Come spring (hurry up already), it might be once again time to consider nipping out for a gelato on a sunny afternoon. Remember sunny afternoons? Me neither.
At any rate, when the skies finally clear and your sweet tooth demands satiation, you’ll doubtless arrive at the counter to be slightly overwhelmed by choice.
Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry – all these we expect, but lychee? Asparagus? Garlic?
The point is, human beings demand choice and companies that want to profit provide it. Sometimes not all those choices make sense, and so it is here with the BMW X4.
Once upon a time, if you were after a small-to-medium Bimmer, you had your choice of coupe, convertible, or sedan. Chocolate, strawberry, vanilla. Now there are also two crossovers, a “four-door coupe,” and a wagon, and each body style comes with multiple powertrain options.
This M40i version of the X4 thus seeks to attract by offering something you didn’t even know you wanted: a mix between a coupe and a crossover.
Is it a lovely Neapolitan, or did BMW just offer up a double scoop of octopus-haggis flavour?
Design
From the outside, things do not begin well. While the larger X6 looks aggressively muscular – a sort of 6-series on steroids – the X4 looks like a liftback sedan that never stopped eating gelato over the winter. The effect is especially noticeable from the rear, where a huge amount of sheet metal is broken only by a narrow rear window.
Happily, this M-flavoured version of the X4 at least gets big enough wheels to deal with its large flanks. Nineteen-inch alloys are standard for the M40i, where the base X4 comes with 18-inch wheels, which look a bit overwhelmed, like casters on a shopping cart.
Elsewhere, the X4’s styling will either please or repel, depending on where you stand on BMW’s current styling language. Even with the flared wheel arches and big twin kidney grilles up front, this is a car where angles matter. Viewing it from the rear three-quarter does the X4 no favours.
For a vehicle that’s supposed to be exchanging the practicality of the related X3 for some coupe style, that’s a problem. As with our gelato analogy, it’s a matter of taste.
Environment
Trimming a crossover into a swoopier shape is going to cut down on its practicality, and so it is here with the X4. Compared to the X3, which is shorter overall, the X4 has 50L less cargo area, and the rear seats provide less headroom. With the sloping roofline, there’s also less greenhouse out back.
However, BMW appears to have learned a few lessons from designing the X6. The latter really cut down on interior space, but the X4 uses tricks like lowered seat height and a scooped out headliner to create space that’s not as much of a drawback as you might think.
Further up front, the X4 M40i has everything a Bimmer fan could want. A smattering of M-sport equipment livens up the cabin, including a chunky steering wheel and heavily bolstered seats. This feels like a car that puts the driver first, with one caveat: forward visibility is good, but rear visibility is very poor.
Performance
But who cares about what’s behind you in a vehicle equipped with this kind of power? The M40i adds a little more boost to BMW’s perennial 3.0L straight-six, bringing power to 355 horsepower at 5,800 r.p.m. and 343 foot-pounds at 1,350 r.p.m.
Both those figures are likely a little light too, as BMW often slightly underrates its engines. In any event, when paired to a quick-shifting eight-speed automatic, the X4 M40i is very quick indeed. Think of this as BMW’s answer to the Porsche Macan GTS, as the Bimmer produces almost exactly the same performance figures as the Porsche.
However, figures are fine for bench-racing, and the X4 isn’t perfect in the dynamics department. While the speed is there, the steering feel is not. BMW has struggled with the 3-series to work back in a little of that old special feeling you got with old BMWs, but the X4 hasn’t benefited from the same tweaking. The steering isn’t feelsome, but it is fast. The suspension is also quite firm, and body roll is surprisingly well controlled. BMW has further tweaked their all-wheel-drive system here to have more of a rear-drive bias, and as a result the X4 corners with glee.
As a package, it might not have the driver-focused feel of an E46-chassis three-series of a decade ago, but it’s almost certainly faster. BMW has tamed the laws of physics here, allowing for customers to have a higher ride-height without the attendant dynamic penalties. It’s Bavarian witchcraft.
Features
As with all German marques, options on an X4 can get pricey. The X4 M40i starts at $60,700, and adding on navigation, premium audio, and driver assistance packages drives the price to $74,195. I can’t imagine an X4 owner being willing to live without at least satellite navigation. Fuel economy is middling.
Official figures are 12.8L/100 km in the city and 9.5L/100 km on the highway, but dip into the throttle (why else are you buying an M-branded car?), and the turbocharged engine easily burns above 13L/100 km in mixed-mileage driving.
Green light
Great powertrain; handles well; not as cramped as you’d expect.
Stop sign
Styling is not for everyone; not as practical as an X3; numb steering.
The checkered flag
A bit like durian-flavoured gelato: tasty to some, not to others.
Competition
Porsche macan gts ($73,100)
Current darling of the sport-crossover segment, the Macan GTS proves that Porsche is just as good at profits as it is at bending physics.
The Macan is selling strongly, and the GTS model is perhaps the best of the bunch, combining a mild power bump with a lower ride height and the bigger brakes out of the more expensive Turbo version.
Compared to the X4, it’s even less practical, with smallish back seats and a tiny trunk.
However, the Macan GTS is also a better tarmac machine, pipping the BMW for steering feel.
Don’t be fooled by its MSRP either – like the BMW, it only takes a few options for the so-called entry-level Porsche to balloon in price.
Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and automotive enthusiast. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow Brendan on Twitter: @brendan_mcaleer.
