What has become of BMW’s M GmbH, you might ask. The first car to be built independently since the legendary BMW M1 is not a sports car, but a bling-bling bolide in monster format with a plug-in hybrid drive: the BMW XM. But it’s not as wrong as die-hard BMW M fans might think.
Just look at the competitors they are targeting in Munich: Lamborghini Urus and AMG-G-Class. Since a BMW X5 M is simply too casual, the clientele in China, the USA and the Middle East demands more chic. One could also say Chichi. Appropriately ostentatious he comes along, the BMW XM. Gold-colored accents including an attached bar that runs along the side and ends in a kind of doubled Hofmeisterkink. There are other colors instead of gold, as long as it’s black. Everything looks powerful, the front has huge kidneys that can be illuminated. The main headlights are hidden behind tinted glass, only the daytime running lights are noticeable. The rear window, which is darkened to the maximum extent, is frameless like an iPhone front, with BMW logos engraved in the upper corners. It is amazing how much attention to detail they have designed this Trumm car. Small monuments are the three-dimensional rear lights – only the three glowing claw marks, which are reminiscent of Peugeot lights, seem a bit unusual there, but are actually a homage to the slatted rear of the BMW X1 .Leather, carbon – and the iDrive controllerIn the interior, current BMW chic, including a 12.3-plus-14.3-inch curved display, meets a combination of standard leather and the same type of carbon (e.g. on surfaces and shift paddles). In the center console is an automatic gear selector next to the iDrive controller (thank God!) and a row of buttons with which you can select driving modes and set-up settings, among other things. Optionally, many surfaces are covered with brown, so-called vintage leather , which in the case of the test car forms a contrast to the white, classically elegant leather. The architecture and thus the 3.11 meter long wheelbase comes from the BMW X7, but the legroom in the second row of seats, known as the “M Lounge”, is noticeably larger. The reason: Since no seven-seater version is offered, the rear seat could be pushed further back. The rear seat backrests were pulled around the corner to the door cutout, so you can lean very comfortably in the corner and turn to your passengers (or other passengers). The sky is embossed with three-dimensional prisms and is illuminated all around by 100 LEDs in fiber optics. Color: everything except black. The trunk holds 527 to 1820 liters. Since the tank and the technology for the 48-volt roll stabilization are under the floor, there is no integrated option for stowing the charging cable. That’s why there is an elegant, small travel bag in which you can conveniently stow a wet cable without getting anything dirty.Sport + comfort = comsport?The chassis comes essentially from the BMW X5 M, but has been refined because BMW and M wanted to realize a special comfort. Jens Leopoldsberger, responsible for driving dynamics, had previously worked on the Cullinan at Rolls-Royce, so he knows how comfortable it is and how much of it would be too much on the XM. In terms of equipment, everything is in there that you could wish for and corresponds to the character of the vehicle: the roll stabilization already mentioned successfully braces itself against any side inclination, the adaptive chassis distinguishes finely between gliding and ambitious robbers. The fact that the test car takes small bumps in the road rather roughly is probably due to the optional 23-inch wheels (21-inch series). There was no air suspension – it would have either taken the serious sportiness out of the car or the air springs would have been so large because of the required spring rates advised that they do not fit into the car in terms of space. Rear-wheel steering is also standard. Here the feat has been achieved that on the one hand the steering by up to 2.5 degrees is not noticeable and therefore the driving behavior feels absolutely natural at all times, but on the other hand the XM still gains extreme agility. Part of the trick is that the rear-axle steering doesn’t respond at all over a wide speed range. You don’t notice the XM’s length of 5.11 meters, which is quite sprawling, nor its wheelbase, nor its 2710 kilograms (measured without driver) dead weight. He is of a striking liveliness and looseness that one would hardly believe from the outside. It flexes willingly without seeming jittery and shines through its lack of understeer until you really dig into a tight corner too fast. But even then he is easy to control, is good-natured as well as heartily angry. In curves, the wide track (front 1.73 meters, rear 1.69 meters, total width 2.01 meters) does him good. When you accelerate powerfully, you thank him for the electronically controlled locking differential on the rear axle. All-wheel drive is also standard. It cannot be switched off, but in addition to the normal mode, it offers a sporty mode with an emphasis on the rear axle and a special mode for sand dunes.PHEV drive with a trickThe heart of the plug-in hybrid drive is a 4.4-liter biturbo V8 that 489 hp and provides 650 Nm. It sends its power to the eight-speed automatic, where the electric motor is already waiting to contribute up to 145 kW/197 hp and 280 Nm. It can also provide propulsion on its own up to a speed of 140. A pre-transmission increases its available torque to 450 Nm. A maximum of 653 hp and a system torque of 800 Nm are available. The acceleration is corresponding: in 4.3 seconds it goes from a standstill to 100 km/h, ten seconds later 200 km/h are reached. The top speed can be increased from 250 to 270 km/h for an extra charge (M Driver’s Package with driving safety training). The sound is tame to brutal, depending on the setting of the flap exhaust system and the engine sound played via the loudspeakers. The battery under the rear seat has a net capacity of 25 .7 kilowatt hours and allows a purely electric range of 82 to 88 kilometers. It is charged externally with a maximum of 7.4 kW alternating current. Thanks to e-support, the total fuel consumption is given as 1.6 to 1.4 l/100 km. In reality – if you don’t keep recharging – a significantly higher consumption can be expected, with which you can empty the relatively small 69 liter tank quite quickly. A detailed test on local roads will show how fast. Thanks to the NoVA exemption, the basic price of 171,500 euros is cheap by Austrian standards in view of the sheer mass and performance (and the extensive standard equipment). There will be a lookup in the fall with the BMW XM Label Red, whose V8 then delivers 585 hp. System output: 748 hp, system torque: 1000 Nm.FahrzitThe BMW XM is an amazing car because, despite its size and mass, it is unusually agile to drive. But it is also unusual that M GmbH is the first vehicle since the M1 to put this monster on its wheels. However, it is comforting that the new BMW M2, which promises maximum driving pleasure in a normal size, is coming onto the market almost at the same time. Even with a classic manual transmission. The XM will polarize in Europe, but that doesn’t matter to the decision-makers in Munich – as long as the cash register is right. And it probably will…Why?Because it drives amazingly wellBecause it will hit the markets it’s destined forWhy not?Because it doesn’t fit Or maybe…… Lamborghini Urus, AMG G-Class
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