It’s pretty obvious that we’re living the golden days of the SUV. All you have to do is look at the sales charts and you’ll notice that SUVs – in all shapes and sizes – are the most popular vehicles on sale today. That brings forward another breed, one that was never thought to be able to take off: the high-performance Sports Utility Vehicle. One member of that breed is the BMW X5 M, which you can see in the footage, below.
The high-performance SUV range is getting more and more models as time goes by. At first, there were only a few brands courageous enough to even propose such ‘evil’ contraptions. And yet, if you look in the automotive segment today, you’d be surprised by what you’ll find. Even Lamborghini has an SUV today and, in typical Lamborghini fashion, comes with figures that are simply defying the laws of physics.
The X5 M is one of the first of its kind. What we’re looking at here is the third iteration of the M-tuned model, this time coming with a couple more horses under the hood. The F85 X5 M is now using the S63 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 engine we’ve all grown used to, tuned to make 575 PS and 700 Nm (516 lb-ft) of torque. In the new version, that engine will be massaged to squeeze out 600 HP and 750 Nm (553 lb-ft) of torque.
Get the Competition model (which we know is in the works, thanks to early leaks) and it will serve up some 25 additional horses for your pleasure. It will also be more track-prone, as weird as it may sound. Looking at the footage below you’ll notice the X5 M is quite planted, considering its size, and I think it’s going to be quite a thriller once it comes out, later this year.
