A giant birthday cake: BMW XM

Why? This was my first question when I first saw the BMW XM. To understand the existence of this car, we need to look beyond the surface a little.

BMW established BMW Motorsport GmbH (later known as BMW M GmbH) in 1972, and it has since become fully integrated into the parent company. It was initially created to facilitate BMW's racing program, which was very successful in the 1960s and 1970s. As time passed, BMW M began to supplement BMW's vehicle portfolio with specially modified higher trim models, for which they are now most known by the general public.

The XM is the second car developed entirely by BMW M after the famous BMW M1 in 1978, and was created for the 50th anniversary of the department, was introduced in 2022. In my interpretation this is a gigantic birthday cake into which BMW has poured everything it is capable of today, and that’s quite a lot!

First, what drives it: a combination of a 4.4 liter V8 petrol engine (489 HP in this version), and a 197 HP electric engine installed to the 8-speed gearbox results a 637 HP plug-in hybrid system. Perhaps you’ve noticed that in my reviews I don’t care about how fast the car accelerates or what its top speed is. In my opinion, for an EV or an electrified vehicle this isn’t crucial - they are quicker than at least 90% of the vehicles on the road. However, for this particular model I’ll make an exception for understandable reasons: it accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.3 seconds, and its top speed is 270 km/h.

Second, the interior: the XM feels like a rolling lounge rather a big SUV. Plenty of space front and rear (wheelbase 3105 mm), luxurious comfort, and concert-hall quality Bower & Wilkins hi-fi system. BMW also put into the XM everything they could regarding safety and technical equipment, the list is almost endless.

What reminds you that it's not a luxury car but a real M vehicle is the suspension. The 23" wheels (which are fitted with 275/35 tires at the front and 315/30 at the rear) with a relative hard setup generate some noise and give you a bumpy ride unless the road is very smooth.

Some fun facts:

• the size of the battery (25.7 kWh net) is approximately similar to or larger than that of the first high-volume fully electric cars, such as the early Nissan Leaf or the a?first generation of the in-house BMW i3.
• its weight is more than twice of the previously mentioned i3.
• BMW entered a gentlemen's agreement with French carmaker Citro?n in order to be able to use the name "XM" for its vehicle, since Citro?n originally used it for their XM executive car.

Despite its enormous dimensions, the XM is easy to drive. Surprisingly the electric range is more than the standard (WLTP) value (77 km), it was easy to drive more than 80 kms in EV mode. After a motorway trip I checked the consumption which looked good at a first glance: 7 liters and 20 kWh for 100 kms. The only problem that it was and and not or: this is the price of the huge body and weight.

The plug-in hybrid dilemma: according to new real-world driving data from the European Commission, plug-in hybrids produce roughly 3.5 times the emissions official estimates suggest. The difference is largely linked to driver habits: people tend to charge plug-in hybrids and drive them in electric mode less than expected. In addition, prices of plug-in hybrids have reached BEVs in most cases, especially on TCO basis. Therefore, except for a few special cases, plug-in hybrids are doomed in my opinion.

AC charging is possible with 7.4 kW power, and easy to follow in the BMW app. What is a bit strange, that the XM has dozens of electric motors for windows, mirrors, seats etc., but the cover of the charging port needs to be opened and closed manually.

Parking is a real challenge with this giant. A standard parking lot is 5 meters long and 2.5 meters wide. With the parking assistant it's easy to stop the car between the lines, but opening the door and get out and in is a different story. Fortunately, most EV chargers have large parking spaces.

I recommend this car for ones who are BMW-freaks and collectors. There is no rational argument in favor of the XM, but that was not the intention here. BMW M showed what they can do, happy 50th birthday!

Next week we'll be back to normality with a German BEV, check back if you liked it.

Previous reviews:

#1 Hyundai IONIQ 5

#2 Hyundai IONIQ 6

Sources of graphs and charts: [1] www.carsized.com

Disclaimer: opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer and are not supported by any OEMs.