BMW XM: Incredible Truth About Hidden Hybrid Potential
The BMW XM is something of an auto industry dirty little secret hiding in plain sight and in this video I’m going to explain why the undeniably unique XM is a shining example of what could have been the future of the Auto industry but isn’t whether you love or loath the way
It looks what’s going on under the hood of this remarkable SUV reveals a sorry tale about how the industry and our governmental overlords insist on us having what they want us to have rather than delivering us what we actually want I hadn’t even heard about this model
Until a client put it on my list of models to write about a few months ago and with prices starting at $159,000 it’s not a vehicle you’re going to see every day on the school run or at the mall okay you might if you live in
Beverly Hills or belir but you get my drift if you put aside its polarizing looks and Hefty price ticket there’s everything to love about the XM when I saw its name and first laid eyes on its angular Bodywork I assumed this was the latest all electric offering from the Bavarian luxury
Automaker but when I started to research the XM I was shocked to find it was a plug-in hybrid and not an EV but there’s nothing unusual about that I hear you say after all BMW currently has a number of plug-in hybrids in its lineup the
Three series The X5 and the 7 Series the thing is though the XM Drew my attention to the performance of these BMW phev powertrains and it reminded me of what I knew years ago about hybrids which is they have far more potential than the public has ever been allowed to see if
You think of hybrid technology as a spectrum or something like an old analog om meter at one side you have immense fuel economy and the other end of the scale you have the potential for face melting power and staggering performance and while the vast majority of hybrids
The public have been offered over the last couple of decades have veered strongly towards fuel economy at the expensive Performance BMW has given the game away with some plug-in hybrids like the XM that illustrate just how exhilarating hybrids can be if they are given a chance you see while run-of-the-mill affordable hybrids from
The likes of Toyota Honda and Ford are often numb beyond belief to drive the XM has genuine muscle car credentials its hybrid powert train is based around a 4.4 L V8 gas engine which is paired with a 19 7 BHP electric motor and 25.7 KW battery pack the result is a unit that
Puts out a combined 653 horsepower and 590 lb foot of torque for a 0 to 60 time of just 4.1 seconds that’s close to a second faster than a Mustang EcoBoost and the XM is more than 70% heavier than the Ford obviously all that power and
Weight comes at the expense of some fuel economy and when it’s running on gas only the XM is rated at a pretty dismal 14 MPG however when you factor in the electrical element of the XM its combined fuel economy is a more than respectable 73 MPG and being a plug-in hybrid it even
Offers an emissions free electricon driving range of up to 31 Mi if you like that sort of thing of course so there you have all the good news about the BMW XM and the luxury German automakers plug-in hybrid monster the bad news comes with that $159,000 starting price but to be fair a
Lot of that is accounted for by the Sumptuous luxury and that BMW Prestige branding the XM would cost that kind of money whatever it had under its Hood but if they wanted to mass Market Brands could offer Hybrid models that would excite even the most committed driving enthusiasts for the price they charge
For a relatively modest EV I’m sure the likes of Kia Ford or VW could produce affordable hybrids built around small displacement highly tuned turbocharged engines that could deliver Sensational performance and decent economy the problem is we’ve been force-fed a steady diet of fuel efficiency and ever lower emissions
Whether we want it or not I’ve never owned anything other than gas or diesel vehicles and my current gas- powered SUV is due for change in a few months will I be going all electric will I even be going for a hybrid no I’ll be buying another gas-powered model while I still
Can however if the powers that be offered a hybrid at reasonable price that lean towards performance rather than economy I’d snap one up without a thought unfortunately the nearest we’ve ever got or ever look likely to get to enjoying the true potential of hybrid technology for driving enthusiasts is
Out Of Reach for most of us the industry has shown its hand a few times over the years when it comes to the potential potential for hybrid performance the likes of the McLaren P1 and Porsche 9918 spring to mind and who could Overlook the Ferrari La Ferrari and if you are in
Any way skeptical about what a Hybrid engine can do just take a look at the specifications of a Formula 1 car the cars competing in the 2023 Formula 1 season were equipped with hybrid power plants built around a 1.6 L turbocharged V6 engine the combined output of these
Hybrid engines was between 750 and 1,000 horsepower and the top speeds were in excess of 200 mph I accept the cars are Ultra lightweight and they cost millions of dollars to build but the hybrid element enhances the performance and isn’t just an exercise in Eco zealotry or virtue
Signaling if the industry wanted to and governments were realistic rather than idealistic we’d all be driving hybrids by now unfortunately the poers that be are determined to force us into flawed all electric technology that is expensive flawed and largely unpopular with the general public surely it would
Be better for the environment if the majority of Shoppers willingly bought and drove hybrids rather than hanging on to their old gas guzzlers when governments only allow new cars to be expensive electric only models with all their many shortcomings anyway I suppose we can wait a few years until the XMS
Get old and their used prices t after all we won’t be on our own driving old used cars long into the future the way things are going
The BMW XM shows the potential of hybrid technology that your government doesn’t want you to have. Electrification of vehicles could be fun, desirable, AND good for the planet. Unfortunately, the XM is a rare beast of a hybrid that prioritizes performance over economy. Few shoppers appear interested in EVs, but electric vehicles could be what everyone wants if they were more like the XM and less like the Toyota Prius.
