{"id":24704,"date":"2020-01-30T19:19:10","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T23:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=24704"},"modified":"2020-01-30T19:19:10","modified_gmt":"2020-01-30T23:19:10","slug":"payne-to-hell-and-back-in-an-insane-bmw-x4-m-suv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2020\/01\/payne-to-hell-and-back-in-an-insane-bmw-x4-m-suv","title":{"rendered":"Payne: To Hell and back in an insane BMW X4 M SUV"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/01\/15\/PDTN\/896aae16-c0ac-4b9d-94ad-9cd3c2ac2a01-bmw_fr3-4_1.jpg?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"To Hell and back. Detroit News auto critic Henry Payne took the 2020 BMW X4 M to the devilishly twisty roads of Hell, Michigan to test the limits. At night. In the rain.\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div><p>To Hell and back. Detroit News auto critic Henry Payne took the 2020 BMW X4 M to the devilishly twisty roads of Hell, Michigan to test the limits. At night. In the rain.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Henry Payne, The Detroit News)<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-1 p-text\">I remember picking up my 2001 BMW M3 like it was yesterday. The sleek coupe hugged the ground with\u00a0its front spoiler just inches off the asphalt. Its 330-horsepower, naturally aspirated\u00a0inline-6 cylinder 3.2-liter engine put out a rare 100 horsepower-per-liter through the rear wheels at a screaming 8,000 rpm. Its six-speed manual transmission\u00a0begged to be revved to redline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-2 p-text\">My, how things have changed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">For 2020 BMW has introduced the X4 M, a bulbous\u00a0five-door SUV with a coupe roofline riding high over the tarmac. Under the bonnet sits a 3.0-liter, forced-induction, twin-turbo inline-6; it feeds\u00a0all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic gearbox. There\u2019s not a manual transmission in sight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">What\u2019s more in this Age of SUV, the BMW has favored this\u00a0Franken-ute\u00a0with its most-powerful inline-6 ever. It gets this engine even\u00a0before the M4 (as the M3 coupe is now called). So the X4 M makes 503 horsepower and the M4 a mere 425. The nerve.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">But before you deduce that everything at BMW has gone to hell &#8230; well, I went to Hell.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Hell, Michigan, that is \u2014 home of the most forbidding roads in all of our Great Lakes State. I picked a particularly hellish November night to go: pitch-black sky, roads slick with rain and leaves, air frosty as a witch\u2019s nose. If a BMW sport-ute is to earn its performance stripes, then it had better be able to manage Michigan\u2019s most devilish secondary roads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">That, and I loved telling the Bimmer\u2019s navigation system to \u201cGo to Hell.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">It\u2019s not just the market\u2019s taste for utes and turbos and automatic transmissions\u00a0that have changed \u2014 the last two decades have transformed BMW interiors. With a big push from Silicon Valley\u2019s Tesla,\u00a0the X4\u2019s console infotainment screen is a digital wonder. Heck, my \u201901 had just\u00a0a small radio display.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The X4 M\u2019s screen is a comprehensive display with crisp graphics and endless pages that allow you to configure your vehicle\u2019s drive modes, radio presets, head-up display\u00a0and safety systems. Safety systems include adaptive cruise-control, lane-keep assist, automatic braking, 360-degree park-assist\u00a0and automatic seat-eject at impact with parachute (just kidding about that last one).<\/p>\n<div id=\"ad-position-68\" class=\"partner-placement partner-spike partner-placement-visible\" data-ad-placement=\"native-article_link\" data-ad-sizes=\"[&quot;fluid&quot;,[3,3], [2,6]]\" data-monetization-id=\"native-article_link\" data-monetization-sizes=\"fluid,3,3,2,6\">\n<div id=\"ad-slot-7103-mi-detroit-C1561-native-article_link-news-opinion-8\" class=\"ad-slot\" data-google-query-id=\"CLXXj8K6rOcCFQVxAQod9GoLYw\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_7103\/mi-detroit-C1561\/native-article_link\/news\/opinion_1__container__\"><iframe id=\"google_ads_iframe_7103\/mi-detroit-C1561\/native-article_link\/news\/opinion_1\" title=\"3rd party ad content\" name=\"google_ads_iframe_7103\/mi-detroit-C1561\/native-article_link\/news\/opinion_1\" width=\"3\" height=\"3\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" data-google-container-id=\"6\" data-load-complete=\"true\" data-integralas-id-84de0acb-a3db-d0a3-5bc9-ec77ee6d0dfb=\"\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">All this doesn\u2019t come cheap, of course, and a base X4 M lists a healthy $7,000 higher (inflation adjusted) than my 2001 M3. Consider $4,000 of that the SUV premium, courtesy of hatchback and all-wheel-drive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The screen can be controlled via a dexterous iDrive rotary knob, direct touch\u00a0or voice commands. With my hands wrapped around the meaty, heated steering wheel, I preferred voice commands which were as good as anything this side of Siri.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cGo to Hell!\u201d I barked and the beautiful screen quickly sketched my path to the Michigan burg\u2019s infernal roads.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-ScReQmFUYXM\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/01\/15\/PDTN\/94d945d5-3eea-42a3-9248-0ac3a618fbdb-bmw_hell-route.JPG?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"&quot;Go to Hell.&quot; That nav command will take the 2020 BMW X4 M to Hell, Michigan, where the performance ute had a blast on the burg's legendary, curvy roads.\" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/01\/15\/PDTN\/94d945d5-3eea-42a3-9248-0ac3a618fbdb-bmw_hell-route.JPG\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/01\/15\/PDTN\/94d945d5-3eea-42a3-9248-0ac3a618fbdb-bmw_hell-route.JPG\" \/><span class=\"mycapture-btn-wrap\"><span class=\"mycapture-non-priority-horizontal-image mycapture-btn-with-text js-mycapture-btn js-mycapture-photo-asset\">Buy Photo<\/span><\/span>&#8220;Go to Hell.&#8221; That nav command will take the 2020 BMW X4 M to Hell, Michigan, where the performance ute had a blast on the burg&#8217;s legendary, curvy roads.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Henry Payne, The Detroit News)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Interstate 96 toward\u00a0Hell was bliss in the BMW&#8217;s stuffed lounge chairs. Heavily bolstered for the g-loads to come, the 18-way seats are comfortable, never pinching my\u00a06-foot-5\u00a0frame. The rear seats are another matter. Already cramped for long legs, the X4\u2019s sloped roof \u2014 to give the ute a coupe-like look compared to its\u00a0more-upright sister X3 M (yes, there\u2019s another one!) \u2014 also cramped my neck. That&#8217;s not much different than my old M3.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Happily, BMW has made full use of the SUV\u2019s cargo space. Not only do the rear seats fall flat to accommodate, say, a bicycle,\u00a0but BMW has thoughtfully taken a page from family utes: It\u00a0added a sub-layer of storage under the cargo floor to house muddy shoes or other loose ends that might otherwise clatter around in back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Despite 173 more horsepower than my old M3, the X4 is noticeably quieter. And that\u2019s not necessarily a good thing. I loved the raspy howl of the ol\u2019 inline-6, but the X4 so swathes its passenger in quiet comfort \u2014 the better to hear the sweet nav voice tell me\u00a0 \u201cYou have arrived at your destination\u201d \u2014 that it\u2019s hard to hear the 503 turbocharged ponies pummeling the pavement. At least there\u2019s an exhaust amplification button.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The same electronic magic that has transformed the car\u2019s interior, of course, has also transformed this 4,500-pound rhino (1,000 pounds heavier than my old M3) into a blast to drive fast.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-ScReQmE5EXk\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/01\/15\/PDTN\/555a1522-b93a-47e4-aaa2-db4a3de1c44b-bmw_infot.JPG?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"The 2020 BMW X4 M dash is a model of good ergonomics and crisp graphics.\" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/01\/15\/PDTN\/555a1522-b93a-47e4-aaa2-db4a3de1c44b-bmw_infot.JPG\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/01\/15\/PDTN\/555a1522-b93a-47e4-aaa2-db4a3de1c44b-bmw_infot.JPG\" \/><span class=\"mycapture-btn-wrap\"><span class=\"mycapture-non-priority-horizontal-image mycapture-btn-with-text js-mycapture-btn js-mycapture-photo-asset\">Buy Photo<\/span><\/span>The 2020 BMW X4 M dash is a model of good ergonomics and crisp graphics.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Henry Payne, The Detroit News)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Staring through the rain-splashed gloom of Hell\u2019s Glenbrook Road in the dead of night, I engaged launch control.\u00a0I let loose the brake at full throttle, and the beast exploded forward as if on rails.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\"><em>RAAAAAAWWWRRGH!<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">With state-of-art electronics managing grip to all four paws of this rear-biased machine, the X4 M shrugged at the damp pavement. The 60-mph mark\u00a0blew by in under 4 seconds (3.3 seconds is the official Car and Driver count, an astonishing 1.5 second quicker than my M3), the eight-speed tranny flicking off millisecond upshifts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Into Hell\u2019s twisted curves I hurtled, the ginormous 15.6-inch brakes bringing the two-ton-plus beast to heel. The rhino danced through turns, the SUV\u2019s all-wheel-drive proving much superior to a rear-wheel drive sports car\u2019s grip in the clammy conditions. Too much throttle? I could feel the electronics quickly adjusting torque to all four wheels to maintain grip.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">I could also feel the car\u2019s turbo-lag off corners. No problem. With a leftward shove of the Bimmer\u2019s monostable (which operates on an east-west axis instead of the usual north-south), I was in manual mode. I toggled shifts with the steering wheel-mounted paddles, maximizing torque by keeping the revs high.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">A I learned the SUV\u2019s moods, I could program (more digital refinement) my preferred chassis settings \u2014 Sport Plus\u00a0for stiffened shocks and performance trannny\u00a0response, Sport for steering, Traction Control for slick conditions \u2014 with\u00a0buttons on the steering wheel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">As I left Hell, I was almost convinced that an M-badged SUV is a good idea. But as good as the X4 M is, its lighter, sleeker, lower M4 sibling is that much better. The M4&#8217;s\u00a0athletic bod can change\u00a0direction like Barry Sanders in the open field.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">So at least basic physics haven\u2019t changed. But the X4 M bends them to its will more than you could imagine.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"presto-h3\"><strong>2020 BMW X4 M<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Vehicle type: Front-engine, all-wheel drive, 5-passenger compact SUV<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Price: $74,395 including $995 destination charge($86,495 X4 M Competition as tested)<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Powerplant: 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged inline-6<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Power: 473 horsepower, 442 pound-feet torque (503\u00a0horsepower as tested)<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Transmission: 8-speed automatic<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Performance: 0-60 mph, 3.3 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed, 161 mph<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Weight: 4,590 (as tested)<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Fuel economy: EPA\u00a014 city\/19 highway\/16 combined<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Report card<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Highs: All-season athlete; stupid power with AWD grip<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Lows: Bulbous looks; the M4 coupe is quicker on track<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Overall: 3\u00a0stars<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To Hell and back. Detroit News auto critic Henry Payne took the 2020 BMW X4 M to the devilishly twisty roads of Hell, Michigan to test the limits. At night. In the rain.\u00a0(Photo: Henry Payne, The Detroit News) I remember picking up my 2001 BMW M3 like it was yesterday. The sleek coupe hugged the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24704"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24704"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24707,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24704\/revisions\/24707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}