New X5 gets M Performance Parts treatment
The all-new Neue Klasse SUV is barely three months old and already BMW has the lipstick out...
The new X5 (and battery-powered iX5 alongside) are very much the next step in the Neue Klasse journey, and in terms of how they are powered, possibly the most interesting. You can have petrol and diesel mild-hybrids, or plug-in hybrids, or all-electric - and, in the fullness of time, something hydrogen-fuelled. There will be an M version, of course, although you don’t have to wait for that if you want more than 600hp, because there is already an M60e xDrive with a hybridised straight-six. The iX5 60 xDrive gets 578hp - and 525 miles of range.
What you can’t have though is the deeply pleasurable feeling that comes with buying a car that qualifies as easy on the eye. Befitting BMW’s ongoing preference for automotive design that appears to have been set down on paper via welding goggles, the X5 is not going to win any SUV beauty pageants. But this won’t stop people buying the new model for its other qualities - nor indeed customising them. Which is inevitably where the M Performance Parts catalogue comes in.
As it does elsewhere in the lineup, the options contained within are intended to ‘accentuate the dynamic look’ and nominally aid aerodynamic performance. Naturally, this includes a lot of carbon fibre. There is a three-piece splitter at the front and flow plates for the rear, and you can even have the trim in the kidney grilles swapped out for composite. Meanwhile, a new roof spoiler comes in gloss black and you can have your mirror caps and rear diffuser in aramid (which is like carbon fibre, except it allows electromagnetic waves to pass through it, meaning your automatic tailgate will still work).
Elsewhere there is the option of M Performance wheels ranging from 21 to 23 inches in size, though BMW notes that the ‘highlight’ (i.e. the largest and most expensive) is the Y-spoke 1110 M Bicolour (pictured). If you’re an M60e xDrive buyer, you can twin these with carbon fibre tailpipe finishers, although we’re told that an M Performance Sound silencer system (not the most auspicious description) will only be made available for a future M Performance V8-powered model it has not yet revealed - and even then, you won’t be able to have one in Europe. Shock.
Beyond this point, BMW moves onto its Accessories range, which includes a choice of new Aero roof boxes (30 litres larger and apparently more aero-y than before), as well as a Flex box that can be mounted on the optional cycle carrier. The former is available in 350, 450 or 550 litre capacities; the latter, which appears absurdly big in the pictures, gains you an additional 300 litres. There is also the opportunity to litter the interior with all manner of adaptors and holders for personal devices, if you’re keen to add to the touchscreen acreage already on offer.
BMW mentions no prices for any of this in its missive, though on the basis you can’t order an X5 yet (no starting cost has been confirmed in the UK), that makes sense. Expect that to change ahead of the model’s European launch, when we will find out if it lives up to a three-decade reputation for giving SUV buyers precisely the Sports Activity Vehicle they always wanted. Irrespective of what it looks like.
TX.
Those bags in the roof box are incredibly practical for long distance European family holidays. You unload only the bags you need to at the various stop overs. They look much higher quality than the cheap eBay ones we bought.
That new one though looks awful. They’ll be everywhere before we know it unfortunately
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