M5

Sardinia is big, and anyone who lives it — for work or for holiday — discovers that quickly: Olbia to Cagliari is nearly three hours by road, and whole afternoons disappear between a villa on the northern coast and dinner in the south. The M5 was born for exactly this: 727 hybrid horsepower, all-wheel drive and a level of comfort that shortens the SS131 like no other sports model in the fleet.

Then there is a detail worth double on the island: electric mode. You glide into Porto Rotondo or a residence at Chia in total silence, waking no one on the way back from a long evening; out on the open road, the V8 returns to its proper work. For collection on arrival, here is how delivery at Olbia airport works, from booking through to return.

The first metre is electric: the M5 steps off with an immediate fullness, waiting on no turbochargers. Then the 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 joins in with a baritone timbre — darker and deeper than the straight-sixes of the smaller M cars — and from there the two motors pull together: 0–100 km/h in 3.5 seconds arrives with an ease that feels almost unreal for a sedan of this stature.

M xDrive works by subtraction: it puts everything to the ground, even on sand-dusted asphalt or on days when the mistral blows, leaving the driver only the enjoyable part. The steering is more filtered than an M2's or an M4's, as it should be: this is a car for fast, composed kilometres, not for holding your breath between hairpins.

This generation marks a turning point: for the first time, the M5 pairs its V8 with an electric motor, reaching a combined output no production M5 had ever approached. There is nothing to manage: the electronics decide when to run electric, when hybrid, and when to deploy everything at once. The driver chooses only the tempo.

Within the range it sits at the summit of our luxury sedans for rent in Sardinia: five seats, a genuine boot, statesmanlike presence when required and supercar ferocity when the road allows. It is the car for those who refuse to choose between the journey and the arrival — and demand both at the highest level.