2024 BMW X5 M Competition

Test Drive Notes Library

Pros
Impressive. This vehicle is a feat of engineering. The nerds at BMW have taken a very nice, luxury SUV, and made it drive almost like a sports car. If driving a sports car (with most of its assets and deficits) appeals to you, but your life requires you to occasionally offer rides to other human beings, the X5 M might appeal to you.
Power. This is pretty much the top of the line in terms of solely internal combustion at BMW. The X5 M Competition uses a twin-turbo 4.4 liter V8 that produces 617 hp, with a very small amount of help from a “mild hybrid” battery. The hybrid may be the only thing that’s mild about this car. While there are now plenty of electric vehicles that accelerate as fast or faster, only the X5 M will let you accelerate that fast while watching the seas rise out the driver’s window. Just kidding. Fossil fuel humor. We kid, BMW! Only the X5 M will let you accelerate that fast with the growl of a V8 engine.
Transmission. The transmission programming is a work of art. In M1 mode, on a mountain road, the transmission responds to your braking in corners, and downshifts as you lift off the brake, similar to the way you’d use the transmission if you were shifting manually. It’s strangely intuitive, and does a lot to make this nearly 3-ton SUV feel like a sports car.
Cornering. Again, for a vehicle that weighs as much as this one does, and sits as high off the road, cornering is remarkably sticky and flat.
Seats 4 or 5. On paper, this is a high-end sports car that can also serve as a family vehicle. So Mom can drop the kids at school, and then carve apexes on her way home. It also has all the high-end BMW luxury car amenities that you could want, including our test vehicle’s fantastic Bowers and Wilkins stereo, which I can pretty much guarantee is better than your sound system at home.

Cons
Compromised livability. On paper, the X5 Competition does both. In reality, it’s a monster sports car, and a compromised luxury SUV. The ride is stiff, and can get jittery over bad road surfaces. The exhaust blat is set to “look at me” even in its quietest, most society-friendly setting, and goes up to “obnoxious.” On well-paved mountain roads or the like, it’s great fun to drive. But when you’re in town, and hitting real world potholes and traffic, it's no longer a luxury vehicle.
Better options. If this sort of vehicle appeals to you, we’d recommend you drive the X5 M60 instead. That’s got the same engine, tuned to a bit less horsepower. It lacks the “race track” suspension, so the ride is far better, and it’s much easier to live with as a daily vehicle. And if you can eke by with a mere 523 hp, getting the X5 M60 will save you about 40 grand off the $140K sticker price of our X5 M Competition tester.
Temperature controls. We really miss physical controls for frequently used settings like temperature settings. The on-screen options require hand eye coordination and taking your eyes off the road. Would it kill you guys to give us an up-down rocker for temperature? It would, huh? OK.