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Now it used to be, SUV, the middle letter stood for utility.
Now there's all kinds of variance of SUVs that are less about utility and more about style.
And we're in one of them right now.
Let's drive it.
A new model.
All from BMW.
Let's check the tech.
Now what an X4 is depends on your frame of reference.
If you're coming from X3, this would be the coupe-like.
Slightly less practical version of that vehicle.
Built on the same basic platform, [UNKNOWN] comes from a point reference of the X6, the original coupe UV.
This is a shrunken version but not on the same platform.
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Now inside the X4 is a familiar place if you know anything about three or four series.
Cars in general.
You know the iDrive interface has become a very excellent place.
We control it here with this controller that turns, kicks, and clicks, but you also got a nice size touchpad, that as we'll see, writes very quickly with your finger.
Also familiar to BMW buyers will be the fact they nickel and dimed you to death for everything.
Rear camera's extra, heated seats are extra, navigation's extra, traffic is extra, bumper sensors for parking is extra.
A lot of things go on top of that base price.
We have built in connectivity that particularly is good at powering online search for destinations.
You do get some satellite imagery on this vehicle, but only to the one mile resolution.
Then it drops down below that.
And you can go back to pure graphics.
Audi cars as far as introducing 4G and it's transformative in the vehicle plus they've pushed satellite imagery all the way down to full magnification.
Speaking of our connectivity, a lot of folks are not familiar with this.
This is a cradle for in this case your iOS device.
I've got an iPod touch here now, but your iPhone would go there, and as you see, it's got a lightning connector there, a little spring that pops it up, a little cooling fan down there in fact.
When you dock this in here, you take advantage of shore powers, so you're always charging, and neatly, and it connects to an external antennae.
I like that.
And, of course, BMWs these days all have just about every media source you'd care about and pretty much none you don't need to care about.
Your music collection refers to your hard drive.
I would never use that.
I don't think you would, either.
External devices are more interesting.
I've got a USB jack underneath that phone cradle bluetooth streaming and of course an auxiliary jack for the old school devises.
Of course we have AM, FM, HD radio and satellite radio.
Satellite radio is extra too as I recall.
You have four drive modes in this vehicle which is fairly classic BMW stuff starting at the bottom, the least responsive is Eco Pro, which you can configure what that does.
Then you've got a comfort level, sport and sport plus where it starts to pull back some of the stability control, but not all.
All the X's are, of course, powered by an eight speed automatic regardless of which power train you pick up.
Now if you're under the prows it's a dead give away that we had the little engine because look how much space sits right here in front of it.
That's where the rest would go if you had the in-line.
In fact, we have the 2-liter in-line four, with direct injection, complexly variable valve timing, as well as a twin [UNKNOWN] single turbo; just about all the greatest hits of modern engineering.
The numbers are pretty good on paper, certainly; 240 horse, 258 [UNKNOWN] torque; that's more important, especially for a vehicle like this.
Because it over 4,100 pounds but still gets to 60 in a pretty tidy 6 seconds flat.
MPG is 20/28.
That 20 makes me a little nervous around town.
Inline six is only one MPG thirstier.
Lets go for a ride and see which one we'd really like to have.
Underway, nice little start for this inline four.
Especially.
Especially when you get on the paddles to wind it out or put in sport or sport plus.
Ride quality's really good.
Handling is pretty sharp.
I don't feel the need for the dynamic suspension that is an option.
This one's got a nice balance of, of handling and cornering as well as a good, compliant ride.
What I would like to do is try that inline six.
If you're buying one of these.
These you've gotta head to head test drive them.
This care just feels like it's a little bit much for the engine, also crappy rear visibility because of the coupe roofline, you've got this kind of U-shaped eyebrow on the rear window, you can't see a damn thing out of the back of this car.
Now, as I mentioned, you're gonna get nickeled and dimed when you set this car up, and I wish it was just nickels and dimes.
We start about mid-45's for this car delivered with absolutely nothing added and then go CNet style from there.
The big one, $3,150 for the tech package, and then you've got $700 bucks for driver assistance, that's where your rear cam comes in.
Driver assistance plus is nearly $2,000.
A lighting package to go LED and auto high beam is nearly 2 grand.
That cool phone cradle's about 500 bucks and blessedly we're under $1,000 to add Harman Kardon surround sound audio.
Eh, still, we're about $55,000, and that's for the little engine.
Now for that six that I think's a smarter go, that's another $3,300.
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