BMW X5 M60 or Mercedes GLE 580 or GLE 53 or Audi SQ8?
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0:00 - Intro

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BAD:

0:54 - Expensive

The X5 M60i starts at a whopping $89,300
The GLE53 starts at a whole 11k less - at 78,100
BUT that’s a straight 6, so let’s compare the GLE580, which is a much more comparable 85k
And then there’s the Audi SQ8, which is kind of a competitor here, but the Q8 is a weird fit within the lineup - anyway the SQ8 starts at $95,500 and according to the Audi website currently you can’t even buy an RSQ8 so i think something weird is going on

2:10 - Naming confusion

This LCI year for the X5 really shakes things up - you’re got AT LEAST a mild hybrid on everything and now the PHEVs are more robust, etc BUT there’s some confusion at the sporty-end of the lineup with the Ms

Last year you could get an X5 M50i - which brought great power and speed from the addition of the 4.4TT V8

From there you would jump up to the X5M, and everyone knew what that meant - S designation M engine, reworked suspension, diffs, etc

And from there you could squeeze out a little more performance from the X5M Comp

But for 2024 there’s a big change

There’s the X5 M60i and then a straight jump to the X5M Comp

This is because almost nobody was ordering an X5M non-comp

So now the M60i slots between the old M50i and base M, but gets a big engine upgrade we’ll talk about later

But in any case, if you’re wondering why there’s no more M50 or no more M that’s why


3:13 - Nitpicks

Custom ambient light only available in comfort mode (sport red, eco blue)
Heated steering wheel no longer on the steering wheel
Can’t fold the rear seats from the trunk


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GOOD:

4:18 - The Engine

This new M60i now gets the S68 true M engine.
It’s a familiar one at 4.4TTV8
But now it’s got a 48V mild hybrid system integrated into it to help fuel economy but it ALSO has a fun little trick

If you hold the downshift paddle you’ll enter “Sprint” mode which will dump an extra 40 electric hp into the car for 10 seconds of added pace. The electric energy is then almost immediately recouped and you can do it again - amazing!

This M60i is obviously detuned compared to the M Compeition though

Here you’re making 523 hp and 553 lbft

And that’s good enough to do 0-60 in 4.1 seconds..allegedly less than half a second slower than the M Competition


5:26 - The new look

I’ve said in last summer’s X5M comp video that I think the X5 is the best looking midsize SUV from the Germans and they’ve made some updates for the LCI year here and I still think that old statement holds true

7:11 - The New Interior design

Of course the big story is the addition of iDrive 8 with it’s MASSIVE dual screens
And they put almost everything in the screens including
Wireless ACP
Some of the best 360 cameras in the business
Cool ambient light, though not as cool as Mercedes
But now the heated steering wheel button is in the screen too and that’s mildly annoying
On the M60 and M Comp it says M on the dash
But you’ve also got crystal for your
Start stop button
Drive selector tab thing
And iDrive wheel

8:18 - The Drive

9:43 - Luxuries

You’ve got heated and cooled seats
And you CAN option 8 way massage if you want
You’ve got the heated steering wheel
AND you can even get heated armrests…super cool
You’ve got an awesome Harmon Kardon sound system as standard
But you CAN upgrade to the crazy Bowers and Wilkins 4D audio
And then my favorite thing…a pano roof
But not JUST a pano roof…you can get the Skylounge roof that’s embedded with LEDs to simulate something similar to the ROlls Royce starry night headliner we just saw in the Ghost

10:26 - Trunk

First of all, it’s nice a big - the PHEV will have a smaller trunk because they have to have some place to put the battery BUT on the whole it’s nice and big
The seats do fold…but not from the back…annoying
BUT the floor also comes up, which is pretty normal and you have a secret cubby
BUT the cool thing is that you have a strut that will hold up the trunk floor…which i’ve never seen before and is certainly overkill, but kinda cool

And ofcourse I love that it split folds as it has for decades..never change…also you can tow 7200 lbs


11:04 - Rear seats

They’re spacious for legroom and headroom
They’re a great material and have fancy stitching
They can be heated
And you get your own climate zone back here
AND some shades
And you get the travel screen thing where you can mount your iPad and plug it in right into the back of the front seat…clever

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11:43 - Conclusion