2023 BMW XM First Test: Confusing as Hell, Until You Drive It

The 2023 BMW XM is a big vehicle that elicits even bigger opinions—but what is the XM? Is it, as BMW claims, a super SUV capable of going toe to toe with the likes of the Lamborghini Urus and Porsche Cayenne Turbo S E-hybrid? Or is it a luxury sleeper, more akin to the Mercedes-AMG G63 and the Bentley Bentayga? Yes, BMW also claims the latter to be the case.

Also worth asking: Is the 2023 BMW XM an ultimate M car? BMW's marketing made a big point to say the XM is the marque's first M-only model since the M1 homologation-special mid-engine sports car first seen more than 40 years ago.

This 2023 BMW XM test vehicle garnered notable attention from the moment it arrived in our hands. People emerged from all corners of the MotorTrend office, eager to see the XM in the metal. There's a curious, hard-to-quantify line between a car people walk past without a second glance from one that immediately draws bodies to it. The BMW XM is the latter, and the folks who circled it did so while arguing about its intriguing styling.

It's intriguing because while many seem to think the XM's design took a questionable path, you have to believe BMW knows what it's doing. Too many experienced designers and engineers have had their eyes, hands, and minds across this car during the course of its development for it to be some sort of bastard child that somehow slipped through a crack. The XM makes you want to understand it and what it says about BMW's view of the automotive industry's forthcoming decade.

You may think, "Isn't the XM an all-new model in the BMW lineup?" Yes, it is, technically speaking. However, it shares its underpinnings with the much more familiar X5 SUV. More precisely, it shares them with the stunningly fun-to-drive X5 M Competition from which the XM borrows its main chassis (now lengthened to accommodate the XM's hybrid powertrain), as well as the majority of its suspension setup.

The 2023 BMW XM stands apart, though: It's the most powerful production M car ever made, the most expensive BMW now on sale, the first M car with a PHEV hybrid powertrain, and yes, the first M-only model since the two-seat M1. The result is a vehicle caught between two (or more) worlds. BMW tried to make it a future-proof flagship, a performance halo vehicle, a design study come to life, and something of a modern-day SUV with real-world applications.

Not especially. The 2023 BMW XM delivers 14 mpg (city/highway combined) when only using gasoline, and 46 mpg-e combined with the help of its electric motor. (It'll cover 31 miles on pure electric power.) However, and despite being a hybrid, BMW didn't intend for the XM to be an ecologist's daily driver. Its hybrid mode is impressive, though. Whether you want the electric motor's power to fill in for the V-8's lack of low-end torque and aid you in driving like a deranged rallycross driver, or you're simply navigating bumper-to-bumper traffic, the XM's variety of pure electric, hybrid, or sporty hybrid-assisted performance modes are dialed in nicely.

Fantastically. Despite the XM's heavy 6,046-pound curb weight, the SUV's hardware and software-based aids work in unison to effortlessly hustle the XM through corners, over bumps, and across virtually any surface you throw it at.

The 2023 BMW XM's 483-hp 4.4-liter twin-turbo V-8 and its 194-hp permanent-magnet motor produce a combined 644 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque, all put to the road through an eight-speed automatic and a torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive system.

In our acceleration testing, the BMW XM reached 60 mph in 3.6 seconds—0.5 second quicker than the company's official claim. This is impressive, especially considering its significant curb weight, as is its quarter-mile performance of 11.8 seconds at 118.2 mph. Interestingly, the XM's young buck of a sibling, the fantastic 2023 BMW M2, also ran an 11.8-second quarter mile in our recent test, though its 120.3-mph trap speed was faster. Our testing notes include comments like, "The XM is quick, but not mind-bogglingly quick like a Lucid, for example." The shifts are also aggressive, something we noticed often during two days of road-tripping the XM around California's Death Valley.

In performance terms, we found the XM's eight-speed automatic gearbox is its most disappointing feature. With the rest of the car, BMW and the M engineers did a remarkable job of making the SUV feel relatively light and responsive. But when it comes to the gearbox, a pattern of rapid, head-jerking upshifts followed by delayed, when-it-wants-to downshifts can spoil the canyon-carving experience.

This 2023 BMW XM came to us in a rather interesting specification. Leagues away from the stormtrooper-like white-on-black previewed in our First Drive of the XM, this model is finished in a fetching Marina Bay Blue Metallic, perfectly complemented by the Silverstone (white) and Vintage Coffee (brown) Merino leather interior (a $2,500 extra).

In addition, our test SUV had the M Driver's package ($2,500) and the $3,400 (!) Bowers & Wilkins Diamond Surround Sound System which worked impressively well—with the exception of the center-console volume knob, which had a turning ratio of approximately 15 revolutions per single digit of volume increase/decrease.

The story of the XM's seats is a tale of two halves, with the rear seats an utter triumph and the front "sport" seats far less so, in terms of both comfort and bolstering. Some of our test drivers found the driver's seat excessively pinched their torso while also letting their shoulders slip around too much.

The 2023 BMW XM might be a necessary creation in a world where every automaker's performance department must constantly justify its right to create fast cars that still burn gasoline. The XM will keep the monkey off BMW's (and M's) back—and the money rolling in—for another few years. It's a stay of execution, riding on 22-inch double-spoke bicolor wheels.

That all aside, dynamically the XM pulls off something of a coup. Indeed, it feels like a genuine M vehicle, and a pretty untamed one at that. Its acceleration is explosive, and its braking is quite good—as long as you remember how heavy the vehicle is and you don't get greedy. The turn-in is very good until the tires heat up, at which point the sharpness fades. It's the type of vehicle that requires you to look far ahead and know what you're going to do before you get there. You don't want to react to the XM, you want to anticipate it. Ultimately, the more time you spend with the XM, the more you find yourself cast under its spell. It's almost enough for anyone to forgive the way it looks.