Driving across the American West in techno-excess with the BMW XM – Ars Technica

I’m barreling down Interstate 10 in Arizona toward California in the BMW XM, the latest luxury performance SUV from the German automaker. A dagger of extravagance, the black-on-black SUV is all about more. But it’s more than just a vehicle you stand next to while posing for social media shots; it’s a bold expression from BMW that it can merge luxury with the latest technology.

The drive

With a starting price of $160,000, the BMW XM is actually quite a deal when you look at its closest competitor, the Lamborghini Urus. I’ve driven both over long distances, and the XM delivers on a long road trip while saving the person behind the wheel about $75,000—that’s less than the price of the 2023 BMW i4 M50. So you get your showoff car and, well, another showoff car that’s an electric vehicle.

The XM is a plug-in hybrid, so you could spend most of your time behind the wheel in electric mode. It has an electric-only range of about 30 miles, so trips to Whole Foods and back could be far cleaner than what the Urus offers, as it’s a gas-only proposition. But driving cross-country, I burned through the range within the first 30 minutes. Efficiency-wise, plug-in hybrids lose most of their appeal on a long road trip. I could have tried to find a level 2 charger along the way, but it would have been a waste of my time, and I would have been the jerk who’s stopping someone with an EV from charging.

The XM does add more power to the battery throughout the drive, but that feature is there so that when you hit the accelerator, the electric motor obliges while the gas engine catches up, like an eager puppy egging on a large, powerful Great Dane.

Behind the wheel of the XM, I get it—I understand the desire to be seen. The car is quick and nimble for its size, and when I realize it looks like the Batmobile and I change the wake word for the built-in AI assistant to “Batman,” I’m equal parts happy and smug. Its hybrid fused M-power pushes 644 hp (480 kW) and 590 lb-ft (800 Nm) of torque onto the asphalt.

Long drives along the interstate can be boring, and in a performance vehicle, they can be downright exhausting. The XM solves most of that. Even in a straight line for hours and hours on end, you feel the work that the German automaker’s engineers put into making the chassis tight. Switching lanes feels a bit more fun, but overtaking is where you get the rush.

Comfort-wise, the sport seats offer a far better long-term driving experience than what I’ve found in some other luxury vehicles. The side and back support is especially welcome. Your sense of seat comfort may vary, but a chair that keeps you exactly where you should be while reducing slouching is the key to a successful road trip.

It also helps that the front seats are heated and vented—and they have a massage feature. Who doesn’t love a massage at 75 miles per hour?

One issue with long drives (especially after an early morning flight) is fatigue. Hours behind the wheel can lead to a terrifying phenomenon known as “highway hypnosis.” Essentially, the drone of the road and the never-ending line of white road markers can mesmerize a driver. Throw in some drowsiness, and you’re a danger to yourself and everyone else on the road.

At one point in my trip, I became quite tired.

The back of the XM takes the powerful luxury of the driver’s seats and rounds off the edges. It’s comfortable, and the weird polygon ceiling provided a relaxing bit of design that lulled me to sleep as I curled up with the tiny pillows that ship with the vehicle. The battery pack had a few miles of charge on it, so I didn’t feel guilty about leaving the XM’s rear climate control running while I slept.

So yes, the back seat is comfortable, and it’s nap-certified.

The looks

The XM is striking—and, frankly, polarizing. I find it looks great in black-on-black, but you have to accept the vehicle wholeheartedly for what it is.

The BMW XM is bravado. It’s the new William K. Vanderbilt house (aka Petit Chateau) on 5th Avenue. As I pulled into a rest stop, the M badge glistening in the Arizona sun, the car grabbed people’s attention.

The kidney grille has been spared the fate of the all-electric BMW iX, and I find it an acceptable ratio of grille to front end. The sharp edges remind me of the last-generation Honda Type R. It’s a decision that automakers do not make likely, but it also denotes power. The vehicle is big and sharp, and it will make you a few friends while you wait in the In-N-Out drive-thru for your burger and milkshake.

The interior is a bit tamer, though, again, BMW went with the weird polygon headliner with ambient lighting. I like it, but if you have kids, expect it to be destroyed within a few months. It’s very hard as an adult not to touch (and likely mess up) the roof; for kids, especially on a road trip, it would be impossible to resist.

Technologic

While I planned to cover the entire distance in a single day, my phone warned me of a storm that caused a small mudslide along my route, so I decided to stay with family in the Palm Springs area. I would have hated for the XM to become a muddy mess while I sat in traffic for hours.

I ended up in the traffic the next day, and the vehicle’s hands-free traffic assistance meant I could sit with my hands in my lap while keeping a sharp eye on everything around me. As always, here’s a reminder that you cannot buy a self-driving car in the United States right now, and you have to pay attention to the road.

That said, BMW’s driver-assistance system continues to impress. While not as good as Super Cruise or Mercedes’ offering, on a long drive where you have to travel through a dense urban area with a ton of traffic, it helps.

BMW’s latest infotainment system and its voice assistance (which, again, I’ve named Batman) were on par with what Google Maps was offering as a route home. For years, native in-car navigation just found the shortest path along a route and mostly ignored traffic. Now we’re seeing these mapping systems take into account the world around them, and I found the XM’s system to be genuinely useful. I still prefer the design of Apple and Google Maps over BMW’s offering, though.

Comfort, luxury, and speed

In 1997, I drove from Southern California to Kansas City, Missouri, in my 1990 Honda Civic hatchback. I loved that car, but even my 20-something-year-old body ached after two days of driving and listening to the same CDs. It was a fun adventure, but it was not relaxing. The snowstorm didn’t help.

As I pulled the XM into my driveway in the Bay Area, I felt great. The heated, ventilated, and massage seats did an extraordinary job of keeping me comfortable. Even the cup holders were heated or cooled—my tea stayed hot, and my Red Bull and milkshake stayed cold. I was noticed, but I was also kept relaxed over two days with over 775 miles of asphalt behind me.

The XM did what most performance vehicles can’t: deliver a comfortable ride over a long distance. The plug-in hybrid aspect didn’t do much because of the length of the drive, but it does give you that extra bit of torque when you ask it to. Plus, the technology that BMW has spent years refining gives you the information you want with either your voice or a few quick swipes and taps.

The BMW XM and its arch enemy, the Lamborghini Urus (starting at around $235,000), are the vehicle pinnacles for a new sort of tech-enabled social-media addicted rich. They need to be seen and pampered in something that will do zero to 60 in about four seconds. They want more, and thanks to technological advances, they’re getting it for a “steal” at $160,000 from BMW. Plus, they have those comfy tiny pillows for midday road-trip siestas.