BMW’s turbo engines have radically changed the M ownership experience. While many lament the loss of BMW’s normally aspirated powerplants for their ability to give every owner a race car like experience on the street or on the track, few can deny the ability of the new turbo powerplants to ignite an internal horsepower war within BMW M’s very own walls. With each turbo car released by the M division, the bar is raised progressively higher. Compounded with consistent under-rating of M’s turbo cars, the turbo era does have some welcome perks.
All of us at IND were therefore thrilled to dyno test our new X5M, and brought it to our friends at AMS Performance at our first opportunity. AMS Performance very kindly opened their busy tuning schedule to accommodate our X5M on their DynoJet dynamometer, and the results were at once pleasing, surprising, and yet all too familiar for fans of BMW M turbo engines.
Our X5M roared to an astounding 535 SAE corrected all wheel horsepower, without breaking a sweat, in completely factory form. We are of course thrilled at the real world power output of the car! The powerband is incredibly linear (something which all X5M owners can attest to), and the car so clearly has ample power on tap.
We are excited to have taken this first step with our X5M, and are thrilled to move forward with the project. Stay tuned for more updates!
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