A German tuner has tuned the BMW X5 M up to 690bhp

Let’s talk wheels. German tuner G-Power would like to take this opportunity to talk about its fancy new alloys, built from ‘ultra-light aircraft-grade aluminium’.

They’re light, then. And because these forged alloys made from aircraft-grade aluminium are so ultra-light, they present less unsprung mass. Which means the thing that’s giving the zing to the sprung bit can do so even more, um, zingily. Even if the sprung bit is far from ultra-light itself.

690bhp of zing, to be precise. Taking BMW’s 4.4-litre, twin-turbocharged V8 from the X5 M – itself a 567bhp bruiser and therefore no slouch – G-Power offers the option of a new ECU, or the opportunity to remap BMW’s X5 M ECU.

Together with a less restrictive stainless-steel exhaust system and the deletion of the top speed limiter, G-Power reckons on a 690bhp power output, 667lb ft of torque, and a max speed “raised to a theoretical value that cannot be achieved in practice”. We'll just leave that there without comment.

So, a good slug over 155mph, then. Did the X5 M – already capable of accelerating from 0-62mph in 4.2s, and therefore quicker than the new M2 – really need any more power or torque? Or, indeed, lightweight aluminium wheels?