The new BMW M5 didn’t seem an obvious rival for the Audi S e-tron GT I’m living with, but when I saw them parked alongside one another on a hillside in Wales, I realised how much they had in common: power outputs around the 700bhp mark, four doors, the same country of origin, both within a couple of grand of £110,000, four-wheel drive, more performance than you can unleash on the road, favourable tax implications for company car buyers… Could they in fact be direct competitors?
There are two key differences, of course. The BMW is a bigger, roomier car, and while it’s a hybrid with a great big V8 up front, the Audi is all-electric. What you might now be expecting to read is that there’s acres and acres of ground between them on the road; given their breeding, and in light of all that we know about cars with M badges on their tails and those wearing Audi’s less prestigious S designation, one is so much better to drive than the other there’s basically no real overlap at all. But it isn’t that clear cut.
For much of that day in Wales the roads were slick with a moisture that didn’t burn off until long after lunch, if not exactly wet. In those conditions I found the M5 a tricky car to feel at one with, its light, quick and springy steering offering no particular sense of connection to the road. So I really couldn’t tell how hard I could lean on the front axle. I had much more confidence in the GT. The M5 becomes an easier car to read when the road surface dries out, but by then the Audi had made its point.
