SHOULD WE be surprised that the long-awaited successor to the elegant and iconic BMWM1 supercar of the 1970s is a gigantic and obscenely powerful SUV? Not really. Love them or hate them, SUVs are what people are buying in 2023, so who can blame BMW for wanting a bigger slice of the ‘super SUV’ pie? It’s clearly a lucrative segment and one bursting with other eye-catching rivals like the Lamborghini Urus, Aston Martin DBX, Porsche Cayenne, Mercedes-Benz G-Class and the Bentley Bentayga.
No, what’s more surprising about the new BMW XM is that it’s not terribly convincing. That in itself is odd.
BMW M is on a roll at the moment. The new M2 is brilliant, the M5 CS is a future classic, and the the M3 and M5 Tourings are quickly shouldering Audi out of the way to become the best all-weather, everyday performance cars on sale. But the XM? It’s a rare swing and a miss from BMW’s lauded motorsport division which, given it’s only the second ever dedicated M model, is a real shock.
So where does it fall short? And are those weaknesses enough to stop us recommending the XM over its horde of high-performance rivals?
It is, by some margin, the most expensive BMW you can buy. It costs $302,200 before on-roads, making it $74,300 and $68,300 more expensive than BMW’s existing super SUVs, the X5M and
