One of the biggest complaints about the stock M5 is its lack of aural ecstacy; it doesn't sound very good, especially at low speed. However, Hartge's taken care of that with its own intake and exhaust system. It's added a soundtrack to the car that's utterly infectious.
We undoubtedly burned gallons of gas by simply holding the V10 in lower gears, so we could hear it bellow every time we stomped on it. The motor sounds more like a Lambo Gallardo than even the Gallardo does - raucous, raw and addictive; think of a Lambo with open pipes.
Add Hartge's own software and bigger injectors, and the German tuner claims an additional 50hp over the 500 quoted by BMW. Flat-out, with my foot buried in the carpet, it was hard to determine whether this was the fastest 550hp I'd ever experienced. It certainly gained speed very efficiently. Hartge claims 4.3sec to 60mph and a top speed of about 200mph. It's helped by being 500 lb lighter than the M5, so should leave the M5 eating dust. It should leave anything eating dust, come to that...
The car hooked up so well, there was none of the drama you'd expect from 550hp. With super-wide 295/25-20 Continentals squeezed under the rear fenders, they almost never broke traction.
With a $200,000 insurance value and a $10,000 deductible, we were loathed to switch off the traction control. The excitement we missed was compensated by having peace of mind; nobody wanted to phone Will Turner, tell him the H50 was in a ditch with a pole-shaped dent, and could he come collect it?
The owner of the car lives in Maryland and had apparently thought about using the E92 Coupe body, but instead preferred the understated E90 sedan. He even rejected niceties like navigation; instead, he bought a regular 325i, then stumped up the additional $100,000 for the conversion. Currently, he owns the only Hartge H50 V10 in the USA, and one of only three in existence; the other two belonging to Hartge.
Visually, the car strikes a nice balance. The owner rejected the two-tone paint job and vented hood of the Essen show car. It simply wears Hartge's front lip and trunk spoilers, as well as 20" Hartge wheels.
All these parts are available for a regular 3-Series. Where the H50 differs is the front fenders, which feature deep scallops that seem to be cut into the stock fender and then folded.
The interior is equally cool: swathed in black leather and adorned in carbon trim, it was instantly appealing. Its cleverness was initially overlooked because Hartge predominantly used OEM parts. The gear selector, for instance, is stock M5, as are the paddle shifters behind the Hartge steering wheel. The only thing that looked out of place was the black screen to the right of the instrument binnacle.
Press the ignition button and the screen comes to life: red digits flicker through a test cycle before finally displaying your gear, oil temp and shift speed. Now, hit the start button a second time to fire the engine.
Snick the gear selector down and right, and you're in Sports-Auto mode. Push it again and you have it in fully-manual mode. Reach down and ramp up the gear shift speed, then hit the power button so the H50's entire 550hp can come out to play.
Even when stationary, the motor has a menacing rumble that intimidates you from simply driving off. You have to push down surprisingly far on the throttle to get the electronics to engage. And as you start moving, there's a resistance. Yet the rising noise means you don't want to make a mistake; everybody's watching and waiting for you to screw up.
Pull yourself together; the car was built for speed. Mash the throttle and it pounces forward so abruptly that you again freeze. The accompanying riot from the exhaust means you're momentarily paralyzed, forgetting to shift up. And everybody can hear your ineptitude.