These are the first engine shots of that mysterious BMW X5
prototype which started all those X5M rumors. Although the rather
roughly finished engine bay doesn't give away the cylinder count and
the displacement, it looks to us that this prototype is twin-
turbocharged. The dual air-intake treatment looks similar to the
ducting on BMW's 3.0-liter twin-turbo engine. Given all of this X5
prototype's high-octane modifications, we're assuming this is a larger
displacement engine, perhaps even a twin-turbo V8. Regardless of the
specifics, we're just glad to finally see a little deeper inside this
beefy X5 prototype to get a glimpse at the heart of the beast. It
still doesn't fully confirm whether or not this X5 will be M-badged,
but our gut tells us that it won't. We're leaning toward other
reports that say this version will slot in where the X5 4.8is used to
be--plenty bad-ass, but not worthy of the hallowed M badge, if for no
other reason than it's SUV packaging creates to many compromises to
live up to the M heritage.