Naz and Gixxer... Thank you for defending me. :thumbup: I thought it was clear that I was just joking around...maybe not. :dunno:

LeMans, sorry for the repost... I did a search and it resulted in 500 hits... I was too lazy to figure out if someone had mentioned this before.

The X5M's first production year was 2010. This letter was from 2002...

No X5 should carry an M badge unless it does 12 sec runs like all the other M's. Just saying

[QUOTE=The Dude;839501]Just kidding...

But it does seem that BMW may have originally considered tagging the the 4.6 as an M. I recently purchased a 2002 4.6 and received all the original paperwork from the previous owner. One of the documents was a letter from the Vice President of Marketing congratulating the owner on the purchase of "your new BMW X5 M."

I found this very interesting and thought I would share... Anyways, the M badges arrive in the mail soon..can't wait! :rofl:


He said J/K, then said it again?:confused: I say he was feeling the water on responses to see if he should admit it or not.
Just saying. :dunno:

By that metric an E34 M5 would not be an M as it was good for 14sec quarter mile runs. But M cars are about a lot more than just speed. Leave that to AMG. M's are about balance - handling, feel, braking, accelleration - maybe in that order.

That said, the X5 4.6is isn't quite an M. It's a nice Alpina package, but not an M car. I don't think they should have done the newer X5-M either.

I apologize for starting this thread. My intentions were not to start a debate or discuss the qualifications of applying an M badge. The opening line of the thread was just a way to get people's attention because I knew it was a contentious subject.

All I really wanted to do was share the letter. I found it very curious. Why did the letter (from BMW NA to a new owner) refer to the 4.6 as an X5 M? Was it a typo? Did BMW consider doing additional performance enhancements and later scrapped the idea? Was it just internal BMW lingo to reference the 4.6? Or did BMW originally create the 4.6 as an M and later realized it didn't quite deserve the M status? I just thought it was interesting. Remember...this letter was sent to one of the first 4.6 owners back in 2002.

Again, sorry for my inability to communicate my original intent. There is no debate here...just sharing.

P.S. I was never planning on getting M badges nor was I testing the water for responses. Just to be clear... :banghead:

You communicated just fine. Reading is fundamental and some don't bother to read. :tsk:

This may be myth, and I am sure someone will chime in...but I was told they didn't M badge it because it was an automatic.

I got the same letter when I purchased my 02 4.6is. I'm glad someone was able to find one. There's been long debate that this "M" letter really existed...................Phil

Didn't know if the letter was a later year one or not. Guess that solves that then! :) I think everyone pretty much knew this was the situation with them anyway though.

BTW, I would never put an M badge on my X5! (however I just may put a supercharger on it and go look for an M-car to play with!)

...Oh wait, I have an M3 steering wheel that has a small M at the bottom... Does that count?