Much has been said about the polarising styling of the BMW XM, but does the petrol-electric hybrid SUV deliver a driving experience that’s impressive enough to silence the critics? Ciro De Siena travelled to Arizona to drive the newcomer!
What is the XM? It’s the first completely bespoke M car since the M1: a plug-in hybrid SUV with all-wheel drive, powered by the twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 of the M5 super sedan, which is mated with a 145-kW electric motor that is built into the 8-speed automatic transmission.
Now I can almost hear what some of you are thinking: “How did the BMW M division go from making a car like the M1 (the Giugiaro-designed supercar, of which 453 units were produced from 1978 to 1981) to a vehicle like the XM?”
Well, it’s fair to say that the world has changed significantly since the M1 came out in the late Seventies and, while car companies must obviously keep up with the times if they want to stay in business, I do feel like BMW set out to make something rather special here.
For starters, the XM is more powerful than a Lamborghini Urus! In North American parlance, it has 653 horsepower (480 kW) and 800 Nm of torque and this Heffalump is said to blitz from 0 to 100 kph in 4.3 seconds, which is the same time quoted for the new M2 manual.
So, yeah, it’s VERY quick, but being fast is not enough for BMW. The M Division wants to ensure that its cars are highly dynamic; that’s why it devised a launch route in the Arizona mountains – so that we can get a feeling for what the XM is like through the twisties.
So then, what’s the new BMW XM like to drive?
I was immediately impressed with the multitude of experiences that the XM can offer its pilot. For example, you can press the M hybrid button (this is the first car to ever have an M hybrid button) and what it does is lock the vehicle into electric mode – BMW claims that you can travel up to a maximum of 90 km (all the way up to 140 kph) in pure electric mode.
In other words, you get the EV experience (in a way, a sort of spaceship experience) and then, along with the electric mode, you hear very cool Hans Zimmer “iconic sounds” that grow in intensity as you accelerate… It doesn’t necessarily get louder, just sort of more intense. It’s tricky to describe, but the effect is very clever; Mr Zimmer is a really smart guy.
And then you can switch the BMW XM into hybrid mode and get the full benefits of the drivetrain (the electric motor, the twin-turbocharged 4.4-litre V8 and its 8-speed ‘box) and, when cruising around town, you discern just a little whiff (or faint taste) of that V8 combined with the Hans Zimmer sci-fi audio effects. All in all, it’s a fascinating aural experience.
So, the BMW XM can be a comfortable performance SUV, a comfortable “EV” and you can plug it in to maximise its electric range. Of course, it can also regenerate energy – in fact, the BMW’s indicated range actually went up while I was driving it (sedately) in hybrid mode – the full electric range, that is. Clearly, this is a very broad-spectrum car with many talents.
I don’t see why you couldn’t daily this car if you wanted something that really really stood out, but this is an M car at the end of the day, there are 2 M buttons on the steering wheel (M1 and M2, in bright red) and carbon-fibre shift paddles.
Does the BMW XM perform like an M car?
Suffice it to say, when I got the rare opportunity to unleash all 480 of the BMW’s kilowatts, I was instantly thrown back in the driver’s seat. The BMW XM may be a heavy car (it tips the scales at just under 2.8 tonnes), but it positively hurtles towards the horizon.
You really can feel the electric motor filling in that initial hole in the torque that you might expect from an engine with large turbos. You really do get virtually linear power delivery out of this drivetrain, which is amazing – that’s like the Holy Grail of what BMW does (linear power delivery) and it’s managed to integrate that into a giant all-wheel-drive hybrid SUV.
The Lamborghini Urus has 650 horsepower. This has 653, so I imagine the M Division’s big wigs said: “Oh gents, just um, turn up the wick a little to get those extra three in there.”
But how about this? BMW wasn’t satisfied with building the world’s most powerful SUV. It has made a more powerful one. It’s called the Label Red, which will be coming to Mzansi.
Not the Red Label (that’s what I called it earlier by mistake, but was swiftly corrected), it is the Label Red and, just for fun, it has another 70 kW and an extra 200 Nm. You’re looking at 550 kW and 1 000 Newton meters in that car (with some extra red bits on the outside).
Meanwhile, the BMW XM’s suspension setup feels better than that of the other bonkers SUV the Munich-based brand makes – the X6 M (quite possibly my least favourite BMW). In that car, the suspension never feels quite happy about itself; it never feels quite settled; you get this sort of weird weight-shifting mid-corner, which doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.
But the XM is completely different. While I drove it, I felt I knew exactly what each of its tyres was doing. In a way, the XM’s driving experience is more akin to that of an M5 than an X6 M… It just seems significantly more settled and much more planted than the latter; I felt like I could explore its limits with confidence – that’s the mark of a great luxury sportscar.
What about the XM’s interior?
BMW has also done a fine job of making the XM’s cabin shrink around the driver; this is a sizeable vehicle – when you’re behind the ‘wheel, the A-pillar on the front passenger’s side feels like it’s very far away from you, but the centre console is quite wide and the curve of the armrest sort of comes out towards you. As for the aft accommodation, there really is an enormous amount of occupant space at the back – it’s a big highlight of the cabin layout.
The front seats are decidedly sporty. Even though they offer massage functions (among other things), they’re neither as shapely, nor as bolstered, as those you get in an M4 coupe, for example, but the driver sits in more of a bucket seat than a plush luxury-GT chair. The steering wheel is an M ‘wheel that’s been transplanted from an M4, M5 or indeed, X6 M.
Overall, it’s amazing how the XM’s cockpit seems to match the multitude of talents that the model offers. When you’re cruising around in BMW’s newcomer, it’s a big, comfortable cruiser and when you’re having a bit of fun on a twisty road, it feels like a snug sportscar.
Summary
Considering that the BMW XM’s starting price is R3.4 million, BMW South Africa is unlikely to sell many units of this model (how much stock it will be allocated is another story), but when you see one, you will turn to look at it – it really is an attention-grabbing machine.
Yes, the design is divisive, but BMW probably did that on purpose. The Bavarian brand wants you to look at the XM no matter what and it accomplished its mission in that regard.
But for your 3 and a half million Rand, you will get a car that offers exemplary rear-passenger comfort, notable driver engagement and the complete “sports luxury barge” experience that would get if you bought an M5, but in a massive SUV package, which is obviously very desirable – this is the kind of car that opulent buyers want these days.
The XM is a lot of car. It’s many different cars in one – and that’s what I like most about it.
