Used 2020 BMW X5 M

BMW’s new 2020 X5 M, which goes on sale this spring, adds the heart, lungs and muscle of a thoroughbred sports sedan to the SUV form, resulting in a vehicle as practical as a midsize SUV, but also as fast and adhesive to the road as a top sports sedan.

The new X5 M ripples with 600 horsepower (617 with the Competition Package) and caps off the X5 SUV lineup that starts with the 335-horsepower X5 sDrive40i and X5 xDrive40i models, plus the 523-horsepower X5 xDrive50i.

The X5 M also comes bundled with all the latest active safety features, plus the performance hardware to thrill enthusiast drivers, like twin turbos, active anti-roll bars and multi-adjustable driving characteristics. It’s also spilling over with conveniences like Wi-Fi, making it an embarrassment of riches in automotive technology.

All that sport, luxury and speed come at a cost, though. Starting at $106,095, the X5 M is financially heavy metal. At well over a preliminary 5,200 pounds, it’s also heavy in a literal sense, plus thirsty, pulling down a combined city and highway fuel mileage figure of just 15 mpg.

The new X5 M squares off with the Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 with its 550 horsepower and Porsche’s 541-horsepower Cayenne Turbo. The X5 M begins at a base price of $106,095, with the Competition version tested here adding $9,000 to the total bill. With those numbers, this is no cheap grocery-getter, but neither is the Porsche Cayenne Turbo, at $127,850, nor the Mercedes-AMG GLE 63, at $104,045. (All pricing includes the manufacturers’ destination charges.)

As you hop in, fire up and get underway in the new X5 M, it starts off as a taut, high-precision, supportive driving partner replete with advanced technology and hi-res graphics from both the instrument cluster directly in front of you and the large center dash display.

Once acclimated to piloting the X5 M, you discover that it’s capable of catapulting you down the road like the WarWolf from Master James of St. George. But heavier. At well over 5,200 pounds, the new X5 M defies logic in how it can be tossed around curves like a gymnast and can accelerate like a dragster. Nothing weighing this much should be able to grip the road in turns, corner as flat and shoot down the open highway as rapidly.

Yes, the X5 M’s unique proposition in the ever-expanding pie chart of SUVs is supreme, omniscient high performance. But if that’s neither your yin, nor your yang, skip the M model. Any of the lesser-powered X5 models are quick enough for daily chores and even the occasional solo romp over sporty-car roads. They also have the added benefit of costing far less and riding the Interstate far more smoothly.

And even for those seeking the utmost performance, the X5 M never feels as communicative, as lithe, or as natural over fun roads as a sports car that weighs a nice, round 2,000 pounds less. However, if top performance in all your mechanical equipment is paramount, the new X5 M is your potential mount.

While on the numbers gambit, BMW claims the X5 M SUV will blast to 62 mph (100 km/h) in just 3.8 seconds, due to all-wheel drive that apportions power to the wheels that can make the most of it. (And that’s 3.7 seconds in the Competition model, though the concept of a 5,200-pound SUV wearing a “Competition” label seems a bit absurd.)

The X5 M Competition model we tested here with 617 horsepower (17 more than the regular X5 M) is also stuffed with more standard equipment and features than X5s down the model ladder. Among the goodies are a less-restrictive and slightly louder exhaust, an M-specific Track driving mode, split-sized wheels with 21-inch alloys up front wearing 295/35 Michelins and 22-inch alloys in the rear wrapped in 315/30 Michelins, plus exclusive leather upholstery.

Like many cars today, the new X5 M uses a start/stop system that shuts down the engine when reaching a full stop to save fuel. But in use, it creates an abrupt stop, even when feathering the brake pedal. One can disable it, but with a combined mileage rating of 15 mpg, the X5 M needs all the fuel savings it can get.

With multi-adjustable chairs up front as standard, plus fine leather and hi-res graphics in the dashboard, the interior is not quite perfection. BMW’s fussy gear selector — different from other recent ones — requires deliberation at first and fiddling after that to operate fluidly. After several weeks of use it might come naturally, so this nit-picky trait of the vehicle is perhaps reviewer-unfriendly.

The X5 M’s climate controls have hard buttons for ventilation, but fan speed, temperature setting and air conditioning engagement all have low-contrast, small markings not greatly legible at a glance.

Finally, rear-seat room is very good, though not outstanding. And it’s a toss-up on cargo capacity. Mercedes’ AMG GLE 63 betters the X5 M with 36.6 cubic feet vs. 33.9 cubic feet with the rear seat up. Rear seats folded, the X5 M offers 72.3 cubic feet of space, where the AMG has 65.9. (The new X5 M’s cargo data is preliminary, however).

The X5 M emboldens the familiar X5 bodywork with spicier stuff including larger lower-grille openings up front, sill extensions, bigger wheels and tires, and quad exhausts in the rear. It’s also still one of the most open-feeling SUVs in the segment, thanks to expansive, tall glass around the whole perimeter of the vehicle. And the X5 M retains much of the practicality of more modest X5s with its useful split tailgate.

4.4-LITER, TWIN-TURBO V8 ENGINE
The X5 M’s V8 is an exercise in duality. It’s both a rip-sorting beast at full throttle, but it also just as easily shuts up when trundling along the freeway, mixing with traffic. BMW’s middle name is “Motor” for a reason.

ADJUSTABLE DRIVE SETTINGS
A multitude of drive-quality settings are programmable in the X5 M, including suspension, steering, throttle, braking and other parameters. The M mode button is the most useful because it chooses multiple settings all at once, but we find that dialing in the settings manually enabled the best results, especially keeping the suspension in its softest, most compliant mode, even when hustling over back roads.

BMW’s new 2020 X5 M comes in one trim level and features a smorgasbord of standard equipment including adaptive suspension, a power tailgate, a large moonroof, multi-adjustable heated seats, a driver’s head-up display, gesture control (which enables hand movements to change infotainment settings), satellite radio, a Wi-Fi hotspot, adaptive cruise control and full LED exterior lighting.

Standard active safety features include blind-spot monitoring, detection of impending collisions in front with objects and pedestrians, emergency braking triggered by those potential collisions, blind-spot-detection, lane-departure warning, rear cross-traffic alert and parking sensors.

Apple CarPlay is standard but after one year of access, BMW charges for this significant but simple convenience. This is a short-sighted, shallow-minded and flatly down-market tactic for a luxury carmaker. Especially on a luxury vehicle with a base price over $100,000.

Though the 2020 X5 M comes rather elaborately equipped with standard features, the list of options is also substantial. The $9,000 Competition Package includes a special exhaust system, 21-inch front and 22-inch rear wheels and tires, Alcantara headliner, retuned suspension, and M-branded seatbelts.

The $3,600 Executive Package includes remote engine start, soft-closing doors, heated and cooled cup holders, plus ventilated and massaging front seats. A 16-speaker Bowers & Wilkins audio system comes in at $3,400, while the $1,700 Driver’s Assistant Pro package combines steering assist, braking and other driver assists to make stop-and-go traffic less tedious. An M Driver’s Package at $2,500 includes a session at the BMW Performance Driving School.

If we were ordering a new X5 M, we might opt for the Driver’s Assistant Pro package and perhaps the up-level Bowers & Wilkins audio system, but probably not much else.

Although we did not drive any non-Competition-equipped examples, our educated guess is that the ride quality improvement you’d gain without it makes up for the increase in grip and athletics that come with it. Even with a bonkers-performance SUV like this, far more of your driving life will be in suburban conditions or on the freeway, rather than rocketing down a favorite twisty back road with your hair on fire.

The heart of the new 2020 X5 M is its 4.4-liter, twin-turbo V8 engine. It belts out 600 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 553 lb-ft of torque at 1,800 rpm (though the optional Competition Package raises it to 617 horsepower). While it roars like a lion at full throttle, it can also drop to kitten levels at slow and friendly-neighbor speeds.

Power goes through an 8-speed Steptronic automatic transmission with three different shift modes, plus manual-shift paddles mounted to the steering wheel. The rear-biased all-wheel-drive system delivers the engine’s power through all the wheels all the time, but can vary which end of the car gets more of it, depending on available traction. The powertrain returns just 13/18/15 mpg in city/highway/combined conditions.

4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8
600 horsepower @ 6,000 rpm (617 horsepower @ 6,000 rpm w/Competition Package)
553 lb-ft of torque @ 1,800 rpm
EPA city/highway fuel economy: 13/18 mpg