X5 in the snow - opinions wanted

[squeasel]

We are the original owners of a 2003 X5 3.0L and dislike the snow so ours has rarely been. I have a friend who bought an '02 X5 3.0L within the past 2 years and he is in the snow a lot. He claims his X5 is terrible in the snow, worst of any of his 4wd/awd vehicles.

What is the "snowability" of the X5? Is it as bad as my friend claims or is it a function of tire selection? Suspension?

Much thanks!

[svtlmr]

Well I have a 2005 x5 3.0i and I like how it handles in snow conditions.Went tru some nasty weather in Vermont and never had any problems uphill downhill, deep snow it's great.Plenty of traction and driving confidence.
Your friend probably did not have a good winter tires if any.Lets face it all season tires are not winter tires.
Even the best SUV-s fitted with the wrong tires perform poorly in bad weather.))

[weekend camper]

While I wait for one of the informed regulars here to chip in, I just wanted to say I enjoyed mine a ton over the 4 days of snow-on-the-ground driving this year. Confidence building grip, helped no doubt by new winter treaded tires. I didn't get into a wide open parking lot for a slip 'n slide fest, but just normal street driving felt like I could tackle any cross street around here.

The older (non xdrive) couldn't split traction side to side, so I could see where some might grumble if encountering left/right issues.

I would like to hear some real world horror stories of the preface lift traction issues.




A decent write up on the newer xdrive system is here Winter driving test: BMW xDrive - Autos.ca for a comparison.

[Phr3d]

you-boob is flooded with people doing uhmm.. questionably intelligent things with their X5s with high success rates - for instance, driving off from the highway and up a snow-covered Steep hill and back down was the most recent one that I viewed.
Mild winter here, so no challenges, but snowflake tires should solve whatever issues your friend is having, if the boob-videos are any indication.

[GmoneyLI]

performance tires and all season tires do not perform well in packed snow and ice.. If u have a H1 hummer with performance tires u would still have bad traction.

[Thunder22]

IT depends on tires and wheel size.

my '01 with 19's and summer performance tires was terrible in the snow.

my '04, and '08 with 18's and all seasons was a beast in the snow.

I've driven in some severe snow conditions in the northeast as well.

[motordavid]

My '01 with punky style 57 17s, and dedicated snow tires, was nearly unstoppable even on our very, very steep snowy/icy grades in our mountains.
On regular roads, with snow, it was like a Rocky Mtn Sheep.

Get dedicated snows, and/or smaller wheels...nothing beats snow tires, and while our X is not a Jeep, it has never put us in the ditch.
GL, mD

[chuckster]

My '00 was awesome in the snow. Pulled alot of hills that 4wd trucks were pulling off to the side of. Would not spin the tires accelerating and would not lock up while braking. I have owned 4wd vehicles since 1982 and the X was the best for snow but by no means an off road vehicle.

[TriX5]

Not quite a match for the Audi Allroad I had but pretty good. Winter tires are a must to optimize performance under winter conditions (on any car really).

[squeasel]

Originally Posted by weekend camper

.

The older (non xdrive) couldn't split traction side to side, so I could see where some might grumble if encountering left/right issues.

....

A decent write up on the newer xdrive system is here Winter driving test: BMW xDrive - Autos.ca for a comparison.

Thank you for the responses. It leads to another question based on the quote above ... Are the AWD systems different by model year? A brief review says that an '03 is X-Drive while 2002 is not. Is this the case? Cheers!