The first official showing of the highly anticipated BMW X3 M and BMW X4 M took place today on the Nurburgring, just ahead of this weekend’s DTM stage. BMW took the two SUVs out for a couple of laps to show us what to expect in a few months, when they will actually be unveiled. Unfortunately, the two cars were under heavy camouflage so we can’t really see how they look like. Nevertheless, BMW did confirm a couple of rumors.

Continue Reading Below

One of them was the new engine. BMW hasn’t confirmed the specs or the codename, but they did say “the technological highlight of the BMW X3 M and BMW X4 M is a newly developed straight six-cylinder engine with M TwinPower Turbo technology and high-revving characteristics.”

That’s the S58 engine, ladies and gentlemen, an M-tuned version of the B58 3-liter straight six mill, with at least 450 HP at its disposal. And while that may not seem like a huge improvement for some, the new engine is important not just for the X3 and X4 models but also for other M cars to be launched in the future.

However, the bigger news seems to be the confirmation of the M xDrive transmission which is set to be used by the BMW X3 M and BMW X4 M models. This was probably a bigger question that was left unanswered until today. BMW confirmed it by saying: “part of the development process is the specific tuning of the M xDrive technology introduced for the first time in the new BMW M5. This technology is deployed in the BMW X3 M and BMW X4 M to ensure constant supreme and performance-oriented transfer of engine power to all four wheels.”

That means the X3 M and X4 M models will become the first M SUVs to use the new M xDrive system which allows you to basically choose where the power goes. The X5 M and X6 M models never had this tricky transmission available and we can only be happy BMW decided to offer it to its newest M cars. This will make the upcoming super-SUVs probably the only ones in the world which can send all of their power to the rear axle while on the track.

BMW M president, Frank van Meel, said: “With their M specific performance characteristics, the BMW X3 M and BMW X4 M will set benchmarks in terms of dynamics in their respective vehicle segment.”

The official launch just can’t seem to come soon enough.