I think that it also has to with putting a lot of weight very high up. SUVs have a very high center of gravity already and by adding weight on the top of the car, you can actually move it up to the point that avoidance maneuvers can cause rollovers. I mean, most SUVs you can roll in an avoidance maneuver already, without even hitting a curb (I would expect that the E53 falls into that category).


The reason I say that is because in newer SUVs in the past 10 years, they are subject to much more stringent rollover tests, which require the roof to be two or three times stronger, but the roof cargo ratings have not gone up from SUVs made 20 years ago. Most new SUV roof load limits are still around 200 lbs even though the roof is required to support like 3x the car's weight, which wasn't a requirement for the E53. So that is partially conjecture on my part.

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2003 3.0 5MT Topasblau
Purchased in 2016 and sold in 2024
2012 35d Platingrau