The Currency Motor Cars BMW M5 Does 240mph
The E60 M5 has never been the most reliable of cars. It’s a well known fact that the engine, while brilliant, is susceptible to blowing up and costing tens of thousands of pounds to replace.
But there’s something very special about a great big F1 inspired V10 neatly packaged in the front of a family saloon.
It shouldn’t be done. Thinking sensibly about it, it may have even been a bad idea. But there’s nothing better than surprising a highly strung sports car at a green light before getting back home and convincing your wife that you’d actually been sensible this time and bought a family car. Even if it did have a self destruct timer in the form of an odometer.
The E60 was chained to 155mph. That leaves a lot of potential for a car that makes over 500hp.
Californian tuning company Currency Motor Cars, recognizing this potential, went hard to work freeing it of its 155mph restraint
They twin turbocharged the V10, upgraded the cooling system, fitted a custom exhaust and, guess what, removed the limiter. Interestingly, the turbos were placed under the rear bumper as the engine department was too hot for the setup, but the SMG transmission was untouched, proving that there were some aspects of this car that were bulletproof.
Now the E60 does 240mph and 0-60 in 3.4 seconds via its 810hp. That’s faster than a Charger Hellcat and quicker than a Shelby GT500. And this was 10 years ago! This is where it all gets a bit strange. They didn’t leave it at that. They had to go one step further.
They lined the seats with suede and… crocodile skin. Now, I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I’d rather not have the epidermis of a reptile behind my head. It’s just personal preference, but I can’t see that being overly comfortable, or smelling overly good in the sun.
CMC built one to prove they could do it, and it flopped so badly that they didn’t sell a single unit. The $350,000 price tag probably contributed to that. But the main issue? Overkill.
The M5 was already perfect. Turbos just made it more likely to blow up.
