With summer right around the corner it was time to pick up my dad's boat from winter storage. It is a 23' Excalibur with an iron block 454, dual-prop outdrive and a full 80 gallon tank of gas - not a light boat by any means. I haven't had it on the scales but dry weight is around 5200 lbs and combined with the steel trailer and full fuel load I'm sure well over 6k lbs.
I have always borrowed other people's vehicles to tow it, either my father's 08 Suburban, or friend's trucks including everything from Wranglers
to F-350 duallies. It has always been a pain in the butt to borrow a truck so the towing capabilities of the X5 played a big role in my purchase.
So I hooked it up and hit the trail. Initial impressions were great! The air system leveled out the truck as designed and it was very easy to maneuver out of the tight space it was in. Using manual mode acceleration was very steady and controllable, plenty of oomph for the job that's for sure. Made it through some side streets and braking/maneuverability were great. There was a lot of noise transmitted through the hitch. Creaks and clanks on the trailer reverberated through the quiet cabin of the X5.
Once on the highway I got it up to about 65 in 5th gear. It is definitely important to keep it in manual mode to avoid constant hunting for gears. It had no trouble keeping up with traffic, but the weight of the trailer pushed it around more than the Suburban I normally drove. Most of the motion was in the rear end, side to side. It would settle well in a corner but on center it was a bit looser than I would like. Otherwise well-mannered, and always predictable, but not necessarily stable.
Overall the impression was good, and I'm very happy with the X5. I knew it would be a daunting task for such a light vehicle but it held it's own! It will have no problem with my M3 on an aluminum open trailer that's for sure!
Here's a pic to commemorate, really puts it in perspective!
05-02-2010, 04:25 AM
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