I have driven the E53 on ice and in over half a meter soft snow in Sweden, close to the polar circle, a few months back (yes the car is standing on the road, temperature around -28C). I managed to get to the place at the picture but although it was soft snow, I was not able to get any further since the road is rather steep uphill at this place. So, I got stucked and had to reverse and park the car and walk the last few kms to the house with some of the luggage... That took me a while in that weather..











I am now driving an X6 with same set of winter tires (Pirelli Scorpions, 19" and a bit wider). I did not try it in one meter snow yet but I can tell you that the handling on snow and ice is miles better than the E53, which also was a very competent car. So, the E70 would surely be better than the E53 since the xDrive-system has been improved and the ground clearance is an inch or so better than before.

The only difference to the E71 would be the DPC, which of course does help on snow a lot when you have different friction between left and right (for example left wheels on ice, right wheels on snow). In this case the DPC will divert the torque sideways between the backwheels. Another situation is while cornering on slippery surface where the DPC will kick in and shift the torque to maximize the cornering speed and suppress understeering.

The day E70 gets the DPC, I will place an order. Do not understand why they do not provide the X5 with this nice feature, especially as the X5-owners are more likely to use their cars on such places than the X6-owners.