The ESP stopped the car
It happens quite often that cars are slightly faster in real life than stated in the brochure. The specified specifications must be achievable under almost all circumstances. The conditions (dry, pleasant temperature) are usually slightly more ideal. In addition, car brands prefer customers to be pleasantly surprised than to post angry things on the internet. The BMW M4, for example, appears to be significantly more powerful. But with the 5 Series, the opposite turned out to be true. Fortunately, that has now been resolved: the BMW M550i has become faster.
The 0-100 time of the BMW M550i is according to the factory 3.8 seconds thanks to the power of 530 hp and four-wheel drive. However, the American Car and Driver impossible in a trial at that time. They couldn’t get the 5 Series to 100 km/h in under 4 seconds. That in itself is not a disaster, but it worked with the BMW X5 M50i, while that car is heavier and has the same power. BMW investigated the matter and concluded that something was indeed not quite right.
BMW M550i significantly faster after software update
The cause turned out to be in the ESP. The stability system curbed the engine by removing turbo pressure from the V8. It looks like the car was tuned too securely. BMW developed a software update to loosen the reins a bit. Car and Driver went to work again and recorded a 0-96 (0-60 miles) of 3.5 seconds. That is 0.6 seconds faster to 100 km/h than before. A serious improvement. We asked BMW Netherlands whether BMW M550i’s in the Netherlands also included and whether the update will also come here. We’ll update this post as soon as we have an answer.
