Ex-Chris Harris BMW M5 CS for sale

You know something's good when a journalist puts their money where their mouth is

By Cam Tait / Sunday, 20 October 2024 / Loading comments

Sometimes, things just don’t click the way you expect them to. A bit like a Netflix show that everyone’s raving about but you can’t for the life of you figure out why, or a three-star Michelin restaurant that can’t cook a fillet steak half as well as your local gastro pub. For me, it was the F90 BMW M5 Competition. Don’t get me wrong, it’s hugely versatile with tremendous amounts of grunt and admirable handling, all areas it was rightly praised for, including from Sam Sheehan in his PH review. But, in my view, the ride was too firm, the steering devoid of feel, and the exhaust note too muted. A brilliant performance saloon, sure - just not a particularly special M car.

So when the M5 CS came along in 2021, the expectation was it’d be a more hardcore (i.e. firmer) version of the already highly-focused Competition. Which, for an executive saloon weighing just shy of two tonnes, didn’t initially make much sense, but most definitely conjured extreme levels of want. What M achieved with the earlier M2 CS was nothing short of extraordinary, transforming an already first-rate sports coupe into one of the finest M experiences to date. If M could take that same nip-and-tuck approach with the M5, then by Jove it’d have something mighty special on its hands.

At first, however, it seemed like M had been a little too conservative with the M5 CS. Just an extra 10hp was unlocked from the 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8, bringing the total up to 635hp (making it, in fairness, the most powerful BMW in history at the time), while 70kg was ejected courtesy of a carbon fibre-reinforced plastic bonnet, four carbon bucket seats, ceramic brakes and some very tasty, gold-finished forged aluminium wheels. Finally, the damping was adjusted to accommodate for the relatively minimal change in weight and the ride height lowered by 7mm, plus a handful of cosmetic changes such as a gold grille and new Frozen Deep Green metallic paint, as seen on the car we have here.

While that may sound insignificant, those little tweaks and upgrades turned a humungous four-door saloon into one of the best M cars ever. Where the Competition’s steering felt a touch numb and isolated, the CS’s was brimming with texture and felt keener to turn-in. A returned exhaust brought a good deal more aggression, an area sorely lacking on the Comp, but the retuned suspension and likely the drop in weight were the most significant upgrades of all. It was still firm, yes, but it was notably more composed than the Comp in Comfort mode. And while the extra grunt was imperceptible, the M5 was hardly short on grunt in the first place.

That’s just my take, anyway, but the sign of a truly exceptional car is when journalists put their money where their mouth is and bag one for themselves. In this case, it was none other than PH alumnus Chris Harris, who bought this very car after a putting together a particularly gushy review on it for TG. He picked the best colour, to my eyes at least, and enjoyed it for just over 11,000 miles before passing it on to its next owner in 2023. Harris was so enamoured with the CS (and who can blame him?) that he scribbled 'I shouldn’t have sold it - part 2' with his signature underneath the bonnet. 'Part 1' must be his old 993 GT2, surely.

Anyway, it’s covered another 3,000 miles since Harris parted ways with it, and now it’s looking for a new owner to up the tally. It’s all yours for £124,950, which is £15k down on what it originally went for back in 2021, but that’s nothing by four-door performance car standards. However, if all you want is a green F90 M5 then there’s this 2023 Comp for £73,500. More than £50k than the CS, sure, but one’s a very good M car, the other an all-time great.

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