only thing that the US model doesn't come with is the launch mode feature


http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/05/15/bmw_m5/index.html

For those not up on Bavarian evolution, the M5 is simply BMW's popular 5-Series sedan writ large. Outwardly, the first three generations of M5s looked the same as the lesser 5s. (The only hints of their supercar status were a tiny badge on the trunk and a pair of odd-looking air vents on the side.) Such stealthiness was by design: Though they resembled sedate city runabouts, these pre-2006 M5s had enough juice - 400 horsepower - to blast the doors off almost any sedan on the market.

For a speed racer looking to fly beneath the radar, it was the perfect car. Which, of course, is why BMW decided to change it, most notably by adding a magical button that, when pushed, adds yet another 100 horses to the engine. Simply depress and, voila, you've hit the 500-horsepower threshold, and can now smoke a Ferrari Scaglietti.

The root of all this temptation is a 5.0-liter V-10 evolved from BMW's Formula One vehicles, a power plant that won the highly coveted (seriously) International Engine of the Year award. It is indeed a technological wonder, carved from lightweight alloys and boasting individual throttle butterflies that let the fourth-generation M5 zip around in slightly harnessed mode - allowing for better gas mileage and civilized comportment - before some button-pushing fool unleashes its uberdemons, which can rocket the M5 past 190 mph. I, of course, am one such fool.

San Fran to Sacramento is an 87-mile drive and, by all rights, should take some 90 minutes. I had about an hour, the first five minutes of which I spent puzzling out how the damn car worked. The M5's suspension, gearing, traction, and horsepower can be configured in 279 different ways, a confusing cornucopia that forces the driver to choose between paddle, center stick, or automatic shifting, 400 or 500 horses, comfort or sport ride, and so on.

 

it comes with the launch mode. hold the SMG shifter foward in first gear, hold the gas to the floor and release the shifter. BOOM...launch mode.

 

"This wealth of variables is nice, but it doesn't allow for a fast getaway should you need to make one. In fact, when the M5 was adapted for the U.S. market, BMW stripped away the one feature I most desired at that moment: "launch mode," wherein you press the gearshift forward, allow the engine to rev to 7,000 rpm or so, and release the gear ****. Bam.

Absent that handy feature, I set forth the old-fashioned way, by tapping a series of lighted buttons that surround the shifter until I found the proper level of power, comfort, and traction control. (Did I mention it was raining?) That the interior of the M5, like all BMWs, was deftly executed - with restrained use of leathery, metally, and burly surfaces - goes without saying."

 

straight outta the E60 M5 training manual.

 

another one...

 

what, do you work to BMW or something......
https://www.rx8club.com/lounge-4/expert-volunteers-needed-89982/
oh..... you do, sorry.



can i reserve a test drive JUST to make sure?

 

LOL.... well obviously they are talking about the euro e46 m3 when they say its been carried over.... haha jk. Most test drive shows do say that the feature isn't on us spec models though. If I remember hamman or something (I dont know much about bimmers) has some ecu reflash or the like that give you 600hp when you press the magic button.