Our new 2026 X5 M-Sport 40i X-Drive

03-06-2026

Here it is!

2026 BMW X5 M40i
Skyscaper grey, black sensafin interior
M Sport package (non-shadowline)
Premium essentials package with heated and cooled cup holders
Glass controls
Tow package
740M wheels with all seasons
Blue calipers

I swapped out the silver grille for an OEM black shadowline grille, ceramic tint (35%) and did a three year Feynlab ceramic coating.

Absolutely love it. No additional mods planned at this time but looking forward to racking up the miles on this thing. This will be my wife’s DD (I have a 2025 SSG M4 manual as well)

Few pictures: (and a couple of the M4)

Will also post thoughts later on the differences and similarities between the ‘22 X7 we traded in on this car.

An image attached to this post, provided by the poster

03-07-2026

So I wanted to provide a few thoughts comparing the 2022 X7 we traded in to the new X5. We owned the X7 for 4 years and put over 117K on it.

Ride:
- The X5 drives more like a performance sedan than an SUV.
- You can really notice the shorter wheelbase (in a good way)
- We went with stock suspension (EDC struts and regular steel springs) on 20inch 740M wheels
- X5 ride is a bit firmer than the X7 in comfort but the X5 in sport is way less crashy than the X7 in sport mode

For me there’s no comparison, I greatly prefer the X5.

The X7 was more barge like, tippy in the corners but very comfortable on long HW trips due to the air suspension and long wheelbase.
The X7 had an air suspension failure post warranty and the parts alone (with discount) were ~$4K and labour $1K to fix. Since we plan to keep the X5 long term I didn’t want to deal with all that hassle.

Interior / Storage / Carrying capacity
- This was one of my biggest gripes with the X7. With the captains chairs you can’t fold the seats flat and it takes forever for the 2nd and 3rd row electric seats to do their thing. We cart a lot of stuff back and forth to our boat and this was just a giant pain for both of us.
- The third row electric seats are not only slow but prone to failure (ours were finicky but never completely failed)
- In the X5 you can fold the rear seats down in literally 2 seconds.
- The captains chairs were more comfortable than the rear bench of the X5 but they are still more than decent and the positives really outweigh the negatives
- Leather quality in the X7 was a step up from the Sensafin in the X5 but I find the seats very comfortable. They are a bit warmer than leather but still very nice.

Driving / Performance
- The LCI X5s are beasts acceleration wise, I am very impressed. I have a dragy so will do some 0-60mph tests but if this thing doesn’t do mid 4’s 0-60mph I’d be shocked. It is way faster than our X7, there’s no comparison
- Braking on the X5 is stronger, likely do to the lower weight, shorter wheel base and lack of air suspension
- Everything about the X5 is just so much more dynamic, acceleration, handling and braking.

Other thoughts:
Part of the reason we traded in the X7 was due to all the electronics and points of failure in the vehicle. We had an air suspension failure, the rear seats were finicky, the soft close doors drove me mad. (If you close the door and had to immediately open them again because you forgot something, it’d would still continue to try and stay shut).

Since we’re keeping this X5 at least 7 years I wanted greater simplicity and less points of failure. Standard struts and springs, no soft close, manual release seats, manual peasant blockers.

We do a lot of towing (We towed a 5-6K lb trailer about 20K km total on the X7) so I’ll post back thoughts on the differences there once the snow melts.

Hope this was helpful for anyone considering making a switch.

03-07-2026

Well written. Thanks for sharing your thoughts

03-15-2026

Is the X5 40i badged as an M in Canada?

03-15-2026

2025G0540i wrote
Is the X5 40i badged as an M in Canada?

It’s not, (not on the outside) only the M60i and M Comp are.

03-15-2026

6SPDG82 wrote
It’s not, (not on the outside) only the M60i and M Comp are.

OK same as the US. You called it an M40i so just checking. I know the X3 has an M40 in the US and sometimes other Countries have different variants.

03-17-2026

2025G0540i wrote
OK same as the US. You called it an M40i so just checking. I know the X3 has an M40 in the US and sometimes other Countries have different variants.

Oh thanks good, catch, I meant to type M-Sport X40i.

03-17-2026

Feynlab ceramic applied and looks amazing.

Here are a few pictures and a video the vendor (Dre’s Auto detailing) did for Instagram.

I have Feynlab on my M4 and it has held up great so far.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DV1AZ0IEZDc/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

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Our new 2026 X5 M-Sport 40i X-Drive