Bovensiepen 05 GT is a better-looking more powerful BMW M5 Touring
Prettier and punchier than a BMW M5. Just don’t call it an Alpina B5
Bovensiepen is wasting no time in marking itself as the de facto name to take the place Alpina used to occupy, as it should given it’s the creation of the family that was behind Alpina. Its latest work, the 05 GT is a BMW M5 Touring with more power and a significantly classier face, penned by Frank Stephenson. A new Alpina B5 GT in all but name, then.
It’s no challenger to the E39 where Bavarian executive car elegance is concerned, but it’s a lot easier on the eye than the M5, from both the front and the back. Even the 21-inch wheels are less garish than any of the M5’s options.
There’s a decent amount going on under the skin too, with a boost in power up to 790bhp (from 717) and torque boosted to 811lb ft (up from 737). It also gets Eibach springs, a bespoke strut brace and modified support bearings. It’s claimed to get from 0-62mph in under 3.6sec on the way to a 190mph top speed, all in spite of its 2480kg kerb weight. One change Bovensiepen has made does aid in reducing weight. The Akrapovic exhaust in addition to improving the 05’s vocals, saves 7.8kg. Like chiselling a house brick off a pyramid.
Informing its £170,000+ price (yes really) is an uprated interior in terms of materials. The shift paddles are bespoke milled aluminium, while leather now coats everything from the seat panels to the trim around the cupholder and iDrive controller. The cabin leather is the highest quality Lavalina stock, coming from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and northern Italy. Customisation options are countless, too. They’ll even trim the boot fully in Alcantara, if you so desire, for maximum weekly shop bag traction.
> Best BMW M cars – the ultimate driving machines
The new BMW M5 Touring didn’t stick the landing with us, revealing itself to be more and more lead-footed as our months with it – and a few tests alongside more talented machinery – wore on. It’s huge, heavy and its myriad dynamic systems and the extensive calibration work BMW M did to refine them hasn’t succeeded in making the M5 a proper-riding, proper-driving super estate car in spite of its mass. Maybe the Bovensiepen 05 GT will make more sense…
