Dusty drifting, Bmw-style
BMW took its M Town concept to the Australian Outback for the launch of the X3 M and X4 M. Damien O’carroll was there.
BMW once said it would never build an M version of any of its SUVS. It also said it would never build a turbo engine. Meet the new BMW X3 M and X4 M – BMW M SUVS that share a ferociously powerful turbo inline sixcylinder engine.
Make me an instant expert, what do I need to know?
Let’s face it, no-one actually needs a performance SUV, but people do
want them. And car manufacturers will keep making them as long as customers keep buying them instead of proper performance vehicles, you know, like sedans and wagons.
And, of course, that means BMW had to go back on a once dearly held conviction regarding M cars (that they would only ever be cars) and build such things as these new versions of the X3 M and X4 M.
BMW in Australia and New Zealand has ignored the standard M versions of the X3 and X4 in favour of the new Competition variants that are pretty much everything wound up to 11. Yet curiously, it is still shy of breaking that 4.0-second zero to hundred sprint that the opposition (mainly the Mercedes-amg GLC 63 and Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio) handily slip under by a tenth. BMW claims a 4.1 second sprint for the X3 and X4 Ms, however independent tests have reported sub4.0 runs being easily achieved.
But it’s not all about the sprint to the legal speed limit. These are also high-price luxury SUVS as well, and as such, both come absolutely loaded with standard equipment (but because it is BMW there is still also a huge options list), including massive 21-inch alloy wheels, BMW’S semiautonomous Driving Assistant Plus system, a thumping Harmon Kardon audio system, a suitably shouty M Sport exhaust, sports seats and adaptive LED headlights.
Even then, though, it is still that remarkable new engine that is the star. Debuting in the X3 M and X4 M (the all-new M3 will also get it when it appears next year), the new S58 3.0-litre inline six is an absolute ripper of an engine, but not quite in the way you might expect.
While the AMG CLC 63’s 4.0-litre turbo V8 gives a big, angry punch off the line and the Stelvio Quadrifoglio’s turbo V6 is a redline screamer that just seems to keep revving, the BMW engine is less dramatic at the extremes, but so insanely flexible and responsive everywhere in its rev range that it punches out of corners with a startling resolve.
Sure, it lacks the aural excitement of the roaring V8 or screaming V6, but the BMW’S somewhat flat, yet strikingly angry straight six bellow is still quite evocative, particularly when it is blaring at full throttle while you are sideways in a cloud of dust at 140kmh. Yes, really.
Where did you drive it?
At one of the more remarkable locations for a local launch (yeah, an Australian launch really is ‘‘local’’ these days) in recent memory – a temporary rally stage in the middle of the South Australian Outback.
BMW played off its slightly silly ‘‘M Town’’ concept by creating the track in the middle of the massive 800 square kilometre Nilpena station northeast of the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. The station hasn’t seen any rain in three years, so had no stock, but a vast supply of dry, dusty, hard-packed clay – perfect for carving a flowing track into for doing big, lurid drifty laps on.
And that is exactly what we did. Our instructors – former Australian Formula 3 champion and V8 Supercar driver Karl Reindler and seven-time Australian rally champ Cody Crocker – basically let us loose. The only real rule was we weren’t allowed to turn the stability control off entirely.
Although, to be honest, the reduced intervention of the Sport+ mode was incredibly generous with the amount of sideways action it would allow, only really intervening when you had totally messed things up to avoid a complete spin. Yes. That is first-hand experience speaking there. Just the once though.
What’s the pick of the range?
While largely identical apart from body shape and a few minor dimensions (the X3 has 25 litres more boot space, while the X4 is slightly lower, wider and longer), the two did have a few obvious differences in their handling. It was easier to get the back end out on the dusty track in the X3, while it was easier to keep it out there in the X4.
The X4 also felt ever so slightly sharper and more responsive, but given that the difference was pretty tiny and the fact that if you bought the X4 you would also have to look at it meant that the X3 M was our pick of the day.
But in all honesty, while both were massive fun on the dusty, wonderfully slippery track, the total lack of road driving means we really have no idea if either is actually any good or not.
Some overseas reports rave, others hammer them for an overly firm ride and distant steering on the road.
We will have to wait until we get one on the road here in New Zealand for a more definitive idea, but our initial impression would lean towards the more positive opinions, though.
Why would I buy it?
Because you are one of those weird people who wants a performance SUV instead of an M3 or, in the case of the X4 M, because you just like savagely fast, weird-looking vehicles.
Or, more likely, because you want a remarkably fast and accomplished vehicle that is also practical, roomy and incredibly well equipped.
Why wouldn’t I buy it?
Because that ride might be an issue? Because you prefer the more characterful bellow of the AMG (or Jaguar) V8 or you are just a strange individual who really wants an Alfa Romeo?
Or maybe because you realise that for roughly 10 grand less you could have the brilliantly belligerent Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk instead.
Seriously, who cares about inferior build quality when you have 522kw anyway?