BMW X4 xDrive 30d M-Pack

BMW is spending a lot of time trying to make sure that it builds a car that suits every need. Some of it amazes me in how horribly it’s diluting what always represented such a solid brand. I mean I have come to see those Bavarian cars to be what our first love Alfa Romeo should have become.

I understood the move to its X models that’s what the world wants and it makes bloody good business sense and I’ve thrived on the X5 since. But those flappy GTs, the first ‘Sport Activity Coupé’ and these new front-wheel drive contraptions get my goat. BMW has other badges like Isetta, Triumph and Morris that it could have used for those, never mind that the way of the world has caused M break its solemn old promises.

So when this second Sport Activity Coupe raised its head, I was kind of expecting it to be ugly. But it isn’t. The best way to really get to know a car is to live in it for a few days so often short stints in test cars miss quite a bit occasionally even the whole point, but basing a road test on a trip to the Kruger National Park certainly overcomes that.

We left from Jo’burg early the Thursday and headed down the N4. Firstly, despite its fastback hatchback, X4 gobbled up all our extensive baggage and perhaps a bit too much tuck in its more than adequate boot so we never had any unnecessary extras stashed between the passengers. Added to that we were all quickly very comfortable in that familiar BMW nest now boasting the latest switchgear and quite sensible one-touch defence net controls. I did my best to impress the kids with all that connected tech as I explained the finer points of Belfast and Dullstroom’s altitude and the escarpment using virtue the Connected Drive and navigation as my tools. I may have succeeded.

Anyway, we were pushing on; running with some fastermoving traffic and X4 was already excelling at well under seven litres per hundred and when asked, that latest Bavarian inline-six oilburner proved an absolute jewel.

At the Park we loved the comforts and amenities of the smaller Sports Activity Coupé  there’s no real compromise in space inside and while it isn’t the best place to do an Economy Run, it proved frugal enough and was still well below 7l/100km by the time we left, this time out over Abel Erasmus Pass, dodging potholes, goats and local souls.

That all proved X4 exceptional on the road with precise handling, great roadholding and a particular poise I have come to expect from a BMW X car, although X4 is somewhat thwarted by a benign steering.

Those driving conditions also caused me to breathe a s,igh of relief that we had the economically biased 17-inch wheels on our xDrive3.0d otherwise we may have been just another pothole casually among the many we saw on that wretched road, but by the time we’d completed our 1500-odd kilometre drive, we’d become quite attached to our ride for the week after a stunning game-rich week at what still has to be one of SA’s finest assets.

On the road back we stopped for lunch with the dusty X4 parked on the lawn below and discussed its looks. Lacking the imposing, perhaps overbearing stature of the X6, the smaller Sports Activity Coupé looks quite the part it pulls it off far better than its bigger brethren coupés, 4x4 or not, should be stylish and smaller X6 is not, but X4 is smaller and quite surprisingly we were unanimous in our approval of its look.

Back home we strapped our test kit to the car and once again, we were delighted with the result would you believe that this car is just as quick as a triple-turbo X6 M50d? Not only that, but its almost-matching claimed 5.8 second 0-100 (which we matched in our tests) and 5.7l/100km (which I managed when I tried) prove just how far BMW has come in its awesome turbodiesel 4x4s.

To put that into better perspective, this genre of luxurious 4x4s goes back to when I was at school in the 1970s, when Land Rover launched the then pretty incredible Range Rover. Back then the Range was an incredible device I got to know it very well when the old man bought one and it lived alongside his BMW 2002ti in the garage two cars that were predominant in forming a pretty significant window through which I still today consider the automotive world.

What’s the point of that? Well that V8 juggernaut Range Rover similarly had almost matching claimed performance 16.5 seconds 0-100km/h and 16.7l/100km. So if you’d have told me back then that a diesel BMW would manage what this X4 achieved 40 years later, I’m pretty sure I’d have told you that you were smoking your socks.

As I said, I have always condoned BMW’s X cars. This one just goes to prove how good they really are…

Engine:  2993cc turbodiesel DOHC 16V I6
Bore & stroke  90 x 84 mm
Compression Ratio  16.5:1
Max Power  290kW @ 4000rpm
Specific Power  63kW/litre
Power to Weight  105kW/ton
Max Torque  560Nm @ 1500-3000rpm
Specific Torque  187Nm/litre
Torque to Weight  311Nm/ton
Mass 1820kg
Suspension F  double-joint spring-strut axle
Suspension R  5-link lightweight
Steering  Electromechanical rack and pinion, power assisted
Brakes F  Single-calliper floating disc
Brakes R  Single-calliper floating disc
Drivetrain  Front Engine, AWD
Transmission 8-speed automatic
Wheels  7.5j x 17 alloy
Tyres 225/60 R17
Warranty  2 years, unlimited
Service plan  5 years/100 000km
Roadside Assistance  Yes
Base Price  R832 000