Whew! Had a really close call today... saved by the X!

[Last5oh]

We were driving home today - wife and daughter with me - heading northbound out of Toronto on Hwy 404 going about 110kph in the center of 3 lanes. At one point it came time to move over to the rightmost lane to exit onto Hwy 407. I had about 2 car lengths between me and the car ahead, the lane to my right appeared clear. I signaled the lane change and turned my head to check the blindspot which was clear.

Out of the corner of my eye, everything in my lane TURNED RED! As if in slow motion I saw all the brakelights of the Camry ahead of me flash red, same with the car ahead of it... by now there was less then 1 car length between me and the Camry!!!!

By reflex I jerked the wheel to the right and stomped on the gas!... to my amazement the X seemed to side-step into the right lane - within inches of the Toyota's bumper - and continue forward as before just as my wife blurts-out some unprintable words!!!!!

All I could say was WOW!... had we been in our Explorer - as we had been in the past 6 years - there was NO WAY that maneuver would have worked, we would have clipped the Camry for sure and risked a roll-over.

Now I don't usually have these close-calls - I don't drive around as if looking for trouble - but I just learned (the hard way) today that when the unexpected happens its really nice to be in the X5!

DRIVE CAREFULLY EVERYONE!

[Major04]

Glad everyone came out okay...was she saying the "words" in Filipino or English? Probably both?
Don't give all the credit to the X, 60% was probably your driving experience, luck, and paying attention to your surroundings.
Now, have a couple of

[13Jester13]

I second Major04. I personally went and bought my X5 because I was waiting at a stoplight to make a left hand turn while oncoming had the green. A stupid Civic wasent paying attention and ran the light. The X5 that was just about to cross the intersection slammed on his brakes and came within inches of T-boning the unsuspecting civic. I have NEVER seen an SUV stop that fast before! Having said that, right after buying mine I left my friend drive it who owns a manual and at about 45mph went to push the "clutch" in LMAO. . . Needless to say after I got my heart off the dashboad and pumping again, we both sat there in amazment at the X5's braking power. Again, so glad you are ok!

Originally Posted by Major04

Glad everyone came out okay...was she saying the "words" in Filipino or English? Probably both?
Don't give all the credit to the X, 60% was probably your driving experience, luck, and paying attention to your surroundings.
Now, have a couple of

[Last5oh]

Originally Posted by Major04

Glad everyone came out okay...was she saying the "words" in Filipino or English? Probably both?

LOL... in Filipino! that's why I know she was REALLY scared!

I came away from the experience absolutely impressed by the X's handling... now when our daily driver (Ford Contour) is due for replacement in a couple of years I'll probably be looking for a 3-series sedan.

[chusteveb]

My younger brother who use to drive an Evo 8 which handles like a porche (they call it a poor mans porche anyways) and now drives a SRT8 grand cherokee was in town visiting. I loaned him the X5 to drive and he reported back an experience. He was driving my X5 down a mostly empty 4 lane interstate when a pickup truck about 3 car lengths in front of him had a wheel barrow fly out of the bed. Now when he tells stories he gets very vocal and uses his arms and everything else which I kind of got caught up in but I remember the jist of the story. It consisted of the wheel barrow landing in front of him and he naturally braked and jerked it one way to avoid it landing through the windshield but it also bounced darted the way he tried to avoid hitting it so he had to jerk back the other direction at the same time smashing on the gas... blah blah blah (keep in mind he's dancing around telling this story). In the end he was amazed that he didn't end up hitting the flying object that he said would have killed him if it had landed through the windshield. Of course now he too is a true believer that the X5 and its superior handling and power and braking capabilities saved him. I'm lucky to not have needed to use the full potential of my X5 but i'm glad it's there if I need it! Of course I'm glad he didn't hit it either but after his story I did do a full inspection of my X to make sure it was indeed a close call!

[BMWLOVER]

Glad to here everything is okay!