![]() ![]() BMW cites more extensive use of aluminum and high-strength steels in claiming an average reduction of 110 pounds across the range. The 2019 edition weighed in at 4146 pounds on our scales, a solid 126 pounds lighter than we recorded for the 2017 test car. When we tested a 2017 first-generation X4 M40i with a similar powertrain, it got to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds the new one did it in 4.2 seconds. Equipped with the stout 355-hp turbo six, it's the hottest version until the all-in X4 M arrives to take on the Mercedes-AMG GLC63 coupe and the Macan Turbo. The X4 M40i went into production last August, a couple months after the lesser models. Both are equipped with standard all-wheel drive and an eight-speed automatic transmission.Ĭhris Doane Automotive | Car and Driver More Sportified We clocked most of our miles in the X4 M40i, the top-tier variant propelled by BMW's turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six, with a side excursion in the xDrive30i turbocharged 2.0-liter four-banger. These are claims we explored over several hours behind the wheel negotiating the track at the performance center, cruising nearby interstates, and scurrying over mountain two-lanes in both South and North Carolina-roads that evoked the moonshinin' origins of NASCAR, back when a fastback '40 Ford was the norm. BMW even claims the new shape brings dynamic improvements thanks to a lowered center of gravity-though still higher than a sedan or a coupe-and a wider rear track. Props to the design team, then, but the question remains: Why choose this over the less costly, more useful X3? The answer, in characteristic BMW fashion, is that the styling signifies a sportier driving experience. The central iDrive control screen is the same as in the X3, too: responsive, intuitive, and graphically modern. X4 drivers ensconced in the all-day-comfortable and supportive sport seats will find the same quality materials, taut panel fits, and informative digital instrument panel. Aside from the raked roof cutting 10 cubic feet out of the X3's cargo hold abaft the rear seat and bringing the rear door opening down into head-clunk-on-entry territory, the interior is all but identical to the X3's, which is a good thing. Rear-seat legroom is up by about an inch, and cargo capacity expands by one cubic foot over last year's X4, to 19 cubes. Designers used this larger canvas to render a better-proportioned and less stubby profile, while the entire rear contour is better resolved into a cohesive shape.Īdded length benefits the interior behind the B-pillar. It's also about an inch and a half wider and a skosh lower. ![]() Riding on a wheelbase stretched by 2.1 inches, the 2019 X4 casts a shadow that is either 3.0 or 3.2 inches longer (depending on the exact model) than last year's X4. It still resembles a turtle on stilts-but a less lumpy one. To that end, BMW has made the X4 prettier. The GLC coupe may exist only because Mercedes is compelled to counter every addition to the BMW lineup in their bilateral game of marketing Battleship, but these two also compete with the Porsche Macan, the Alfa Romeo Stelvio, and the Range Rover Velar, to name but three that similarly sacrifice the purported utility of crossovers on the altar of styling.Ĭhris Doane Automotive | Car and Driver Baby's Got Fastback The Mercedes-Benz GLC coupe is the X4's sole direct analogue as a fastback variant of a more conventional compact SUV, and it too adds only incremental volume to sales of its boxier platform-mate. In the United States, BMW sold more than 40,000 X3s last year while peddling only 5198 X4s. The X4, with a fastback profile that distinguishes it from its square-rigged stablemate, the X3, is proliferating more slowly than is the crossover segment at large. Normalization of the previously unthinkable is a fearful force to reckon with, in cars as in politics. Little Brother: 2017 BMW X4 M40i TestedĪnd yet we recently found ourselves at the BMW Performance Center, across the road from the carmaker's Spartanburg, South Carolina, assembly plant, preparing to drive a new, second-generation X4.BMW X4 Tested and Compact Luxury SUVs Ranked ![]()
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