So I ordered an X4M after a test drive, and before test driving an M5. I was coming out of an F80 ZCP. I’ll just share my quick thoughts.
1. That low end lag is very annoying. I know exactly how to make up for it, but trying to drive it spooled, with just the right settings gets a bit annoying. I’m cool with that with a fun, light, manual car, but not in my DD with an auto. When I dip into the throttle, I want that car to *move*. Some people just live with it, don’t mind it or whatever, but I found it really against the grain of what this car should be.
2. I test drove a pre-LCI, so maybe it’s improved now, but the “harshness” that people complained about wasn’t uncomfortable to me, it was simply jarring in some conditions, to the point I had to really grip the wheel when sending it lol.
3. It’s lovely at speed. The power delivery is just as it should be. These things cook.
4. It’s not an M5, in spite of the shared mechanical and drivetrain bits.
5. A week into my order I saw an M5 on the road, and because I had waffled a bit on ordering an X3/X4M versus an M5, I got to thinking I might regret not just going for the extra $ on an M5. I test drove one, and it was lights out for anything else. I backed out of my X4M order, and picked up an M5 lease assumption, and never looked back.
I think the F97/8 platform is really great, but if it’s that or an M5, they are incredibly different, and not really comparable, inside or out.
