off-roading in our X5

[TiAgX5]

This thread has me wondering if someone on the Land Rover forum might be turning their Defender 110 into a track weapon.

[ProfessorX5]

I'd be scared of snagging those little electrical dangly bits. I'm sticking to the road

[bcredliner]

As others have mentioned, what I think off roading is may be entirely different than what it is or what others think it is.

I choose to avoid any situation that there is greater risk than driving on the freeway to cosmetically damage my vehicle. I would rather leave my shoes behind than get even mud on my carpet. If I don't have to I don't even drive when it rains. It has nothing to do with how well suited an X5 is to be 'off road.' It is just not how I enjoy my X5.

The X5 "off roading" Sarek is doing sounds like great fun but it is in an entirely different universe than what an X5 was designed to handle and he is making changes accordingly.

I choose to take my X5 to its limits enjoying engine performance and handling-- more within my interpretation of the ultimate driving machine. My guess is other high end, luxury SUVs are either in the same ballpark or they chose theirs as a status symbol.

Ukrcan, I think you can be totally confident your X5 will do what you want to do with no modifications, even tires.

[jbny]

As other have said, not a serious offroader, but gravel and some mud is ok i would think, deep mud is a different deal.
I did drive on a trail in MA couple of years back (gravel/some mud)on my 4.8is and did not have any issues, was able to climb some steep hills too.(suspension was set to high setting)

[beamertruck]

Thats a given, if you try takin a bmw x5 in deep mud without propper modifications, your gonna have a bad time. If you try rock crawling with an x5 your gonna have a bad time. But if its light mud, gravel roads, trails youll be alright my X5 does perfect in light off roading.

[ukrcan]

Thanks for the input everyone...I guess i will venture out to the trails this summer and see how the car does...

[atregent]

Handles hill climbs like a champ!

We hit a 60km rough dirt road with a 1000+kg camper trailer every year for our annual Christmas camping trip, never had any issues. Even make it up hills that 'proper' 4WDs take a run up for.

[BigBlack48is]

Originally Posted by atregent

Handles hill climbs like a champ!

We hit a 60km rough dirt road with a 1000+kg camper trailer every year for our annual Christmas camping trip, never had any issues. Even make it up hills that 'proper' 4WDs take a run up for.

Awesome pics Anthony!!

Wish we had access to the 3.0d's here in the states

[ukrcan]

Anthony,

Nice pictures!

What type of tires do you have and how many Kms do you have on your X5?

[atregent]

Thanks guys.

The first photo doesn't really do that hill justice. There's a hump about halfway up for water to drain off to the side, so while other 4WDs take a run-up to get to the top of that one, I crawled up pretty slowly and stopped half way to check for clearance.

My tyres are just the cheap Atturo AZ800, nothing special, but seem to do the job pretty well. I am, however, contemplating getting a set if 17s and fitting some decent all terrain tyres. Not that I seem to need them

The torque of the diesel makes towing a breeze, sometimes it's like I'm not towing anything at all. I was originally looking at the 4.4 V8, but pretty happy with the decision I made. From memory, I've got about 147,000ks on it (91,000 miles?)