We now have 10,250 miles on our 2008 X5 delivered in mid November 2007. Thus I thought it would be a good time to provide an update on our ownership and driving experience.

One of the primary reasons for the purchase of an X5 was to take extended driving trips here in the US.

My wife and I have just completed out first such trip a 4,400-mile trip in our X5 through large parts of the American Southwest. From our home in Kansas we drove south through Oklahoma (Oklahoma City, Norman) into Texas (Dallas, San Antonio, El Paso), southern New Mexico (Las Cruces, Deming, Lordsburg), southern Arizona (Flagstaff, Bisbee, Tucson, Phoenix, Sedona, the Grand Canyon), Northern New Mexico (Santa Fe, Espanola, Taos), Southern Colorado (Colorado Springs) then across Kansas home. A total of 4,407 miles. We averaged 17 mpg for the trip using 259 gallons of gas at an average cost of $3.74 per gallon. Interval mpg ranged from a low of 11 mpg for a day spent driving on steep mountain roads to 27 mpg cruising on flat interstate highways. Not great but not that bad for such a large & heavy vehicle.

The X5 performed flawlessly on this trip! This type of driving (long trips, varied terrain, different road types) is what (imho) the X5 is designed for. Those of you confined to driving to and from work or short trips around town are missing much of what the X5 was designed to do and what is does very well…….transport you, your passengers and all of your luggage long distances safely and in great comfort.

Some of the specifics of the X5 performance:

Comfort My X5 has active ventilated seats and this was their first real test. The various settings along with the ‘active’ helps make driving long distances enjoyable. Not sure about there is much benefit to the ventilation function. It seems to be a bit weak (even at the highest setting.) Maybe it will be more effective in hot weather. I will reserve final judgment until then. The ventilation system worked great, keeping me cool and my wife warm (just as we each prefer.)

Entertainment We used the CD extensively (listening to David McCullough’s John Adams, all 30 hours! Great book for a long trip if you like history), satellite radio (news, weather, music) iPod (music, podcasts on local sites of interest during our trip, lots of great free travel related stuff out there for the iPod.)

Navigation Great to dismal. BMW’s nav implementation is far from perfect (why they don’t just install a Garmin based system is beyond me) but was adequate in most cases. I think the Google link coming in 2009 will be a vast improvement.

Safety As always when driving long distances there are times when you need good brakes more power and/or the ability to maneuver suddenly. We were never in a situation where the X5 was found wanting. The brakes are great, the 4.8 is responsive and always seems to have lots more power and steering & handling were always superb.

Road/Tire Noise There always seems to be lots of posts concerning road/tire noise. In my opinion there are a number of factors that contribute to noise levels. These include condition of road surface, type of road surface, type & condition of the tires, tire pressure, alignment, condition of suspension, etc. So there are a number of variables that can impact the cabin noise. Our X5 has the sport suspension with 19” Bridgestone tires (35 psi all around, checked & adjusted weekly) normally driven with the sport setting on. During our trip we found road/tire noise to be objectionable only when driving at highway speeds (65 mph+) on poor road surfaces (old dried out asphalt or badly worn concrete. As long as the road surface was good the noise level was not objectionable (at least to us, ymmv.) On recently repaved sections of road there was hardly any detectable noise.

Reliability Over our first 10K miles our X5 has proven to be very reliable. A defective sensor on the electronic suspension system (repaired by dealer) after about two weeks of ownership has been the only problem requiring service. Some minor glitches from time to time (iDrive seems to lose its mind, sound system switches on its own to another input (iPod to FM normally) however these are infrequent occurrences (once a month or so.) Some continuing annoyances based on poor BMW design (rocker panels seemingly designed specifically to insure dirty pants, a backup camera that BMW should be ashamed of, seat belt returns that slam into the door trim unless you remember to hold on to them as you exit the vehicle, etc.)

Overall A great car that is fun to drive. No complaints relative to build quality or serious flaws. I would (and probably will) buy another and highly recommend the X5 to anyone who has a need for this typo vehicle. That’s it for now…..I have about 4,500 photos from the trip to process….that will keep me busy for a few days!

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2008 4.8i Mineral Green Metallic Sports Package, Technology Package, Cold Weather Package, Rear Climate Package, Premium Package, Premium Sound with iPod adaptor & Sirius Radio, Auto Tailgate, Head up display