There aren’t many V10 powered vehicles on the road and any time we get to see a V10 car it’s cause for celebration. One of the best examples of a sports car with a 10-cylinder engine is the E63-generation BMW M6 – a car that shares hardware with the M5 E60. Yes, for those living outside the United States, the M6 and M5 are sold only with a polarized SMG-III manual gearbox but that doesn’t spoil the fun at all.
The video you see at the top of this page is from AutoTopNL. These people are professional Autobahn drivers – if such a thing exists – and know very well which parts of German highways have no speed limits. The footage takes us inside a BMW M6 from the E63 generation – but it’s not a stock example.
We don’t know all the modifications that have been made to this Bavarian coupe, but we do know for a fact that it has an exhaust system adapted to a straight-pipe setup. This means a bit more power and a louder exhaust tone. You can hear it even from inside and we have to admit that this is probably one of the best sounding cars we’ve heard in recent times.
The acceleration is equally impressive. Speeds of around 124 miles per hour (200 kilometers per hour) upwards are easy work for a fast coupe and even getting to nearly 186 mph (300 kph) seems almost effortless. The engine temperature gauge remained frozen the entire run and the only thing that seemed a bit concerning was the fuel exhaust rate.
However, this should come as no surprise. The 5.0-liter V10 under the hood was never designed for efficiency. In contrast, the factory S85 offered high performance levels of up to 500 horsepower (373 kilowatts) available with the more powerful P500 engine modes. From the factory, top speed is electronically limited to 155 mph (250 kph) or 190 mph (305 kph) with the optional M-driver package. This particular vehicle has the package installed or modified with the speed limiter removed.
