BMW Reviews

BMW seems to believe that there is simply no car that can't be improved with the addition of an M badge and some serious mumbo, and the mid-size SUV X4 is the latest to get the treatment. The company's sales figures show that Australians can't get enough of this approach, but is the X4 M Competition a giant leap too far?

After a large car? With all the trimmings? And a price to match? You've come to the right page!

Luxury SUVs come in different shapes and sizes, but there's one segment of the market that stands out as the yardstick for this type of car - the large luxury SUV segment.In this part of the market you'll find cars such as the three we have here - the BMW X5, Mercedes-Benz GLE and the Volkswagen Touareg, among others. So which lives up to the brief of comfort, power and plushness? Let's find out!

The BMW Z4 could well have been called the Z5. If it had followed the logic of the Z3 and Z4 that came before it, this new-generation model might well have adopted a new badge to accompany its new body, new chassis, new engines, new underpinnings and new technology. But it's not - it's still the Z4, but its very different, all the same.

The powerhouse X7 M50d is the flagship of BMW’s full-size seven-seat SUV line-up, and is priced at $169,900, plus on-road costs.Powered by a direct-injection, 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder quad turbo-diesel engine producing 294kW/760Nm, drive goes to all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission, and the M50d is claimed to accelerate from 0-100km/h in 5.4sec.Claimed fuel economy for the X7 M50d on the combined (European ECE - urban, extra-urban) cycle is 7.4L/100km, with 193g/km of CO2 entering the atmosphere in the process.Standard equipment highlights for the M50d include four-zone climate control, leather trim (lots of it), auto adaptive laser headlights (with active high beam control), front and rear fog lights (LED front), soft-close doors, sat nav, 10-speaker audio (with Apple CarPlay, digital radio, Bluetooth connectivity, and gesture control), keyless entry and start, adaptive cruise control, alloy wheels (22-inch), the twin 12.3-inch display and control screens (instruments and media), a head-up display, a panoramic sunroof (with power blind), rain-sensing wipers, leather-trimmed multi-function sports steering wheel, ambient interior lighting, electrically-adjustable front and second-row seats (with memory for the driver), heated front seats, adaptive air suspension (auto self-level), ‘Park Assist Plus’ (parallel and perpendicular), Panoramic View Monitor (3D surround view), reversing camera (with rear parking distance control), and the ‘Comfort Access’ system (foot sweep under the bumper to open the rear door).Also included is a heap of ‘M’ performance equipment including a more powerful engine (obviously), an M aero package, bigger brakes, a tricky differential, sports exhaust, and unique exterior design elements.

The luxury-focused X7 xDrive30d is the entry-point to BMW’s full-size seven-seat SUV line-up, and is priced at $119,900, plus on-road costs.Powered by a direct-injection, 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder turbo-diesel engine producing 195kW/620Nm, drive goes to all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission, and the 30d is claimed to accelerate from 0-100km/h in 7.0sec.Claimed fuel economy for the X7 xDrive30d on the combined (ADR 81/02 - urban, extra-urban) cycle is 7.3L/100km, the big Beemer emitting 191g/km of CO2 in the process.Standard equipment highlights for the xDrive30d include four-zone climate control, leather trim (lots of it), auto adaptive LED headlights (with active high beam control), front and rear fog lights (LED front), soft-close doors, sat nav, 10-speaker audio (with Apple CarPlay, digital radio, Bluetooth connectivity, and gesture control), keyless entry and start, adaptive cruise control, alloy wheels (20-inch), the twin 12.3-inch display and control screens (instruments and media), a head-up display, a panoramic sunroof (with power blind), rain-sensing wipers, leather-trimmed multi-function sports steering wheel, ambient interior lighting, electrically-adjustable front and second-row seats (with memory for the driver), heated front seats, adaptive air suspension (auto self-level), ‘Park Assist Plus’ (parallel and perpendicular), Panoramic View Monitor (3D surround view), reversing camera (with rear parking distance control), and the ‘Comfort Access’ system (foot sweep under the bumper to open the rear door).

Just when you thought SUVs couldn't get any bigger or more luxurious BMW lobs in the seven-seat X7. Literally made in America, it's pitched directly at Audi's similarly super-sized Q7 and the Mercedes-Benz GLS.

This week I had the arduous task of driving two hours out of Sydney, just to pick something up, which as you can imagine I wasn’t looking forward to. It was lucky then, I was test driving the BMW X1, a small SUV which seats five people and is in competition with cars like the Audi Q3, the Mercedes GLA and the Mini Countryman. That put me in a better mood. I was driving the top of the range X1, the xDrive25i which costs $60,900 before on road costs and extras. Here’s how it did on that particularly annoying journey and also the rest of the week with my family of four in tow.

The $272,900 BMW 8 Series Coupe is one of those rare occasions where it pays to pay less. The Coupe is a whole $9000 cheaper than the only other 8 Series variant, the Convertible, but it’s not only faster - at 3.7 seconds for the 0 to 100km/h sprint, as opposed to 3.9 for the drop-top variant - it’s much more beautiful to look at as well.If you think 3.7 seconds sounds fast for a car as classy and ostentatiously expensive at the 850i, then you’re absolutely correct. The big Beemer’s brawny 4.4-litre, V8 twin-turbocharged engine makes a whopping 390kW and 750Nm, but those performance times are still staggering for vehicles that weigh more than 1.8 tonnes. This is a properly luxurious luxury car, with a merino-leather interior, beautifully shiny glass highlights on its controls and laser lights to help you see 500m down the road, in pure white light, at night. The 850i xDrive might have super-car-like power figures - so much so that it needs to be all-wheel drive (or xDrive) to get all its power to the ground, rather than in the traditional, rear-drive BMW fashion, but It is not a snapping sports car unless you want it to be. Its default setting is very much as a classic grand tourer, capable of crossing vast distances in VIP comfort. The standard inclusion list is as long as Lebron’s arm and includes 20-inch M-branded light-alloy wheels, a tyre-pressure indicator, M Sport Brakes, M Sport Differential, Adaptive M Suspension Professional with Integral Active Steering, Active anti-roll stabilisation, Comfort Access including a kick-open tailgate, wireless phone charging, Soft Close Doors, BMW Crafted Clarity Glass Application, Driving Assistant Professional, Parking Assistant Plus, including 3D View and Reverse Assistant, Laserlights, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a 10.25-inch Control Display, metallics, paint, merino leather upholstery, heated steering wheel and arm rests, and seats, a 16-speaker harmon.kardon sound system, a Head-Up Display and the hugely pointless Gesture Control.

Can a car company show off? It seems absurd; the kind of embarrassing, unedifying behaviour that only ego-driven, status-obsessed human beings engage in.