AN M FOR 007 (some text hidden) --NONE--

By Jonathan Crouch

The BMW XM is a very special prospect. Jonathan Crouch takes a look at what's on offer.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 52

There's never been a BMW quite like the XM, an extreme SUV mix of performance, luxury and in-your-face street presence. And because its 4.4-litre petrol V8 is also a Plug-in Hybrid, there's even an element of eco-efficiency built into. An M car for a new era? That's about the size of it.

Backgroundword count: 212

Quite a few people's wish list for the ultimate car might well sound read something like this; the power and handling of an uber-fast high performance motorsport-developed BMW M sports car; space for the family with limo-like luxury in the back; a Plug-in Hybrid powertrain so you can do all your commuting and more without troubling fossil fuel; and stand-out looks that will see the neighbours doing a double take. It sounds like an impossible combination. It isn't. Welcome to the BMW XM. It's the BMW M division's very first electrified car and only its second ever completely bespoke product (the first was the M1 supercar back in 1978). And it's aimed right into the heart of the exclusive market for extreme, frantically fast big SUVs with lottery-level price tags. Size-wise, think BMW X7, though in this case with just two seating rows. We might have expected the Munich maker to address this segment with an M version of the X7, but that wouldn't have been very exclusive. This XM very definitely is. Think of it as an X8 if you like; it runs down the same US Spartenburg production line as the brand's other large X models, but this one is far more potent and - potentially - far more desirable.

Driving Experienceword count: 270

There's not much that's familiar about the XM, but a likely customer with an existing stable of very fast BMWs may already have one with this car's 4.4-litre V8 twin turbo powerplant beneath the bonnet. The version of that engine used here though, is rather different, paired with a 194hp electric motor to deliver 476hp in base 50e guise, 644hp in mid-level form, or 748hp in top 'Label Red' guise, the latter the most powerful non-electric SUV on the market. Even the mid-level version is shatteringly fast, making 62mph in only 4.3s en route to 155mph. It's 3.8s with the 'Label Red' version. And when you don't need to show the world how fast your XM can go, there's an 'EV' mode that can take you up to 52 miles without troubling the engine, courtesy of a 25.7kWh battery mounted beneath the floor. In theory, the car can be driven under electric power alone at speeds of up to 87mph. It's 4WD of course, power split between both axles by an electronic multiplate clutch, which in the engine-only 'Sport' and 'Sport Plus' modes gives a classic BMW rear-driven bias. The rear axle differential splits torque between left and right rear wheels to tighten corner turn-in; and there are clever 48V-powered anti-roll bars to dial out cornering body roll. We mentioned drive modes; the other two are 'Hybrid' and 'Comfort', where the engine and electric motor are used in tandem, with the electric motor prioritised in 'Comfort'. There's adaptive damping of course, which varies through the available modes and is needed given that wheel sizes can be as large as 23-inches.

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