Sharp Tank

Part-SUV, part-coupe. The idea isn’t new anymore but the X4 is possibly the best of its kind so far

- Girish karkera

 Greenville in South Carolina is a typical American countryside. Picket-fenced wooden houses with private pools, lush gardens, sometimes merging seamlessly into the neighbour’s garden, wide roads, acres of green cover, hot dog stands and weird weather patterns. Interestingly, this place is also home to a type of vehicle that also has strong American influence – SUVs. However, it is German car maker BMW which set up a factory here to manufacture these big ones, exclusively. Big for people like us and most of Europe but not so much for the Americans.

When BMW started its SUV story with the X5, the factory in Spartanburg, Greenville, was the first outside of Germany to be commissioned. Thanks to its success, there has been no turning back. So, unsurprisingly, when it was time to unveil the latest product for this segment, we were brought in despite the erratic rainfall.

The X4, like its older sibling the X6, made most cringe with the way it looked. The first-gen coupe, which broke cover only four years ago, was based on an X3 platform and looked like a stunted version of the X6, which back then wasn’t known for its design flair itself. Over the years, the proportions have been chiselled and the face given a nip and tuck. These new-age SUV coupes are actually quite well-accepted now which has prompted even other car makers to follow suit. Surprisingly, although the X4 didn’t do too badly, BMW thankfully, figured that it had to do something about the car’s looks. So, in pretty quick time, this bigger, second-gen version has arrived equipped with sharper features, new interiors and a new topspec M version too which is what we drove around BMW’s SUV base.