There was genuine doubt the BMW X4 would survive at all. Now it’s back as the iX4, a fully electric Neue Klasse vehicle, and on paper it looks like a decisive upgrade. The M60 variant produces 603 hp and 645 lb-ft of torque, making it the most powerful X4 ever built.
But the numbers tell a more complicated story than BMW’s marketing team might prefer. The outgoing X4 M Competition made 503 hp and hit 100 km/h in a BMW-estimated 3.8 seconds. The new iX4 M60, with a hundred more horsepower on tap, does the same sprint in 3.9 seconds.
An extra 100 hp buys you a tenth of a second slower to 62 mph. Electric torque is instant, but so is the penalty of hauling a battery pack that BMW hasn’t disclosed the weight of.
Top speed drops even more noticeably. The F98 X4 M ran to 178 mph. The iX4 M60 is electronically capped at 149 mph.
That’s a 29 mph haircut, and while few owners will ever explore that delta, it tells you something about where priorities have shifted.
Dimensionally, BMW deserves credit for restraint. The iX4 is only half an inch longer, two inches wider in wheelbase, and actually stands half an inch shorter than the G02. In an era of ballooning EV proportions, keeping the footprint nearly identical is a real engineering achievement.
The coupe-SUV silhouette remains intact, the sloping roofline still terminates in a spoiler, and 22-inch wheels fill the arches with more authority than before.
The exterior evolution is tasteful if predictable. Higher beltline, Neue Klasse face, larger tail lights. The M-specific mirrors from the old car are gone, and so is the little roof spoiler.
These are small losses, but they added up to a visual sharpness the new car hasn’t quite replaced.
Inside is where the real rupture happens. The Panoramic Vision display replaces traditional gauges entirely, and BMW’s new steering wheel design is going to split the audience right down the middle. Physical buttons have been swapped for haptic surfaces, a trade that prioritizes clean aesthetics over tactile certainty.
The panoramic glass roof is fixed now; the old car’s unit actually opened. Leather remains optional, but the overall character of the cabin has changed so fundamentally that returning X4 owners will need a moment to orient themselves.
The tech stack sounds similar on a feature-by-feature basis. Navigation, wireless charging, head-up display, app integration, all present in both generations. The iX4 adds voice commands and deeper customization through the Neue Klasse software layer, but nothing that qualifies as a leap rather than a step.
What BMW has built is a faster, more efficient, more technologically dense vehicle that simultaneously feels less distinct. The X4 M Competition had a twin-turbo straight-six that screamed its intentions. The iX4 M60 has dual electric motors and a silence that, depending on your disposition, is either refined or vacant.
The real question isn’t whether the iX4 is better. By most measurable criteria, it is. The question is whether measurable criteria are the only ones that matter to the people who actually bought X4 Ms.
Those buyers chose a niche coupe-SUV specifically because it had an edge that more sensible BMWs didn’t. That buyer now faces a vehicle with more torque, less speed, no engine note, and a cabin full of screens where knobs used to be.
BMW says the iX4 will arrive at dealerships in the coming months. Pricing hasn’t been announced. Neither has battery capacity or range, two details that tend to matter when the car in question no longer visits gas stations.
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