BMW X4 M Competition earns bragging rights over Merc

Launched locally in 2020, BMW’s X4 M Competition was a first in the segment and promised scintillating performance.

But the reality was a little different and it came short in that one department it was meant to excel at.
Sure, it was fast in general for an SUV, but in the all-important recognised measured sprint parameter which many manufacturers stake their reputations on, the 0 to100 km/h, the X4 M Competition fell well short.

A sub-four-second claim would have made it quicker that its rival, the Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 S, sitting safe in the No 1 spot with a time of 3.99 seconds, and put it top of the pile. It instead returned a somewhat leisurely 4.77 seconds to 100km/h.

In high-performance terms this gap is huge and meant the X4 M Competition was nowhere on the charts. A massive let down.

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BMW sets record straight

Fast-forward a few years and with a bit of a nip and a tuck, BMW was ready to launch their updated X4 M Competition.

Stressing their performance pedigree against the clock once again, and in their exact words, “representing the peak of driving pleasure in a BMW X4 M is the BMW X4 M Competition.

It features numerous drivetrain and suspension technologies inspired by motorsport along with a high-performance M TwinPower Turbo inline six-cylinder petrol engine delivering 375 kW, an outstanding torque of 650 Nm and an impressive 0 to 100 km/h acceleration in just 3.8 seconds”.

These power and torque numbers were exactly as before, with just the torque band being a bit shorter and shifted slightly higher up the rev range from 2 750 rpm to 5 500 rpm, as opposed to
2 600 rpm (5 900 rpm previously). Based on what I was seeing on paper, I was expecting even worse numbers than before.

But, and it’s a big BUT, the one change BMW made to the launch control sequence was about to change these numbers.

Launch control, if you don’t know, is the software mechanism that allows the car to dial in the best revolutions per minute (rpm) and further controls the wheelspin in order for the car to get off the line in the quickest way possible, thus ensuring the best sprint times.

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Launch control

Most high-performance cars have a form of launch control, because without it you would just turn rubber into expensive smoke and not make a lot of progress. In the case of the BMW, that runs a conventional torque converter gearbox, launch control means stepping hard on the brake and flooring the accelerator.

Almost immediately you are shown a flag and a “launch control active” message in the instrument cluster. Let go of the brake and bullet away towards the horizon. Or not.

You see, on the previous X4 M Competition, the rpm dialled in by the car was not high enough, no time was allowed for any boost to build so the car essentially launched in lag and out of boost and took forever to get off the line.

The 0 to 20 km/h jump off the line tells me all I need to know about how quick a car is going to be. A fast sports car gets to 20 km/h in around half a second and a hot hatch around eight tenths of a second.

The X4 M Competition came in at a full 1.23 sec for this hop. A double cab diesel bakkie is quicker off the line than this.

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BMW bosses the battle

But the current generation BMW X4 M Competition has a step thrown in that says “preparing launch control”, and this means you must keep your foot on the brake for about two seconds longer while the car builds boost before you get the “launch control active” message, and only then let it go.

Think poked with a cattle prod and you will have some idea of how hard this updated X4 M Competition launches.

From a standstill, 20 km/h now comes up in just 0.45 seconds and the 0 to 100 km/h in a better than claimed 3.62 seconds.

The numbers which will see you spend time in jail see the X4 M Competition hit the quarter mile in 11.71 seconds at 192.55 km/h, the half mile at 232.55 km/h and sprint from 100 to 200 km in just 9.39 seconds.

This is enough to displace the Merc and give the BMW X4 M Competition bragging right.

Road test results