After the BMW M1, the XM is BMW M GmbH’s first completely own model. Just swallow or we will come back completely convinced after the driving test of the BMW XM.
Last year, BMW celebrated the 50th anniversary of BMW M Gmbh. And with a birthday comes a party, presents and a cake. Strangely enough, BMW M announced a whole bunch of cars for the party, but they didn’t really hit the road until much later. As if you have a party without cake, drinks, snacks and without streamers. In the Karssen house we call that: “not really a party”.
Back to the BMW XM, which you can characterize as follows: it is an extravagant Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV) with a plug-in hybrid powertrain. All the ingredients are there for success, but as enthusiasts we would have preferred to see a successor to the M1.
Large, extravagant Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV)
The BMW XM takes up quite a bit of space and to put it into perspective a comparison with the rest of the BMW X models is in order. King of the herd is (was) the BMW X7 in which six or seven occupants can find a reasonably spacious place and which is clearly one size larger than the X5. The XM is clearly also at the top of the range with a length of 5110, a width of 2005 and a height of 1755mm.
Quite large in terms of dimensions, but also the rims are. Standard is 21 inches, but the BMW XM of the driving test rolled on 23-inch pattas. Not so long ago we ridiculed tuners if they mounted rims above 20 inches, now it has become normal again.
Incidentally, you pay a price for those 23-inch jetsers: the XM is not uncomfortable, but the tires hit mega-hard on transverse ridges. White stripes – you can feel them all in the XM. It makes you fear the worst for thresholds and the like, but that’s where the BMW XM shows itself from a friendly side.
And yes the 23 inch tires are also expensive. Really very expensive. A short Google tour yields a starting price of over 500 euros at the tire stunter, the BMW dealer will probably ask a little more for it. A set of new tires therefore costs at least 2 mille and then they still have to be mounted.
A fierce design
The XM is not only big, it is also extravagant and definitely has an updated design. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but as long as body kits are screwed en masse to the Urus, Range Rover and RS6, there seems to be a market for this kind of excess. The Urban, ABT, Mansory, it’s not all tasteful, but apparently that doesn’t matter much.
BMW expects to sell the BMW XM mainly in the United States, China, the Middle East and South Korea. Those countries don’t have much in common, except that they like to buy big, eye-catching SUVs.
The headlights are split into two separate units and are positioned next to BMW kidney grilles trimmed in gold. Of course, the kidneys are illuminated and, of course, large air intakes are mounted in the front bumper.
The gold strip mounted on the side should remind you of the black strip that the BMW M1 also has. No, it doesn’t quite work for me either. The BMW logos have gone for a walk, they are now engraved in the corners of the rear window. Another reference to the BMW M1, but dear BMW had built a sports car with a mid-engine.
First BMW M Hybrid
And unfortunately, I also felt like a beta tester at times. The powertrain of the BMW XM was surprised three times during the driving test period and became seriously confused. The software that has to regulate the complex interplay between gearbox, electric motor and V8 sometimes doesn’t seem to understand it, especially if the road is not completely flat and / or slippery. I think it can also be solved with software, that’s how it is.
After this sour, the sweet: what a powerhouse. The XM is fast, really fast. The powertrain is also a first, as it is the first M Hybrid to go into series production. You can safely assume that the future M5 and M8 will get this powertrain, so get used to it.
The beating heart in the front is the 4.4 V8 with M TwinPower Turbo technology. The V8 alone is good for 498 hp and 650 Nm of torque. An electric motor that can deliver 197 hp / 280 Nm is also linked to this. The e-motor is integrated into an 8-speed M Steptronic automatic gearbox.
The total system power is 653 hp and the XM can release a maximum of 800 Nm of torque to the four wheels. Before you get too excited about the performance potential, the XM is big. And has an awful lot of technology on board, including that plug-in hybrid powertrain. So it’s a heavy bitch, really heavy. The EU weight is no less than 2785 kg. With a few more passengers and some luggage you will easily pass the 3 tons.
The XM is certainly not slow either, the 0-100 does the BMW supersav in 4.3 seconds. From standstill to 200 takes 14.3 counts. Both values are slightly slower than what an X5M (and X6M) achieves, let alone what an M5/M8 puts on the clock. The top speed is also somewhat modest, even with the optional M Driver’s Package, the XM is only allowed 270 km / h. As standard, the limiter puts an end to acceleration at 250 km/h.
Can you still drive a little electric with the XM?
Yes, the electric range is even 88 km. The battery pack has a capacity of 25.7 kWh, more than what the first generation BMW i3 had. Charging is only possible via a regular, slow AC charger with a maximum of 7.4 kW. It is also a single-phase charger, so you only get half of this at most charging stations. The top speed is 140 km/h in all-electric mode.
Steering, braking and the rest
“Some pigs are more equal than others”, is a quote that comes to mind. This is not about the appearance, but about the weight. According to BMW, the XM has a 50:50 weight distribution, which I definitely believe. The problem is that the battery pack is far back and you feel it anyway.
If you get it into your head to take a drift with the BMW XM, which I did for our extensive consumer test of course, you have to pay attention. Just like a Porsche 911 or a Frisian tail clock, things get some extra momentum because the lion’s share of the weight is at the end.
You can’t magically remove the weight, but the engineers at BMW M gmbh have done their best. For normal street use, the XM does not make a mud figure, although you have to take the weight into account in slippery conditions.
Price and conclusion
In terms of taxes, the PHEVs are still good news for the time being. Thanks to the lower CO2 emissions (on paper), the BPM is modest, for the XM only 1,066 euros have to be paid to this tax. A BMW XM is therefore available from 176,403 euros, the Label Red with 748 hp / 1000 Nm starts just above two tons.
After the driving test, the BMW XM leaves us in despair. Somewhere it’s just not all. The XM is too uncomfortable for a large SUV, too heavy for a sports car and the powertrain sometimes drops stitches. The XM is not the new M1, and will not achieve that iconic status.
Does that mean death in the pot: no. Both Porsche and Lamborghini sell more SUVs than sports cars. Commercially speaking, the BMW XM is therefore a good move, especially because it does really well for what it is intended to do: shock and stand out.
This article BMW XM – driving test and video of the monster appeared first on Autoblog.nl.
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