![]() ![]() ![]() Not only is that impressive, it’s not a million miles away from the powerplant that will be used in BMW’s 2024 Le Mans racer. But the XM is a plug-in hybrid, and that V8 is working oily hand in electric glove with a 197hp electric motor, fed by a 25.7kWh battery, and when you combine the two halves of the powertrain, you get an explosive 653hp. Here in the XM, it develops 489hp, which doesn’t sound all that special. Up front is the same 4.4-litre, twin-turbo V8 engine that you’d find in the M5, and which will be further ramped up in power for the forthcoming all-new M5. Photograph: Paddy McGrathĪnd it really is high in performance. This behemoth – its kerb weight of 2.7 tonnes matches that of a 2003 Land Rover Discovery diesel – can hit 100km/h from rest in 4.3 seconds. Allow me to play, for a moment, the counsel for the XM’s defence. However, you can mount something of a defence for it. Show the XM to someone whose idea of a BMW M car is still the beyond-brilliant 1980s “E30″ M3 saloon and they’ll probably start foaming at the mouth. But with what? A light and lithe coupe? A new mid-engined sports car? A brawny high-performance saloon? No – clearly, BMW’s M-Sport equivalent of Auntie Rita who sends the bad presents was chairing the meeting that day, and so it was decided that M-Sports birthday present to itself was going to be this elephantine SUV. With last year having been the 50th anniversary of BMW’s justifiably-legendary M-Sport division, the company was clearly going to mark that big birthday. The XM is only the second car to be built only and solely by BMW’s M-Division. ![]() A life-size nude sculpture of your spouse, carved from cheese. A week’s hunting lions in the African veldt. Occasionally, for a “big” birthday, they might push the boat out and buy you something really big, really expensive, but really inappropriate. One present bought for you by a distant relative, a relative who doesn’t really know, understand, nor like you but who nonetheless feels duty bound to buy you something. Always one present in the pile under the Christmas tree, or that arrives in the post on your birthday. ![]()
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