2024 BMW X5 M60i Review: Power Meets Practicality But It's Not A Fair Fight

On paper, the BMW X5 M60i could offer the best of both worlds. Start out with BMW's well-respected family SUV, a mainstay — and benchmark — of the segment with its combination of luxury, tech, and badge prestige. Then dispatch it to the M division, where BMW's capable in-house tuners drop in a beefy V8 engine and plenty of trimmings, though stop short of the more expensive — and less forgiving — X5 M Competition.

After all, when you've got speed, style, and extended Merino leather, what's not to love? All the same, with a still-plenty-potent X5 xDrive40i starting from $68k, and BMW's electrified X5 xDrive50e not far off the speed of the X5 M60i but from around $73k (and promising lower running costs, too), the $90k+ sticker for this M-blessed ride isn't an easy swallow.

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If BMW can deliver on its duality promise, the X5 M60i might be able to justify its price tag. The question, then, is whether this beefy SUV can indeed walk the line between performance and comfort, without sacrificing either.

Angry, but not too shouty with it. That's the best way to describe the X5 M60i's aesthetic, a meaner massaging of the standard SUV that includes the Shadowline trim package as standard, plus extra aero add-ons, chrome exhaust tips, and 20-inch M Star-spoke wheels as standard (swapped, it's worth noting, for arch packing 22-inch versions on this particular review car).

Under the hood is BMW's genuinely lovely 4.4-liter M TwinPower Turbo V8 — as found in the X6 M Competition — here tuned for 523 horsepower and 553 lb-ft of torque. It's a mild hybrid, paired with an eight-speed sport automatic transmission, and capable of propelling the X5 M60i from 0-60 mph in 4.2 seconds.

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This M-blessed version of the X5 isn't quite top of the tree for performance. That crown goes to the X5 M Competition, which coaxes a whopping 617 horsepower out of the 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 engine (though torque is unchanged). In return for your $124,800 (plus destination) — an almost $35k delta, before options — you trim the 0-60 mph time to a faintly ridiculous 3.7 seconds.

Around $90k is, of course, only the kicking-off point for X5 M60i ownership. As standard, you get the M Sport exhaust system and xDrive all-wheel drive; a Harman Kardon audio system; wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto; wireless phone charging; a head-up display; and front and rear parking sensors. The front seats are heated and ventilated, there's a panoramic moonroof, and a decent suite of safety tech including frontal collision warning, active blind spot detection, and lane-departure warnings.

This particular example added $5,000 for the British Racing Green paint — a finish which turned more heads than I expected it to — and $1,900 for the 22-inch M wheels. Factor in another $300 for the carbon fiber trim and $650 for the M Sport Professional package.

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Then there's $2,100 for the Driving Assistance Pro package — with Active Driving Assistant Pro and Highway Assistant, which can do hands-off driver-assistance on pre-mapped stretches of controlled-access highway — and $900 for the Parking Assistant Package, with its 360-degree camera, parking sensors, and parking assistance. $1,650 throws in glass dashboard controls and the fairly gimmicky gesture control that responds to waving at the infotainment screen.

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With the $1,950 Extended Merino Leather, $1,000 Climate Comfort Package — upgrading the climate control to quad-zone, adding heated seats to the front and rear, and heating the front armrests, too — plus $995 destination, this 2024 X5 M60i landed at $105,745. Still well under the true M version, but certainly not cheap.

On the road, the X5 M60i feels like two SUV extremes. The Adaptive M Suspension tune in the default Comfort mode is compliant to the point of downright soft, rewarding placid driving lest those in the back complain of body movement. The steering is heavily power-assisted, a boon for maneuvers — especially paired with the standard rear-axle steering — but short on feedback. It's certainly comfortable, but it loses composure if you start to lean into that V8's grunt.

Switch to Sport mode, meanwhile, and things firm up considerably. There's definitely less bounce and body roll, and the drivetrain unlocks more aggression. Clicking the crystal shifter back into "S" encourages holding gears until further into the rev range (or you can snap at the paddles yourself), but even without it, the X5 M60i is a fast and urgent sports SUV. It's definitely fun if you're taking the long route home on your own, though with passengers the extra angst came at the detraction of cosseting.

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By way of compromise, the programmable Sport Individual mode allows you to have your pick of engine, transmission, suspension, and other settings. I found the suspension set to sport, but the drivetrain in comfort was a more balanced everyday combination. Sadly, there's no dedicated "Individual" shortcut (nor the M1/M2 custom triggers on the steering wheel that full M cars have enjoyed recently), so you have to cycle through the modes to access it each time.

Drive mode settings — like just about everything else — are handled via the X5's expansive 14.9-inch central touchscreen, running BMW OS 8.5. It's joined in one smooth sweep of glass with a 12.3-inch display that serves as an instrument cluster; both support various layouts and themes, that vary according to drive mode. Those colors extend out into the dashboard, courtesy of embedded ambient lighting.

With the carbon package option, the X5's trim is fingerprint-loving glossy carbon fiber. Alternatively, there's an array of open-pore or high-gloss wood options. Little joysticks (which feel somewhat plasticky, an odd lapse among otherwise high-quality touchpoints) control the partly hidden air vents, while there are USB ports and cupholders in a covered front cubby. A dedicated volume key and track-skip buttons are still included, but the shortcut key row familiar from other BMW models isn't.

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Second-row seating is raised, slightly, delivering decent visibility for back seat passengers despite the X5's climbing shoulder line. They get plenty of USB power ports, too. As for the trunk, which offers 33.9 cu-ft behind BMW's two-piece power tailgate; drop the rear seats, and it expands to 72.3 cu-ft. Fuel economy clocked in at 17 mpg with my own, mixed driving, a slight dip from the 19 mpg combined EPA estimate.

I enjoyed the X5 M60i more than my passengers did, I discovered. Comfort mode's extra-compliant ride rewards light-footed, gentle driving, unless you want to get unhappy feedback from the back seat. The problem is, with a punchy V8 to play with, demonstrating such restraint left me feeling like I was wasting the BMW's talents.

Switching to the sportier settings definitely unlocked more fun from behind the wheel, though I'm not sure how much everyone else in the X5 appreciated that. For once, I found myself missing modern BMW M cars' wild array of individually customizable drivetrain settings. In the past that has felt overwhelming, but the X5 M60i is crying out for more granular adjustment, or at the very least a "Normal" mode midway between Comfort and Sport.

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Overall, the X5 M60i feels like a sports SUV that's willing to concede on its principles for more everyday driving. For BMW fans with deep pockets, and who still want some V8 glamour in their lives, that's likely where the desired balance falls. All the same, it's probably worth test-driving the plug-in hybrid X5, too, to see if BMW's nearly as torque-rich PHEV delivers similar thrills for less money and with the bonus of some purely electric range.