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The BMW M550d monster diesel touring car

Ok, maybe it may not really look like a monster, heck, if you see it on the road, you might think that is just someone driving a very practical vehicle which is a touring or estate car. Lots of space and large in size. Perhaps only when you see this car accelerate far away from you would you actually start looking at it closer which you already can’t because it is far away. Yes, I am talking about BMW’s new M550d xDrive.

No, it isn’t an M5 nor is it categorised as such, BMW still parks it as an M Performance model. But this M Performance model has one of the most powerful 3.0-litres 6-cylinder diesel engines with 4 turbochargers producing 400hp and 760Nm of torque. Insane amount of power from a non-M car. It achieves the century sprint in 4.6 seconds and is electronically limited to 250kmh. The engine is mated to an 8-speed automatic sports gearbox for power delivery.

BMW uses multi-stage turbocharging to manage four turbochargers in order to create high output and insane amounts of torque whilst maintaining a certain degree of fuel efficiency. This means that you get huge amounts of torque at low rpm, such as 450Nm at 1,000rpm which is absolutely insane. It is different from the previous model where it uses only 3 turbochargers. The addition of the fourth turbochargers means that two are used in low-pressure situations and two in high-pressure situations.

The 5 series also comes with am xDrive configuration, meaning it has all wheel drive configuration with a bit of a focus on the rear giving the car a little bit more control.

The car is fitted with 19-inch light alloy wheels Double Spoke 664 M in Cerium Grey (front 8J × 19, rear 9J × 19) and mixed tyres in the format 245/40 R19 at front and 275/35 R19 at rear as standard as well as M performance twin tailpipe and the M sports brake kit.

For those of you who aren’t into the estate look, don’t worry, BMW is also introducing a sedan version as well.