The BMW XM is an adjusted position for the great German manufacturer. It has a sentimental touch, that we might be heading back to the power mad era of the early 2000s, which saw things like an F1 V10 in the BMW M5. Instead of the race to go fully EV, hybrid appears to have won the race of what is everyday practical over eco-warrior.
In 2021 the XM was showcased as a concept in Miami Beach, and in 2022 went into production. The first models started to be delivered in late 2023, which also saw the Label Red edition being released – it’s a more powerful version of the XM, with only 500 units being delivered worldwide.
In essence, the XM is a massive SUV that weighs as much as a dying star, but can travel at the speed of light thanks to its TwinPower Turbo V8 Hybrid powertrain that delivers 550kW (748hp) and 1000Nm of torque. It sounds amazing, and I couldn’t wait to spend the week behind the wheel of such a unique vehicle.
What We Like and Dislike About The 2024 BMW XM Label Red
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Performance Spec Level It’s huge Interior lighting Seatbelt stitching design Heated seats and armrests | Styling Price Firm ride No glass roof |
What’s In The 2024 BMW XM Range?
As the XM is so unique, and you can only get the XM Label Red in New Zealand, your options are limited. If you give BMW $340,900, they will deliver one of a limited run of 500 units worldwide. A unique and powerful vehicle, its the first electrified M High-Performance hybrid drive, with an M TwinPower Turbo V8 petrol engine. This combination creates a staggering 550kW (748hp) of power and, 1000Nm of torque.
The only things you can spec about the car is what colour the paint will be and what wheels you want. There is one 22-inch, and two 23-inch wheels available, all at no-cost.
2024 BMW XM Colour Range
There are limited colour options for the XM Label Red, all of which I found to be a bit different to what we usually get from BMW
- M Brooklyn Grey metallic
- BMW Individual Frozen Carbon Black
- BMW Individual Sepia Violet metallic
- BMW Individual Petrol Mica metallic
Our Review Vehicle’s Optional Equipment
The XM comes with all the bells and whistles added, there are no other options to spec. This means our review car’s retail price is $340,900.
For a full list of specs and options available for the 2024 BMW XM Label Red, head on over to BMW New Zealand’s website.
How Does The 2024 BMW XM Label Red Compare To Its Competition?
There is not much on the market to compare the XM to, as it’s unique. However, its price tag, opens the options up to almost the entire market, all but a few ultra-luxury brands.
| Make/ Model | Engine | Power/ Torque kW/Nm | 0-100km/h, seconds | Fuel L/100km | Boot Space, litres | Price |
| BMW XM | 4.4L V8 Turbo Hybrid | 550 / 1,000 | 3.8 | 2.0 | 527 | $340,900 |
| Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid | 4.0L V8 Turbo Hybrid | 544 / 950 | 3.7 | 12.1 | 627 | $318,900 |
Please note that DriveLife does its best to ensure the information above is correct at the time of publication, however, prices, specifications and models can change over time. Please bear that in mind when comparing models in the comparison table.
First Impressions Of The 2024 BMW XM Label Red
WOW!!, that’s different. Did Batman commission this one? Its colour combo is straight out of a movie. I have to say that BMW have truly taken a couple of steps back and thought, what if we did something a little different? Then they left the engineers to it, maybe for a bit too long, and the XM was born. It’s a very strong angular design, with a very powerful stance and front grille presence.
Since we have the Label Red edition, red window trim runs down the length of the car, and this is also around the front grille, which made it really stand out. The Frozen Carbon Black colour was probably my biggest turn-off, matte paint is not my thing – I like a car to have a glossy finish. I think the car would have looked a lot better in gloss black, which would work in with the gloss black arches and gloss red trim highlights.
Standing there in all its glory, the XM Label Red looked like it was a powerful and fast machine, so I was keen to jump in and see if the looks are just for show, or if it goes like a bat out of hell.
What’s The Interior Like In The 2024 BMW XM Label Red?
Inside the BMW XM Label Red, you instantly feel like you are in a very big vehicle. The cabin is spacious, and has splashes of red all around to reflect the Label Red edition. There is just so much room up front for the driver and front passenger. In the rear there is even more space, as if it was a long wheelbase model for 2 passengers. The rear of the cabin does feel rather dark due to the privacy glass and the fully illuminated head liner. I would have preferred a glass roof myself, but more about the roof later.
The front seats are your typical BMW M motorsport seats; sculpted two-tone seats with black and red leather, highlighted with white stitching. They are very comfortable, and both front seats are adjustable in so many areas, from adjusting the leg rest to the tilt angle on the top part of the seat around your shoulders. Even the headrest is electric, and it has a pretty cool illuminated XM badge in the middle of it. Both front and rear main seats are heated and cooled, which you would expect, but you would not expect the arm rests on the doors and central console to be heated too.
The rear seats are just as comfortable as the front, the quilted pattern and two-tone styling continues for both left and right seats. The central jump seat is useable, but not ideal for 3 adults who want to be comfortable. The XM has some nice touches, that include two XM embroidered pillows for the rear passengers, for a bit of extra luxury. Legroom in the rear is amazing, again – so much room. Even with a tall driver like myself, my legs never touched the front seat from behind the driver’s position.
From the rear seat, you also get to fully embrace the illuminated headliner, which I have to admit is pretty cool. It’s a polygonal design of angular shapes to highlight and play with the LED strip lighting that runs down either side of the roof. One very cool but rather geeky thing I liked was when you start the car, LEDs in the roof light up, and send a blue purple and red shot of light down the length of the roof. For those in the know, these are BMW’s motorsport colours, like I said, geeky, but cool.
The other nice feature is on the dash; engraved in red, the XM badge and the 1/500 limited number beside it. It was not clear if this was the first vehicle of 500, or one of 500. Either way, it’s a great feature and makes the car feel special.
The media screen is the same as the screen you get in all the current BWM models, a sweeping wide-screen that extends from the driver’s display. This screen is the hub for the vehicle, allowing access to a wide range of features and options. The Home screen shows a split view of the audio currently playing and the navigation map. You have easy access to the climate and seat heating/cooling menus too. Along the side there are quick access to the Apps menu, Audio, Phone and Navigation.
When used in conjunction with the drive modes, which are selectable beside the start stop button, you can select a wide range of options for different drive modes, or the steering wheel mounted M1 and M2 buttons, which I will talk more about later.
One aspect of the XM’s interior that I struggle with is the parts you get that are shared within the BMW range vs. the price tag of $340,900. The Audi RS e-tron had exactly the same problem when I reviewed it; the inside was shared with so many of the cars in its range, it didn’t feel special. And I feel that a vehicle with such an asking price should feel a bit special on the inside, and far more special than the rest of the range.
The boot space is decent with 527 litres available, more than enough for a couple of suitcases back there. Due to the battery being in the rear of the car, the boot floor is very high, almost waist height for me, and I am almost 2 metres tall – so getting stuff in and out might be a struggle for shorter people. The opening itself is huge, and there are a couple of handy tie-downs in the rear too. Oddly, there is a very fancy XM-branded bag in the boot, which is clicked into the tie-downs. This bag is for your charging cables, and it’s a nice touch, but it frustrates me when your cables are now taking up boot space, why do manufacturers not make somewhere to put these so you don’t waste boot space on them? Due to the vehicle’s spec, there is no spare tyre, just the limp-home gel pack in case of a puncture.
What’s The 2024 BMW XM Label Red Like To Drive?
The XM is a bit of a beast, it’s massive on the road, like a nightclub on the inside, but what’s it like to drive? The best place to start would be with the engine and drive train, and the Label Red does not disappoint. Up front, BMW has placed a 4.4-litre TwinPower Turbo V8 petrol engine. This is then combined with the system at the rear, BMW M Hybrid system, which is the first electrified M High-Performance system BMW have incorporated into one of their M vehicles.
What this means is the XM creates a combined 550kW (748hp) and 1,000Nm of torque. Big numbers alright, but this is also a big, heavy car at 2,795 kg. So you can only be super impressed when you feel this vehicle launch from 0-100km/h in 3.8 seconds. It’s quick, real quick. In perspective, the 1995 Ferrari F50, 2011 Lexus LFA, 2011 Audi R8 Spyder GT, 2002 Pagani Zonda C12 and the 2021 Porsche 911 GT3 992 all do 0-100km/h in 3.8 seconds, and most of them weigh half of what the BMW XM does.
So what’s it like to drive? I tend to split this into two categories; how it feels under my control, and how the car makes me feel. It sounds similar, but I will explain.
Let’s start with how it makes me feel. A vehicle like the BMW XM comes with a lot of hype or anticipation. It’s a flagship model, and it’s a BMW M flagship model, so as they say it’s the tip of the peak. So when I get behind the wheel there is a rush of excitement around how it will make me feel, and the biggest part of that is how the car sounds. James May from Top Gear probably said it best, does it make your bits fizz? The cars that make your bits fizz are the cars that sound amazing. For example, the first edition BMW M2, or the V8 M3 both ticked the box. Sadly, the XM didn’t get any of my bits fizzing at all, as it sounded a bit odd. It doesn’t sound like a V8, maybe more like a V6, and it didn’t have a lot of gurgles or pops to it – very flat and monotone. And it was hard to work out if the sound was inside the car from speakers or outside the car coming in. So from the standpoint of how it made me feel, it didn’t score high.
The second part is how it feels under my control, which is more obvious, and I am happy to report that the XM got top marks here. The handling of this massive beast is so impressive. it reminds me of the BMW X5M, which is a monster (and I was keeping pace with a M3 going around the track at Hampton Downs in that car). Two very different vehicles, both smashing the track at top speed. The BMW XM did not feel like a heavy car at all, this is probably thanks to the 1,000Nm of torque, which feels like it is instantly available any time it was demanded. When your foot is flat to the floor, it takes off like a rocket, and when you needed to brake for corners it is sharp and precise. There’s very little if any body roll for something so big, which is down to the adaptive M suspension and M Sport differential. If it wasn’t for how high up you sit, you could easily think you’re in the hot seat of a power super coupé, as it has a lot of the same characteristics.
The driver’s display is good, clear and packed with information. I would have liked to see something a bit different from the standard M range as it was the Label Red model, but considering how fast the XM is, you don’t have much time to look at the dash. The heads-up display is where your focus is for the majority of the time.
The drive modes are complicated, something BMW tends to do rather well, or as one might say, it’s very German. All I wanted was the two buttons on the steering wheel that said M1 and M2 to put the car in its mad as hell, everything to 11 mode and that’s it. But it’s not that straightforward. Each mode has many settings to configure, and then each drive mode had 3 sub settings, so you could have M1 soft, M1 medium, M1 hard, and so on for M2. On the face of it, it’s amazing, so many options to customise. But do we need them? No, not at all.
Simple is better, as most won’t use it. For example, I would switch to M1 mode, everything was set to Sport Plus and it even changed to manual gear mode. But I didn’t want that, I just wanted it fully auto and sporty. So it would stick and hit the rev limit when ready to change gear. I felt like it should just stick with auto until (like many other cars) I use the paddles to change to manual mode. It took some of the enjoyment out of it for me.
I did like that you could have the exhausts set louder in normal Comfort mode, sometimes it is nice to hear this without having to deal with the hard suspension and twitchy gears ready to launch you down the road.
Visibility is ok, it’s dark inside due to the heavy privacy tints, and the rear windows get smaller and narrower towards the back of the vehicle. I found the view out the rear to be a bit limited, however this was also compensated by BMW’s impressive 360-degree parking camera system. It not only shows you what’s around you, but is able to anticipate what you’re doing and shows you the areas of the car in close-up that you need to see the most.
I guess one of the big questions is fuel economy, one we have to answer. You do have to ask yourself if the kind of customers who are happy and able to spend $340,900 on this vehicle really care about how efficient it is. As the old saying goes, if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it. I would be keen to know more about the combined fuel consumption testing they ran, and how they achieved only 2.0 litres per 100km. As you can imagine, the XM drinks like a fish, and even for a hybrid, I couldn’t see how anyone could achieve 2.0L/100km in this monster. Over the course of the week, with a mix of everyday driving and some spirited road testing, I managed to achieve 10.5 litres per 100km. This is a league away from what BMW says, but on the face of it the numbers are not bad. If there was no hybrid system, the XM would probably be around 16 litres per 100km, but due to its more efficient engine and the hybrid system, it was able to bring this down – while still having a bit of fun.
2024 BMW XM Label Red – Specifications
| Vehicle Type | Hybrid SUV |
| Starting Price | $340,900 |
| Price as Tested | $340,900 |
| Engine | 4.4L Twin-Turbo V8 Hybrid Petrol |
| Power, Torque kW/Nm | 575 / 1,030 |
| Transmission | 8-speed sport automatic transmission with Steptronic |
| Spare Wheel | N/A |
| Kerb Weight, Kg | 2,795 |
| Length x Width x Height mm | 5110 x 2005 x 1755 |
| Boot Space / Cargo Capacity, Litres (seats up/seats down) | 527 |
| Fuel tank capacity, litres | 69 |
| Fuel Economy, L/100km | Advertised Spec – Combined – 2.0 Real-World Test – Combined – 10.5 Low Usage: 0-6 / Medium Usage 6-12 / High Usage 12+ |
| Towing Capacity Kg, unbraked/braked | 750 / 2,700 |
| Turning circle metres | 12.4 Small: 6-10m / Medium 10-12m / Large 12m+ |
| Warranty | 5 years or 100,000 kilometres |
| Safety information | ANCAP Rating – ? Stars – Not Tested Rightcar.govt.nz – 5 Stars – QKQ246 |
