| Pros | Cons | ||
| ✓ Ballistic performance for its size | ☓ A bit over-the-top…in pretty much every way | ||
| ✓ Head-turning looks (for better or worse) | ☓ Holy crap, this car’s expensive | ||
| ✓ 30-mile electric driving range | ☓ Jerky transmission at slow speeds (especially in reverse) | ||
| ✓ Spacious interior | |||
2023 BMW XM Overview: Your shuttle is ready, Lord Vader
Over the past couple decades, BMW has been no stranger to both extremes of car design. We’ve seen some of the most conservative designs emerge from the Bavarian automaker…and some of the most outlandish. The 2023 BMW XM definitely falls in the latter category, but I’d expect no less for this car’s jaw-dropping $165,895 starting price tag. To say it looks polarizing is a gigantic understatement — I broke from the rest of the TFL team with my opinion after a week with the new XM. I still get weird looks when the topic comes up, even after the car left our office.
I’ll admit to scratching my head and having a bit of a WTF moment when I saw the first official photos of BMW’s new flagship SUV. Get it in the right color scheme like this Black Sapphire Metallic example, though, and it makes a little more sense. It looks much more sinister, especially at the back with the slim taillights and quad exhaust pipes. I know some of you guys are grimacing and saying, “but that face” out loud (and I hear you), but trust me: This car makes a lot more sense once you take it all in and actually take in the full experience.
On the whole, the 644-horsepower BMW XM is nothing short of a ballistic missile on the road. It’s 6,000-pound curb weight would lead you to believe it’s absolutely hopeless at doing anything useful with that power, but the combination of tires, chassis dynamics and grunt make the XM far more agile than you’d ever believe just by looking at it.
More on the styling
All right, let’s take another look at the front and just get it out of the way. No matter what you actually think about the styling, what’s undeniable is that the 2023 BMW XM turns heads no matter where you go. People were looking at me the whole time I drove this car around, and you definitely don’t get that with BMW’s conservative-as-can-be X5, or even the refreshed X7.
While I totally get how the front end can turn some people off, moving to the side profile or seeing the back of the XM should evoke different emotions altogether. Not only is this big bruiser decently well proportioned in the profile view, but I’ll go out on a limb and actually say the rear-end styling is cool. The thin, darkened taillights and gold XM badging is a nice touch, not to mention the BMW logos relegated to the top corners of the rear window. The quad pipes give the car an unmistakably badass look, letting folks behind you know you’re about to leave them in the dust with volcanic twin-turbocharged V8 power.
Look at it this way, if you still don’t agree with me: The 2023 BMW XM is altogether more restrained and refined on the inside. The steering wheel center stack and dashboard (including the dual-screen setup) is pretty standard M fare, but you do get some cool touches with the patterns on the instrument panel and headliner, as well as the layout of the rear seats (more on that below).
What about performance?
The “standard” 2023 BMW XM — there is a Label Red variant coming, remember — mates a 483-horsepower, 4.4-liter twin turbo V8 to a 194-horsepower permanent magnet electric motor integrated into the 8-speed automatic transmission. When both come on song, you get that combined 644 horsepower output, as well as 590 lb-ft of torque. That’s quick enough to rocket the XM from 0-60 in the 4-second range. That’s a mightily impressive figure, given the car’s heft.
Keep in mind, too, that the plug-in hybrid powertrain does offer another benefit. Thanks to the 25.7-kWh (usable capacity) battery onboard, BMW says you can drive the XM around on electricity alone for up to 31 miles. So, you can do the daily commute without burning gas, though who are we kidding? You’ll be in the XM’s hybrid mode and on the V8 most of the time because the acceleration is just so damn intoxicating.
You know what they say about absolute power, right?
High-dollar, high-performance SUVs aren’t usually efficient and the 2023 BMW XM is no exception.
In the combined cycle, expect somewhere around 14 mpg. The higher rating taking the electric motor into account stands at 46 MPGe, which is also pretty dismal as far as PHEVs go.
On the performance front, BMW’s engineers did a great job honing the XM’s dynamics, given its size. The steering is weighty and linear, even if it’s lacking in feel (like so many large SUVs these days). In the curves, the transmission can be a bit slow to respond when you leave it to its own devices. One more frustrating element, however, is reversing the XM (which uses the electric motor sandwiched with the transmission. Rather than a slow creep, you get a sudden jolt when you press the throttle, making any backwards maneuver into a garage or tight parking space a nerve-racking ordeal.
The interior gets some interesting options (if you pay even more, that is)
Spec out a 2023 BMW XM, and you’ll realize there are actually some interesting color options available. You can get a loud Sakhir Orange, a cooler-toned Deep Lagoon blue contrasted with Vintage Coffee brown, or Silverstone white with Vintage Coffee. The all-black interior we have here carries the sinister, Sith lord look, but it’s a relatively straightforward and boring option given the alternatives. It is the only no-cost option, though, since the other interiors command another $1,500 to $2,500 on top of this car’s already expensive price tag.
Otherwise, the XM’s interior is your pretty standard M car fare. You get carbon fiber accents throughout the center stack and instrument panel, as well as configurable M buttons and a host of other options you can fiddle around with in the infotainment system. Our tester also included a $2,500 M Driver’s package that raises the XM’s top speed to 175 mph as well as the fantastic $3,400 Bowers & Wilkins sound system.
Naturally, multi-zone climate control is part of the XM’s creature comfort list, and you also get wireless charging, temperature-adjustable cupholders, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto capability off the bat. The bolstered front seats are decently comfortable (and are massaging), while the rear seats come with their own pillows and are actually contoured to offer some extra thigh support, rather than just being a straight-across bench. The lumbar pillots are a nice touch, as well.
Yeah, did I mention this car’s expensive? But at $159,000 to start, you might as well say “screw it” and add in the extra options if you’re going to go this far on a high-power SUV.
Verdict: Surprisingly good, if you can get past the styling
It’s all too easy to see the new BMW XM and wonder who it’s even for. It tries to meld bold styling with bona fide M performance, a luxurious interior and at least some practicality to boot. The more time you spend with it, though, the more you realize it actually does a pretty good job of bringing all those elements together — with the head-turning look as an exclamation point.
Driving it around made me feel a bit like a villain, and that’s fun. It made me actually want one, which is never something I thought I’d say to myself when this car first debuted. You have to come into it with an open mind for the styling and a good respect for its weight (BMW can only do so much to combat the laws of physics), but if you can afford it…you’ll be the talk of suburbia.
Check out even more on the 2023 BMW XM below:
