BMW M5 Saloon

It's mad. It's bad. And it's got a heads-up display. Say hello to the M5 Beemer...

It's one of life's ironies that just when you can afford the road-ripping sports car you always wanted, you find yourself with a red setter and two kids that just won't fit into a six-inch parcel shelf - no matter how tightly you pack 'em. Well, now you can leave the bungee cords at home, because BMW's ever-so-efficient designers have delivered the impossible - a luxurious saloon with more poke than a Ferrari full of snooker cues and enough velocity-enhancing technology to permanently traumatise your other half.

At the heart of the new M5 is a five-litre, V10 power plant that can generate a knee-trembling 507bhp, sufficient to propel the lightweight aluminium bodyshell from 0 to 62mph in just 4.7 seconds. The seven-speed gearbox gives you fingertip-controlled, F1-style semi-automatic changes on the steering wheel, with a choice of 11 different programs to suit your driving style, from soccer mom to Jenson Button.

You can monitor speed, revs and navigation info on a heads-up display unit, or simply rely on the built-in satnav to steer you past traffic jams. And with the optional Online package, the missus can be checking her emails at the same time.

Let the M5 cut loose on twisty roads and its Electronic Damper Control, Dynamic Stability Control and M Diff Lock systems fight it out to keep you stuck to the tarmac like week-old chewing gum. And for sheer attention to detail, you can't beat Adaptive Headlights that monitor the angle of the front wheels and rotate the ultra-bright xenon beams to illuminate the road ahead.

In fact, activate the auto-everything iDrive system and you could even let the dog have a turn behind the wheel, while you settle back into the Merino leather upholstery, adjust your individual climate-control setting and enjoy a quick snooze. Suddenly, ferrying around a family doesn't seem like such a bad idea after all.