. You’ll just have to forgive his enthusiasm because the E39 M5 is a car that just begs to be driven hard and it’s not an enthusiast’s fault if he tries to handle this beast.

You’ll also see the rear door handles being shaved and the gaps in the rear doors filled so that the car becomes a 2-door. Finally, some garish graphics are added to the car. All this is done in the freeware photo editor Gimp, and shows you the possibilities of what a user can do to experiment with his E39 M5 on his computer before going out to buy those upgrades for real.

More than a decade on, the E39 M5 is still a car that commands a lot of respect and the menacing bark coming from this car shows us why.