How much BMW clings to the good old days with internal combustion engines is demonstrated by the first stand-alone M model in decades. Only this one is a poised hybrid that has little in common with the logic of sportiness. The basic model offers 635 horsepower, costs at least 160,000 euros and weighs almost 3 tons. These numbers speak for themselves. And they are tragicomic in a way.
All car lovers, when we hear the word "hybrid", we immediately think of the weight of the car. Sports cars have always relied on "weight optimization". Due to the electric motor and battery, this is usually responsible for a 20 percent increase in the total weight of the car. In a native way. The dry weight of the car is as if four real men were sitting in it besides the driver - each weighing 100 kilograms. And when it comes to driving characteristics, regardless of the possible ideal weight distribution, the latter is known. The car is simply heavy and therefore not that sporty.
Speaking of massiveness, some statistics: the BMW XM stretches to a whopping 5.11 meters. With a width of 2.01 meters and a height of 1.76 meters. The wheelbase is as much as 3.11 meters. Otherwise, the XM is based on the X5 M model, but it is 400 kilograms heavier than the latter, so the XM weighs 2,785 kilograms.
The total system hybrid performance of the car ends up being 653 hp and 800 Nm of torque (for the entry-level model). Acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h takes just under 4.3 seconds, and from 0 to 200 km/h in 14.3 seconds, with a top speed of 270 km/h. All this data says that BMW has created a mastodon - a giant - because the data is not surprisingly good. This is where the size and weight of the XM is felt. Although these values sound quite good, direct competition Lamborghini Urus or Aston DBX 707 are significantly faster. However, the latter cannot drive fully electric. Which is completely pointless for this type of car.
The "electric illusion" in the chassis hides a 25.7 kWh battery. This should beat this "dinosaur", who is a vegetarian by the way and can beat 88 kilometers on electricity according to the WLTP standard, i.e. no more than 50 kilometers in reality. In this case, the upward "speed" is limited to 140 km/h. The battery is charged with an alternating current of up to 7.4 kW, and it takes 4.25 hours from completely empty to fully charged. Interestingly, they did not allow charging with 11 kWh. Here, too, BMW clearly lags behind. At this base model amount, it's a pure steal.
BMW continues a completely strategic illogical transformation and equips its M models with hybrid systems and somehow makes them something they are not. It seems as if BMW doesn't smell electricity to such an extent that on such a landmark anniversary - the 50th birthday of M GmbH - they would introduce an all-electric model that would set the standard for the sports car industry of the future. And next to which, Tesla would come off as an amateur. She simply hasn't internalized this brand yet.
