BMW X4 M-Sport – Fast and Fantastic

My guided tour highlighted the particularly nice colour scheme, the nicely shaped front with almost ‘Dracula teeth’ on the sides, the pin-striping of the fine interior and its multitude of functions.

Once in the driver’s seat, all manner of functions and adjustments are possible; with the right amount of lumber support, side support, temperature, favourite radio channel, even air con settings – all ready to be pre-set to my own tastes. Once chosen, they can be stored and remembered, automatically being recalled when another driver has messed things around!

I then naturally go to place my phone on a convenient shelf in the central console area and am told that it is now being wirelessly charged!

There are all sorts of clever electronic trickery – from the expected to the esoteric. Voice activated GPS, done! Owner’s manual (with animated useful videos), done! Accessing phone functions, but of course! The electronic digital speedo and rev-counter display is great, particularly as it shows the older style analogue appearance – a head’s up display that works well!

All amazing and, possibly, to be expected, but being of the age I am, I am always concerned that with so many electronic wizardry, it will all end in tears when important key functions fail, just when they are needed. Do I need to make sure that I don’t stray too far from a BMW service computer?

Obviously, driving around in such a car attracts attention and during one conversation I discuss the merits of all of these electronic toys. I realized others had similar concerns, but it was only when their older BMW moved towards 500,000km, that they started to play up. That’s impressive, my expensive laptop isn’t that reliable.

Back to the car, there are cameras that seem to see round corners and make maneuvering the behemoth easier! It does seem like a big car, for good reason…it IS a big car, most SUVs are!

The M-Sport version of the motor upfront clearly pulls it along at a decent pace for such a machine. Then you discover the ‘Sports Plus’ button hiding by the gear leaver. Hit that and it becomes a lot more sporty./

The sound the engine makes, as it revs harder, shifts with blips of the throttle and more purposeful roar make it worth finding that button. The electronic dash changes, more red, more anger  perhaps, but possibly more red mist! Clearly in Sports Plus it would be all too easy to hand over your licence to the boys in blue. Driving on public roads gave no real opportunity to explore the limits of a clearly high performance machine but the sound track is well worth it!

So, back to the SUV concept. I always struggle with the ‘why?’ for this type of car. If you want to go off across the countryside, then a Prado is more appropriate; if you want to cruise across this big nation, then surely some of the sedans (by BMW for instance), would be more appropriate? But a sports car?

Well there are other M-Sports out there — large, but sporty machines, which cater to all the needs of up to four adults in great comfort, clearly a Sports Utility Vehicle.

Clearly this car does a lot more than fill a niche market and other car producers think the same thing. But the BMW X4 does it so well, in spades in fact, that those other car companies have got some serious catching up to do.