The 2009 BMW M5 is the high performance version of the BMW 5-Series. As you would expect from such a car, it's a looker with lots of power, designed to compete with such cars as the American made Cadillac CTS and the German made Audi S6. There are no major body style changes for the 2009 model year.

The M5 is propelled by a 5.0 liter, 500 horsepower gasoline powered V10 engine based on the BMW Formula 1 racing engine. There are two transmissions available. First is the seven-speed sequential manual transmission designed to shift far faster than most manual transmissions and, again, based on Formula 1 technology. Most drivers seem to think it's not quite adequate for highway driving, though. The second choice is a conventional six-speed manual with overdrive, which seems to be more popular.

Just as you expect looks and power on a luxury sports car, you shouldn't expect much in the way of fuel efficiency. And not much is just what the M5 delivers, at 17 miles per gallon on the highway and only 11 miles per gallon in the city. Power just isn't yet compatible with economy.

The M5 comes with lots of neat features, but none neater than the ability to choose from three levels of damping. With the flip of a switch, you go from comfort to normal to sport. Electronic steering assistance is based on your damper choice. Along with the damping, there are also three levels of engine/throttle response, several programmable settings for the sequential transmission and the ability to adjust the stability control settings.

The M5 is not the safest car on the road. It does get five star-ratings for driver and passenger side collisions and for front passenger crashes. But, only three stars for front driver crashes and four stars for rollovers. Though the crash ratings leave something to be desired, the M5 does have the LATCH system, automatic locking retractor, brake drying, impact sensor, antilock brakes and pretty much all the other top safety features, including two-stage smart airbags for the front seat.

The M5 is rear-wheel drive and comes in sedan only. There are no trims lines, as such. Although, as you would expect, the single trim available covers just about everything you could want on a car, right down to the illuminated shift lever.

All this fanciness is not cheap, and you wouldn't expect it to be. In truth, to get this car on the cheap would take some of the fun out of owning it. But don't worry about that, the base sticker price for the 2009 BMW M5 is $85,100. That's more than many pay for a starter home. Still, you do get what you pay for.