Up close with new BMW 4 Series Coupe
The BMW X5 has a new plug-in hybrid improving two key facets – if used wisely
WHAT’S NEW?
The first X5 from BMW to receive a plugin hybrid version for buyers to choose from was the fourth-generation model, coded F15. The so-called 40e boasted a 2.0-litre petrol-electric four-cylinder with a combined 313hp.
Today’s fifth-gen model, designated G05, sees a greater hybrid system, in which the petrol engine has been switched to a bigger 3.0-litre six-pot, boosting maximum power to 394hp for the new 45e.
The decision by BMW to go for a bigger motor could be due to the X5’s relatively big body and most of its competition having more than 400hp to play around with — a performance-oriented family SUV with plug-in facility, you could also say.
The 45e is being sold in locally assembled form at 4.969 million baht. It comes at a time when archrival Mercedes-Benz has yet to renew the GLE500e, which is based on the old-gen body.
The most direct rival for the 45e at the moment is the Volvo XC90 T8, whose 407hp is of quite good value in the 4 million baht range, while the only other comparable SUV in this class is the Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid.
As the Porsche is an import from Europe with a 462hp 3.0-litre V6 hybrid system, it’s the costliest, with a starting price of 6.3 million baht. Can the 45e prove to be a decent cut-price alternative to this brand-rich SUV?
WHAT’S COOL?
Thanks to that bigger combustion engine, the 45e now has enough allround performance for wherever you’re planning to go.
Because the bigger lithium-ion battery has nearly doubled in size, the allelectric driving range has improved by a similar margin, to at least 50km. This is especially useful for those who tend to use this X5 on a daily basis in the city.
If you don’t poke around the X5 to see where all its electrical bits lie, it’s quite a well-packaged vehicle for the plugin genre. The boot, for one, is highly versatile, featuring a two-lid opening, three-way folding rear seats and hooks here and there. The interior itself is a spacious five-seater to comfortably compete with the Cayenne.
Also like the Cayenne, the X5 is an obese SUV on the north side of 2 tonnes. However, the BMW manages to conceal its weight and visual mass from the driver’s seat quite well. In other words, the X5 handles nicely when compared to all of its competition.
WHAT’S NOT?
Plug-in hybrids are getting more popular these days for all the obvious reasons. Their tax-friendly powertrains not only help reduce retail prices but provide users with an alternative for occasional CO2-less driving. But once you’re out of electrical oomph or, perhaps more likely the case, you haven’t charged up the night before, you are only left with a gas-guzzling six-cylinder rather than the more economical four-pot of yore.
OK, the 40e may not have a disadvantage over the E-Hybrid in this respect. But if it’s utter performance you’re looking at, the Cayenne naturally feels more powerful than the X5, if not by a big margin.
BUY OR BYE?
Plug-in hybrids are usually not easy to assess from a tester’s point of view because their usage varies broadly depending on how consumers end up using them.
If you’ re the kind of person who can live with the additional task of plugging your vehicle to the wall on a daily basis, then you can prepare to enjoy the benefits of the latest X5: longer, cleaner and more silent motoring around town.
If not, then you’d need to live with its inevitably high fuel consumption. And if that’s the case, going for the X5 in 30d diesel form is probably more logical.
Against the Cayenne? It’s probably tit for tat, because the X5 has better allelectric driving range but less performance overall.
The X5 maybe takes the honour when it comes to overall refinement of both the powertrain and cruising road manners. Combine that with a spacious five-seat body, and the X5 is a highly desirable family-mover in the luxury SUV market.
The Cayenne may still hold stronger brand kudos, but the X5 tends to score better in an objective manner.
variable sport steering system. It’s also more finely tuned, with less build-up of weighting and greater feedback. It quickens with lock, providing quite direct turn-in in combination with relaxed on-centre properties and impressive ease of manoeuvrability around town.
In a bid to achieve a 50:50 weight distribution front to rear, the bonnet, front wings, doors and front suspension towers are made from aluminium, combining with other unspecified weightsaving measures coped from the 3 Series.
Among the changes BMW has brought to the chassis in order to give the 4 Series a more sporting flavour are wider tracks than those of the 3 Series, with that at the rear extended by 23mm. This gives the coupe a particularly well-planted stance, which is further enhanced on the range-topping M440i by way of an otherwise-optional M Sport suspension set-up that lowers the ride height by 10mm.
The four-wheel drive of the M440i increases the amount of grip and enables you to carry greater speed through corners, but it’s no less engaging despite its added security.
We’ll have to wait to fully explore the new 4 Series, including its reworked two-plus-two interior, but these prototypes have made quite a positive first impression. Although the model has grown slightly, it feels more compact than its predecessor from the driver’s seat and is more appealing to drive, too.
BMW has clearly listened to the criticisms of the old model, not least of all its lack of true steering feel and overall engagement, and reacted with the sort of engineering solutions traditionally only reserved for its high-performance M models.
As van As suggests: “It’s more authentic.” And that’s a good thing.