Prior to the release of the BMW XM, there was some wonder as to whether it would it truly be special. Sure, we all knew it wasn’t going to be based on any pre-existing BMW, that it was a standalone M car, and that it would be a car of many firsts. However, in reality, when rubber finally met the road, we wondered if it would actually stand out from the rest of BMW’s pack. Now that’s it’s here, let’s find out.
Obviously, we haven’t driven the production car just yet, so we can’t truly compare it to its BMW siblings. But we can compare its design. So I thought it would be best to compare it with the BMW X5 M, which is the closest Bimmer to the XM’s shape, size, and performance. So is the XM more special than the X5 M?
Different isn’t always better, nor is it more special, and that’s never been more true than with the BMW XM. Looking at the two cars, it’s clear which one is better looking up front—it’s the X5 M. The XM is different, sure, but it seems different simply for the sake of being different. There isn’t advancement, innovation, or really anything particularly special about the XM’s face. It’s just extra. Extra headlights, extra air intakes, extra inches added to the kidney grilles. It’s like BMW’s board members were like, “We like the current design language but can you just double it?”
What’s frustrating to me is that there’s a good looking car in there somewhere. The proportions just seem… off. Specifically, from the B-pillar back. It’s like the two halves of the car were designed by two people who never met. Whereas the X5 M seems cohesive, tight, and well proportioned. Every line, curve, and shape seems to make sense. It’s a handsome, if a bit too understated, performance SUV that should set the standard for BMW’s sporty SUV designs. So it wins here, too.
There are a few things that…
