The King of Sporty SUVs? Shmee150 loves the X5 M Competition
This 617hp, 553lb-ft beast with a back-up assistant party trick offers a jaw-dropping glimpse of our autonomous future.
Lots of SUVs seem to be suffering from an identity crisis these days. They’re big on the utility aspect, but fall short on the sport side of the equation. Not so BMW’s for X5 M Competition, which launched at the L.A. Auto Show last November.
The company recently showed off both its updated 2020 X5 M and X6 M at a press event in Phoenix, Arizona. Everyone from Autoblog to the Sunday Times was there. And the great news is that it’s clearly wowed the reviewers, earning descriptions like “irrationally excellent” (Rich Ceppos, Car and Driver) and “a wickedly quick and capable machine” (Derek Powell, MotorTrend).
If the X6 M is more your speed, by the way, you’ll want to check out Carwow’s review by Mat Watson, instead.
Among the multitudes of breathless BMW X5 M Competition reviews, there was one in particular which caught our eye, though, from the ever-popular Shmee150, also known as London, England-based automotive influencer Tim Burton. He’s within a whisper of two million subscribers on YouTube, and he’s no less enthusiastic about the latest high-performance Beemer than are his colleagues at other publications, referring to the X5 M Competition as “the true king of sporty SUVs.”
Burton’s love for the brutishly-powerful SUV shines bright and clear in the clip, which at just a shade over 20 minutes is amongst his longest videos uploaded in the past month. In the piece, he takes a detailed look at the interior, exterior, performance and handling of the uprated X5 M in its even-higher-powered Competition specification, and also takes a closer look at some of the more unusual M-specific changes, including track mode.
Burton starts off by touring the car’s exterior, focusing mainly on physical changes that differentiate the new model visually from the non-M version of the X5, including the different wheels/tires, mirrors, side air intakes, spoilers, and exhaust system. He notes that while it’s more practical than its sibling, the X6, which “has a slightly more sporty appearance.” There’s not much commentary on styling otherwise, beyond a quick mention of BMW’s ever-expanding kidney grills and the other front-end aero changes made to improve cooling to the more powerful engine.
On the interior, says Burton, the X5 M Competition is “very, very nicely presented,” with lots of M-specific styling tweaks like custom door sills, shifter, dash trim, badging in the headrests, and M-specific buttons added to the steering wheel and center console. One change that Burton seems particularly pleased by is the BMW M-series color stripes stitched into the seatbelt webbing. Really, his only complaint with the interior is the steering wheel controls, which, he says, “feels a little bit like they need to be modernized slightly.”
With a quick rundown of the changes out of the way, Burton heads out for an extended drive, noting almost immediately that the X5 M Competition boasts “quite a decent turning circle for the size of the car.” Even with the most comfortable settings configured he reports that “the suspension rides very, very firmly” to cope with the vehicle’s size, and becomes even more so as you work your way through the settings towards track mode. (Later, though, he clarifies that the Sport Plus suspension “rides pretty well. I didn’t think it was soft enough in Normal comfort, but in Sport Plus it drives nicely.”)
Testing out sport mode on both engine and suspension, Burton finds the X5 M Competition to have a “nice … but not particularly intrusive” engine note, and as you’d expect given its power, says that it “gets moving very, very decently. Perhaps not as quick inside as I thought it might be, but it’s … not a slouch.” He also finds the integrated brake control function, a feature seen previously on the M8, which shortens the brake travel required to reach full power, to be an “awesome” addition.
After a better chance to try the acceleration out a bit more with a police escort temporarily holding the road closed to the general public, Burton is left beaming ear to ear. “Oh my goodness,” he reveals after mashing the gas pedal to the floor from a standing stop. “That definitely gets moving really quickly! Wowzers. That was actually *really* quite impressive.”
And given a twistier stretch of road later in the video, he tells us through chuckles that “this car actually manages to hide some of that weight pretty well, and holds tight around these corners. This is actually really good fun! As you can gather, I’m rather enjoying this.”
By the time he’s done with the real-world test, Burton’s obviously pretty besotted, noting dryly that “It sounds good. It feels good. What more do you want?” After a quick demo of Track mode, which disables most driver aids and all but the most driver-focused displays, it’s BMW’s automatic Back-up Assistant function that seems to get the biggest reaction of all, though.
“This feels so trippy,” Burton says, his speech punctuated by gleeful giggles. “The car is driving us back the route that I just drove. I’m not touching the steering wheel, [just] the throttle and brake.” His delight at using the feature — along with a slight sense of trepidation as it retraces its steps in reverse past some awkward obstacles — is clear to see on his face. “This is so weird, but so easy to do,” he continues. “Technology, when it helps convenience like that, is such a big deal. I just find it amazing what it can do. Very, very, *very* clever.”
For more thoughts from Burton on the X5 M Competition, be sure to watch the video at the top of this page. More of his videos can be found on his YouTube channel.