The E60 generation of the BMW M5 Touring has a cult following of its own thanks to packing a nice 5.0-liter non-turbo V10 under the hood. Unfortunately, it is the transmission that ruins the fun for many E60 drivers. One of them went as far as to swap his box for manual – and the result is amazing.
If you need context, the wagon shipped with an in-house automatic transmission called the SMG in all countries except USA. The gearbox was widely considered awful and very prone to breaking down. The tuner sourced many parts from the U.S. stick shift, but also used some of his own, custom parts in it.
As a result, the car drives and handles great with the five-liter V10 under the hood happily churning out its 507 PS (500 hp / 373 kW) and 520 Nm (384 lb-ft) of torque to the wheels. In fact, since the owner opted for a carbon-fiber air intake system, it might make more power than what it is rated for. Either way, the project is rather interesting and deserves watching the 11-minute video for.