So I'm pretty smitten with the GLI. It's a great car that makes me look forward to driving it, every time. You might say it fills me with glee. With that in mind, I couldn't think of a more appropriate license plate:
Monday, December 27, 2021
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
How far we've come
I recently rolled 12,000 miles on the GLI and have been giving quite a bit of thought as to how fundamentally good of a car it is. My mind wandered back to my teenage years, and to The Car that started my obsession with factory sleepers.
It was 1987, and my favorite car magazine did a review of the BMW M5. This picture! While looking like a pretty ordinary BMW 5-series with chunkier wheels, tires, and a discreet spoiler, this picture really lit my fire. I daydreamed about what it must feel like to momentarily fly over the top of a hill in a car that flies under the visual radar to all but the car-crazed.
Now, for the past year and a half, I've really enjoyed driving the GLI. It's a daily delight, and I'm continually impressed by how competent it is. I also like its subtle aggression:
Hmmm...it kind of reminds me of something:
Factory sleeper. Subtle differentiation. Decklid spoiler. Looking at them side-by-side, one of the things that strikes me are how tall the cabin is on the M5 compared with the GLI, as well as the comparatively long overhangs.
My mind started wandering as I was driving one day about how the GLI compares to the original M5 from a performance perspective. I imagined it would be pretty close. But how close?
I took C/D's stats for the '87 M5 and compared them with the stats for the '19 GLI. While you can go off and compare for yourself, I took the liberty of pulling out some of the key specifications:
Dimensionally, the cars are pretty similar. While considerably shorter overall, the GLI has a longer wheelbase. It's a bit wider and shorter as well. Passenger volume is up significantly, and the two cars have equivalent trunk volumes.
The M5 was all about the engine. The GLI gives up 28 hp and makes 15 more torque. However, there's no comparing the sound of a naturally aspirated 6 compared with a turbo 4. Just no difference. I'll take the music of the 6 over the blown 4 any day.
Despite the power deficit, the GLI weighs almost 330 pounds less than the M5. Dropping weight makes everything better, and that proves out in the acceleration numbers. All numbers here are comparing the manual M5 with the manual GLI. While the GLI does the quarter 0.2 seconds faster than the M5, it's is moving 7 mph faster. After there, the GLI just keeps pulling. The C/D data shows the M5 going to 110 in 23.2 while the GLI hits 120 in 20.7, so the gap just keeps widening.
The weight advantage also plays out in braking, and modern rubber certainly contributes to the roadholding difference.
The thing that is stunning but not surprising is the difference in fuel economy. 10 mpg better across the board. That underscores what's impressed me consistently since getting into the GLI, as I frequently get over 36 mpg on the highway. When driven sedately, the GLI sips fuel, and the abundance of torque makes short-shifting easy, proving that while you may buy horsepower, you mostly drive torque. I regularly find myself tooling around town in 4th gear.
Now let's consider the pricing. In 1987, the C/D M5 had an as-tested price of $48,470. In 2021 dollars, that comes out to a bit over $118K. Considering that C/D's 2019 M5 Competition had an as-tested price of $130K, that's pretty consistent. Of course, the modern M5 is an entirely different beast, weighing over 4200 pounds with over 600 hp and a quarter time of 10.9 at 130 mph. That's moving. It needs a shade over 15 seconds to hit 150 mph. That's seriously quick.
Meanwhile, the GLI come in around $30K. Considering that its performance is comparable to the original M5 for about 25% of the price, I feel like it's a pretty remarkable value. The GLI performs better, weighs less while carrying more safety gear (airbags, blind spot sensors), has more usable space, and gets significantly better mileage.
The fact that a "people's car" is so capable demonstrates just how far we've come and how good modern cars are.
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