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Up until a few years ago, several things were forbidden
at BMW M GmbH, for example:
four-wheel drive, diesel, building practical cars
which are fuel efficient.
But nonetheless, here we are driving
the BMW M550d xDrive.
In which "xDrive" means: four-wheel drive,
and the "d" stands for, as you expect, diesel.
So this is a complete new line,
the BMW M performance line.
Because as you know we have the M3 and M5,
which are true icons in car land.
But if we take a peek at the neighbors,
we find the RS-model, also true icons...
...and the smaller gods, but still very cool cars
which are named by an "S" followed by a number.
And BMW didn't want to stay behind, so they
sort of duplicated this, in their own way.
Because this is the 550d,
but it has a straight-six engine with a volume of 3 liters.
We already know this trick from
the 3 liter diesel with 2 turbos...
... which is available as a 35d and 40d,
and now also as a 50d.
And that is basically because
this is not a regular turbo diesel,
but a twinpower turbo with as many as 3 turbos, three!
And these turbos themselves
are good for a long explanation:
Below 1500 rpm only one small turbo is active,
because there are not enough exhaust fumes
available to build up the pressure.
Above 1500 rpm an extra, larger, turbo gets activated,
so in total two turbos are active.
Now these two turbos are blowing
lots of air into the cylinders.
Now, above 2700 rpm turbo number three gets activated,
which is also a small one with a variable geometry
And from there on, the three turbos work
together to produce all the power possible.
And it works really really good!
Something else that's really good about this diesel engine,
is that the red line is placed at 5400 rpm.
Although, this is an 8-gear automatic transmission
which automatically shifts gear at 4900 rpm.
So the 500 bonus rpm are only available if you use
the gearshift paddles behind the M sport steering wheel.
But it is possible, and even at a high rpm
there's still more than enough power available.
Really amazing!
The best way to drive this car is in
what I call the "relaxed cruising mode"...
... which for most people means: driving insanely fast.
Not at full throttle, but there're still those huge waves
of power making sure that you take over everyone else effortless...
...and that you are always the fastest one
at the traffic lights, which feels simply amazing.
There're also the numbers that we have to discuss:
381 hp, out of a 3 liter diesel engine,
which means 127 hp per liter.
Which is out of the ordinary!
At 1400 to 1500 rpm and up,
more than enough torque is available...
...making you go incredibly fast.
And between 2000 and 3000 rpm the maximum,
but nicely flattened, torque of 740 Nm is available.
And you absolutely notice this during driving,
this is the best rpm interval to drive this car.
But it also means that you can use the complete potential
of this car between 1500 and 5400 rpm.
Which is a pretty large rpm range for a diesel.
And all this results in some pretty amazing numbers:
the top speed is, as you expect,
limited at 250 km/h (156 mph)...
...and the speed gauge is also limited at 260 km/h (162 mph),
so BMW does not give you any bonus speed.
The sprint from 0-60 mph takes only 4,7 seconds,
which is really fast for a car like this.
BMW already announced that the M550d
will also be available as a touring with the same engine.
This engine will also be used in the X5 and X6,
but we also noticed a wrapped 7-serie with a diesel sound...
so we thought: it will be completely understandable
if BMW will introduce this engine in the 7-serie.
And it will be extremely cool if an M350d,
without xDrive, will be released...
... but well, we all know that's not going to happen.
But I think we can manage without..
Furthermore, the M performance line,
think of it as the M sport package...
...which gives you nicer bumpers, mirror covers in,
let me look it up, ferric gray metallic.
It all looks better than a regular 5-serie,
but not nearly as extreme as a M5.
And this basically describes the whole car:
not as hardcore as an M5,
but because of that much more useful.
But there's also the 550i with a gasoline engine
and the recognizable V8 sound.
That one is also available with
an M sport package and four-wheel drive...
...but then the M sign is not visible in the coding of the car.
And I like to think of it like this:
if you want to drive diesel, you better buy the fastest one.