Thoughts on the new to me 12x35d

[triodesteve]

This is my third X5. I had a 2003 (burned) and a 2004. Both 3l cars the latter was a Sport.

My 2012 diesel has about 60k thousand miles with lots of bells and whistles.

Its hard to imagine they all have anything in common except the name.

The Good:
The seats are amazing. I waited till I found a car with the premium seats...well worth it. I live in the middle of nowhere and travel a good distance and so far the seats have been a joy. I don't really feel the cold air that comes out of them, bit in every other way they are awesome.

The motor is great...it feels more powerful than the old 3l

Fit and finish seem better overall.

The Bad:

I hate the run flats with a passion...they are squirmy and get caught in road ruts.
They scare me. I have no room for a spare but am still thinking options. If anyone has gone this route please speak up.

The stereo is abysmal. The bass is plummy and fat and I can't seem to fix it.

The tech side of the car is a mixed bag. I am getting used to idrive but it doesn't make a lot of sense at times. I still can't believe they won't let people upgrade to 3g to keep the connected app going.

All in all its a very luxe car that sometimes feels like its driving me instead of the other way around...maybe its my age (getting advanced) but I am ok with that.

[ard]

You say 'run flats' as if that was a specific tire model. It isn't.

There are some really crappy tires BMW puts on the X5. One is a Bridgestone.

I imagine you might shop for replacement tires.... Will you investigate different manufacturers? Different models? Will you look at reviews for differnt tires?

Absolutely, right?

And all of them non-runflat, right?

And why? Because different tires have differnt performance characteristics. Just like you can't say 'all NON Runflats are great handling tires and all will be fantastic" you cannot say "all Runflats are miserable bricks"



Just saying. there are, in fact, decent Runflats. Decent. Don't want them? Don't need them? Don't want to risk it? All fine. I'm just saying to apply a bit more discrimination to the issue.



(I'll say that IF you have the Michelin latitude ZPs, then that is the top of the food chain in Runflats, and you need a conventional tire. But if you have the Bridgestones, well, look into the Lats)


I'll add- BMW paint still sucks.

In terms of tech, I agree. Some oddities for sure. Never BMWs forte. to be honest this will always be a futile effort with mobile evolution ALWAYS outstripping car manufacturers' ability to integrate.

[triodesteve]

[QUOTE=ard;1116287]You say 'run flats' as if that was a specific tire model. It isn't.

There are some really crappy tires BMW puts on the X5. One is a Bridgestone.

I imagine you might shop for replacement tires.... Will you investigate different manufacturers? Different models? Will you look at reviews for differnt tires?

Absolutely, right?

And all of them non-runflat, right?

And why? Because different tires have differnt performance characteristics. Just like you can't say 'all NON Runflats are great handling tires and all will be fantastic" you cannot say "all Runflats are miserable bricks"



Just saying. there are, in fact, decent Runflats. Decent. Don't want them? Don't need them? Don't want to risk it? All fine. I'm just saying to apply a bit more discrimination to the issue.



(I'll say that IF you have the Michelin latitude ZPs, then that is the top of the food chain in Runflats, and you need a conventional tire. But if you have the Bridgestones, well, look into the Lats)

Touche' They are Pirelli's. I did have another set on a previous X5 that were not as bad, but still not comparable to a regular tire.
I have looked (although still only cursory) thru reviews at Tire Rack. Nothing jumped out as being awesome....but I'll look again.

What don't you like about the paint?

[ard]

Originally Posted by triodesteve

Touche' They are Pirelli's. I did have another set on a previous X5 that were not as bad, but still not comparable to a regular tire.
I have looked (although still only cursory) thru reviews at Tire Rack. Nothing jumped out as being awesome....but I'll look again.

What don't you like about the paint?

You deleted that closing /QUOTE...

Paint is a mess of orange peel...horrible. BMW deleted color sanding and buffing on production colors. (Individual colors still get extraordinary paint)

Sadly most owners dont know what it is....