2024 BMW XM

Give kudos for color. Violet, green, brown, red: it’s as if BMW dug up all the color choices other German brands had squirreled away in their archives, and some of them work superbly on the XM’s hot, squat stance. 

The details can mar that radically. Controversially, a thick band of trim runs south of the shoulder line from the front door to the rear roof pillar; it can be clad in gold coating that spoils a fabulous marine blue paint. The XM’s sills wear glossy plastic rocker panels, which pick up spray the moment they’re washed, or run through a puddle. The catchy diamond textured door handles have stubs on their ends that hook belt loops.

The XM’s better inside, where the roof wears diamond-textured suede—but can’t be replaced by a glass roof. It’s piped by ambient LED lighting around its perimeter, which in most shades renders the cabin like a $200 a night prom limo. 

The XM has, in fact, the exciting angular shapes across its dash that we’ve appreciated in other BMWs, but those shapes come with a disquieting number of colors and textures. Around the driver’s left air vent alone, BMW fits a metallic speaker grille, a black trim grille, a vent frame, metallic trim, and almost-matching leathers that trim the door panel and the handle. A brown leather selected for the dash looks like Naugahyde. Many passers-by thought the XM looked “rad.” Well, perhaps.

How fast is the BMW XM?

Buckle up, because the XM’s powertrain takes some explaining. BMW bolts a twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8 to an electric motor fed by a 25.7-kwh battery pack to churn out 644 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque. Coupled with an 8-speed automatic and rear-biased all-wheel drive, the XM can sizzle to 60 mph in 4.1 seconds and reach a top speed of 155 mph—unless you opt into the M Driver’s Package, which lifts top speed to 168 mph.

For 2024, BMW has added the XM Label, which it once called the Label Red. With a twist to the turbo boost, the XM Label puts out 738 hp, good for a 0-60 mph time of 3.7 seconds and a top speed of up to 175 mph.

In either model, the battery in the plug-in hybrid system can permit up to 31 miles of all-electric driving, and an EV-only top speed of 87 mph, all accompanied by a soundtrack authored by composer Hans Zimmer.

How does the BMW XM drive?

Prepare for a frustrating tussle with a dual-personality machine, one part frugal city-hopper and one part unrestrained interstate hypertrain. The XM has all the ingredients to make plug-in hybrid tech palatable to the well-heeled, but it ends up stumbling on its own Achilles’ heels. It makes a stronger case for the supremely smooth though less louche iX wagon than it does for itself.

At lower speeds, the XM engages a default Hybrid mode that blends electric and gas power as any other hybrid would. An eControl mode lets the driver lock in the battery’s state of charge, to preserve EV range for urban driving where zero emissions might be desirable, if not mandated.

Most low-speed driving will tempt use of the Electric mode. Lock it in, and the XM propels itself in mostly hushed tones—but it also deploys a brake-hold feature that jerks the XM at stoplights launches. Then the whirring, programmed EV noise builds, and can’t be edited out. 

Like other BMW M models, the XM has M1 and M2 buttons for driver-programmed behavior. Any attempt to use them or floor the accelerator flips the XM into Hybrid mode, which must then be re-toggled into Electric mode. It also defaults to a sport exhaust that’s numbing after only a few miles. 

All sorts of subtle penalties come into play with the efficiency plays here—down to the surround-view camera system. Select EV mode, then reverse, and the screen persists on a fancy drivetrain splash screen to show where power is headed, instead of flicking over to the direly needed view to the car’s rear quarters.

While it outperformed its EPA-rated electric range—I saw more than 38 miles on a mid-speed, flat route—the XM doesn’t ride well when it goes slow, especially as it tries to conserve energy in battery mode. It’s outfitted with rear-axle steering and adaptive dampers, but conventional steel springs instead of a four-corner air suspension—and massive 23-inch wheels (22s are available). All that tries to cope with 6,062 pounds of curb weight, and it fumbles over speed bumps and pavement seams, with lots of head toss and thudding impacts. It may be due to its standard active anti-roll bars that suppress natural body lean, stiff tuning, and mostly, those massive wheels. 

The jiggles relax at highway speeds, and so does the XM’s drivetrain. It seems to forget its plug-in pieces, and soars with the slightest slip of the accelerator. Curb weight neutralizes even larger bumps once it’s at cruising speed, and the rear-axle steering that seems too ambitious in parking lots loosens up, giving the XM back its classically fluid BMW feel. The straighter and faster the road, the better the XM feels.

Should you worry about convenience, the XM has a solid set of cupholders and trays for coffee, keys, and smartphones. It also has a USB-A port and…a cigarette lighter.

Splendid rear seats grant the back-seat XM passenger a cozy place to nap out, thanks to good leg support, a lovely angle of seatback recline, and matching pillows. They’re not power-adjustable, though: Rolls-Royce appears to have won that intra-family squabble. Back-seaters do get USB charging ports, hidden under sliding plastic doors in the front seatbacks. (I’d hoped those little doors were for tiny cuckoo birds, but alas.)

BMW carves out 18.6 cubic feet of storage space behind the back seats, and 67.3 cubic feet when the rear seatbacks get folded out of the way. The wide but shallow cargo floor means things that would and should fit in an SUV of this footprint don’t stow out of sight. 

So you know where the XM is coming from, culturally, that shallow cargo hold has a designer carry-on in which to tuck its charging cable. The bag’s quilted, with a gold zipper, and looks like a hot piece of Pilates gear for real housewives in whatever city you choose. It’s bougie bling parading as environmental cachet; it's the XM, writ small.

The XM needs all the help. With its heavily tinted gunslit rear windows, outward vision to the rear is atrocious.

A note about the XM’s infotainment. We give it kudos for its flexibility and for the big touchscreen and head-up display. But the Google-based interface needs a few rounds of development work. It’s madness to have a favorites tab on the screen’s left panel—and a presets tab as well. Worse, only one can be toggled from the steering wheel controls. The fonts and layouts of the interface look lower-rent than the rest of the interior, too. 

How much is a fully loaded BMW XM?

The XM Label edition, new for 2024, costs $185,995. 

The 25.7-kwh (usable energy) battery pack takes just over three hours to charge fully on a Level 2 240-volt outlet, thanks to the XM’s 7.4-kw onboard charger.