When people speak to the magic of ///M I immediately go to the E39 M5. I vividly see the instrument cluster light up when inserting the key, the exhaust gives an honest growl when I twist it, and feel the excitement when engaging the clutch. It’s authentic and honest. It’s in a sedan. It derives its power from an NA V8 with individual throttle bodies. It has the golden era angel eyes light up with the shift knob illuminating in concert begging you for first gear. It has a golf bag loading diagram in the trunk. It has the potential to drift around the cul-de-sac or drop off a friend without the neighbors being any the wiser. The M5 is much more the combination of its parts and instead utilizes all its parts to define an ownership experience and I believe that exemplifies ///M more than any number published in a magazine.
We all know a car is more than just a car. It can be your first avenue for freedom and exploration. It can be the poster you had on the bedroom wall. It can be the culmination of hard work and a material manifestation of achieved goals. The special ones though? It defines an era, a bookmark in the memory bank, and a device that provides a deeper level of transportation without even turning the key. But, it beckons and urges you to twist the ignition because sitting behind the wheel only exemplifies those feelings. I’ve had the fortune of creating this scene over a thousand times with multiple M5s – Some of these were inventory vehicles with mileage under their belt getting pulled in for services, some of them were customer rejuvenation vehicles that received the full EAG treatment and I was picking them up from the airport, and some of them were here to receive the gambit of performance options we offer to enhance what is already great. All of them though brought on a smile and more recently a nod of respect to Eric Keller.