With an M badge, you expect fire and brimstone; hard-edged performance accompanied by a rock-n-roll soundtrack. And yet, the X5 M was quiet, calm and comfortable. It isolated me from the outside world like a 7 Series and the suspension was supple enough to not wake a baby kitten, even over the harshest of bumps. So there was a weird dichotomy between how the outside of the car looks; with its endless M badges, massive wheels and big brakes; and how the car actually drives in most normal conditions. And my test car was the Competition model. What was it competing with, a Rolls-Royce?
Monster Engine
Admittedly, there is a bit of Mr. Hyde to the X5 M’s Dr. Jekyll. All of its cushion and comfort only hides the power lurking below. Underneath that aggressive hood lies a 4.4 liter twin-turbocharged V8 with 617 horsepower and 553 lb-ft of torque. When connected to its ZF-sourced eight-speed auto and M-tuned xDrive all-wheel drive, the BMW X5 M Competition is capable of 0-60 mph in the low three second range. The X5 M could outrun a Ferrari 458 Italia to 60 mph, a fact that almost makes me uncomfortable.
After stomping the go-pedal in the X5 M, I was made very quickly aware of just how monstrous that engine can be. Despite weighing as much as a small asteroid, the X5 M pins you to the back of your seat like a supercar and never lets up. It just keeps pulling and pulling and pulling, well beyond 100 mph.
What’s more impressive than it’s speed, though, is its refinement. With 617 horsepower and the violent power delivery that it has, you’d expect the V8 to be coarse and unrefined at low speeds. Except it isn’t. It’s silky smooth, quiet when you want it to be and sports near-perfect throttle response. When paired with some of the very best gearbox calibration in the business, the X5 M Competition is not only able to scorch high-priced exotics in a straight line but it does so without ever sending a negative vibration through the cabin.
Comfortable Agility
Still the BMW X5 M Competition will dance if you ask it to. Its steering, while far slower than the steering in something like an M2, is surprisingly sharp. The wide front wheel track and massive 295-section front tires help to provide accurate and responsive turn-in. In fact, sometimes it can feel a bit too sharp for its own good. As capable as it is, it felt incredibly unnatural to me to throw something so big and so heavy into corners. However, once I re-calibrated my brain into trusting that the car wouldn’t let me down, the X5 M’s astounding grip kept surprising and impressing me.
A two-and-a-half ton SUV isn’t the sort of car you want to snake down a twisty road but, if such a road presents itself, the X5 M can absolutely do so. BMW M has worked magic to make such a big, heavy car handle so well. It doesn’t beg to be driven hard, like an M2 or even an M5 will, but it will absolutely deliver if you ask it to.