Tested on Track: The New, All-Wheel Drive 2018 BMW M5

Our cars have evolved passed the ideals we've ascribed to their predecessors. They're safer, but heavier. They stick better, but don't communicate as clearly. They're more powerful, but are chock full of electronics to keep us from killing ourselves. This is progress to most of the world. But to most of the world, we're weird. And so that progress comes at the expense of the characteristics we weirdos hold dear

Such is the case with BMW's M Division products. Every new model is bigger and better and more than before, creating an endless cycle of chassis code bereavement. The E30 was the "best," followed up by the "bloated" E36, which, decades later, became an icon of lightweight simplicity. This phenomenon repeats until reaching its natural zenith—in this case, praise for the E90. Step away from the backward-looking hype cycle, and the fact remains that they're all pretty fantastic cars, with flaws great and small, just like the humans who designed and built them.

There's something different with this sixth generation M5, though. Here, BMW's relentless pursuit of more has a duality to it. For 2018, the M5 gains all-wheel-drive and an eight-speed automatic as the standard (and only) transmission, but manages to be lighter and more intuitive than the rear-driven F10 it replaces. There are more electronics, but they're smarter, with a "central intelligence unit" (CIU? Sure) running M-tuned software enabling massive levels of control—including a DSC-off, RWD-only mode—that's somehow simple to use.

BMW is trying to give us our cake and have us eat it, all while doing 0-60 in around 3.5 seconds, in a high-performance sports sedan that's meant to be more appealing to the masses. Something has to give, right?

That power comes from a familiar mill: A modified version of the S63 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 that stars in the current M5. BMW wouldn't give numbers ahead of the official reveal (look to the Frankfurt Motor Show this fall), but figure 600-plus horsepower and around 550 pound-feet of torque for the new M5. Both bumps are courtesy of higher injection pressures and new turbos, which, after some ribbing, were divulged to have a redesigned compressor wheel and reworked housings. The lighter, more direct exhaust system frees up the flow; our nearly-production-spec, camouflaged prototypes were set to run with the baffles open, making for a growling start and a pissed-off idle. Here's hoping that mode makes it to market.