Another positive X5 Test Drive Review

[Bo knows X]

Attached is another positive X5 Test Drive review from the Toronto Star dated Sat 21-Oct.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...l=969048871196


BMW's X5 gets a boost
Popular SUV designed for road-going comfort Now seats seven, but what's with the shifter?
Oct. 21, 2006. 01:00 AM


SPARTANBURG, S.C.—The challenge for BMW to redesign the tremendously successful X5 was to adapt it to suit the latest market needs, especially since the debut of several robust new competitors from Europe.

At the same time, it had to maintain the X5's on-road performance credibility.

The X5 was BMW's first foray into the SUV segment when it debuted in 1999. The product was a huge success, with the company shipping more than 580,000 units globally; 18,000 of those in Canada alone (the X5's sixth largest market). Not too shabby, when you consider that BMW's original model run target was 266,000.


During that period, new competitors arrived, such as Audi (Q7), Porsche (Cayenne) and Volvo (XC90), as well as Infiniti's FX35/45. Having undergone recent redesigns, the Mercedes ML and Acura MDX are both into their second generations, and pose real threats to the X5.

Whether or not owners will ever actually use them, the availability of a third row of seats is quickly becoming an important selling feature in this class.


A physical impossibility in the original X5, the new model's third seat is doable thanks to the 18.7 cm gain in length and 6.1 cm greater width.

BMW says that they are designed to accommodate passengers up to 5 feet, 6 inches tall; while the second row gains 80 mm of fore-aft travel to increase rear-seat legroom and a tip/slide forward function for easier access, it's best to consider the third row to be for pre-teens only.


The X5's larger size also means that its total cargo capacity has increased by 8 per cent, although storage space is at a premium if the third row is occupied; that cuts it down to just 200 litres.

Models without the third row gain a large underfloor storage compartment below the 620 litre cargo area, in what would have been the spare tire well; there isn't a spare, since all X5s roll on run-flat tires.


The exterior styling treads the line between the more outgoing X3 and the original X5, integrating the expected BMW family cues and offering interesting surface detailing without being over-designed. There's nothing externally that says "seven-seater," and it remains recognizably an X5.


The inside is just as tasteful, with greatly improved materials that are claimed to be nearly 7 Series in quality.

Unlike Porsche's Cayenne, which makes a variety of tradeoffs so that it can provide considerable off-road prowess, BMW's X5 focuses more on its on-road talents.


There's no two-speed transfer case or height-adjustable suspension here. BMW is upfront that its customers don't want true off-road capability, just the ability to get them where they want to go regardless of the weather or road conditions, whether it's the cottage trail or the ski chalet driveway. This is why BMW insists that its two X-series lines aren't SUVs (Sport Utility Vehicles), but "SAVs", the "A" standing for Activity.

Odd, then, that Hill Descent Control — typically an off-road feature — is standard X5 equipment.


BMW's four-wheel traction solution is the latest version of its xDrive all-wheel drive system, which in the X5 typically provides a 40/60 front/rear split, but can send as much as 100 per cent of the available torque to either end of the vehicle.


Operating as part of a networked system with the standard Dynamic Stability Control and ABS, it can also apportion power side to side by applying brakes to a slipping wheel, acting like a limited slip differential.

Power once again comes from your choice of an inline six (3.0si) or a V8 (the 4.8i, which replaces the 4.4i). For now, North America won't get the 235 hp 3.0 litre turbodiesel that's available elsewhere.


The gasoline six is the same 3.0-litre magnesium and aluminum composite block inline engine that's found in the 328i and 530i, and it produces 260 hp and 225 lb.-ft. of torque in the X5, gains of 35 hp and 9 lb.-ft. over the outgoing 3.0i model. It's also the lightest six-cylinder engine in its segment.


The V8 4.8i is likewise shared with the 5-, 6- and 7-Series cars, tallying 350 in both hp and torque in this application. That's 35 hp more than the previous 4.4i, yet both motors are expected to return better fuel economy than those in the models that they replace.

Both of these motors utilize BMW's double-VANOS variable cam-timing and patented Valvetronic valvetrain controls, eliminating the need for a throttle valve, and improving power, response and efficiency.


Unfortunately, there wasn't a 3.0si available to drive, so it's hard to say how much the X5's 2,200 kg curb weight will blunt the six's efforts in the real world. BMW claims an 8.3-second 0-to-100 km/h time with the 3.0i, and just 6.8 with the 4.8i, so test-drive first to see whether the 1.5-second difference is worth the $11,600 higher entry price to you.

Maybe it is. The 4.8i that we drove offered stout acceleration accompanied by a lusty V8 soundtrack. The eight pulls strongly from nearly any point in its r.p.m. range, with a torque curve that looks like a flattened cross-section of Mt. Fuji. Ample power reserve is a luxury unto itself; overtaking with the V-engine is effortless.


If you're really in the spending mood, you can order yourself a veritable cornucopia of electronic aids and conveniences on top of the X5's standard equipment: navigation with a sophisticated rear view camera, a heads-up display, four-zone climate control, a huge "Panorama" multi-piece sunroof, even a 16-speaker, 600-watt, seven-channel audio system.


It's a bit weird then that a six-disc CD changer is an option too, and that it mounts in the nifty clamshell glovebox. Hyundai can put it in the dash, why can't BMW?


Probably the most noteworthy option however must be the $4,700 Dynamic Handling Package, which pairs BMW's variable ratio Active Steering with xDrive for the first time, and also includes AdaptiveDrive, a two-mode (normal and Sport) system of variable shock absorber damping and active stabilizer bars that work to minimize body motions and maximize chassis performance. Both are tied into the DSC and xDrive systems through the industry-first use of a new "FlexRay" high-speed data transfer network so that they can all work together.


In normal driving, I actually preferred the base steering and suspension set-up, as I felt that it offered a more honest feel for what the contact patches and chassis were doing — particularly near the limits of adhesion, but the advantages of Active Steering came to light later in a set of medium and low-speed handling manoeuvres on the track at BMW's Performance Center. Besides quickening emergency avoidance inputs, it definitely makes parking and three-point turns less of a hand-over-hand ordeal.


Either way, the X5 has handling capabilities far beyond what you'd expect from a vehicle of this type and size. You have to be pushing it seriously hard indeed to require DSC intervention, as demonstrated on a rain-soaked drive through some twisty, wet leaf-covered secondary mountain roads, where it proved difficult to provoke any sort of wheelspin or directional misbehaviour, even powering out of low speed, uphill corners.


The big, 255/55/18 Michelin Latitude tires (up to 20 inches are available), new double wishbone front, and an evolved four-link rear suspension all seem to work quite well together, providing noticeably better ride quality than before in the process.


Adaptive (steerable) Xenon HID headlights are no longer an unusual feature (all X5s have them), but the X5's "Bending Lights" system — which uses each fog light individually as an automatic auxiliary cornering lamp — is , as is the added activation of the (red) rear fog lamps under hard braking to provide additional warning to trailing drivers.


The trademark BMW quad-lamp corona rings ("angel eyes") now serve as daytime running lights too.


Complaints? Well, a revised version of the infamous iDrive controller remains — less recalcitrant but still adding unnecessary complexity to some basic operations; the rear doors don't open very wide, restricting child-in-carseat access; and while there's no key, unless you've got a 4.8i with the "Premium" package, you still have to stick the fob into a dash slot before you can push the start button.


Let's not overlook the six-speed automatic's new shifter, which takes a bit of getting used to. There's no longer a shift quadrant, just a chrome lever on the console that looks a bit like a cross between a video game controller and a shifter handle.


A push button activates "park," holding the thumb button and toggling it back and forth selects "drive" and "reverse." Moving it to the left puts it in the manual gate and initiates "Drive Sport" mode, pushing it forward initiates manual downshifts, rearward upshifts — counter to nearly any other automatic vehicle. There are no steering-wheel paddles either. At least the new shifter makes space for a pair of real, Big Gulp-ready cupholders.


A number of the South Carolina-built X5's optional features are standard or cost less in some competitive vehicles. That was the case before, and it didn't hurt X5 sales then.

X5 buyers seem to value the model's specific combination of performance, luxury and capability, and although the base prices have climbed $2,400 (to $61,900) on the 3.0si and $1,300 (to $73,500) on the 4.8i, so have the levels of those three hallmarks, and it's hard to put a price on the value of having the BMW roundel on the nose.


Besides, how many seven-seater vehicles are there that are capable of turning a nine-minute lap on Germany's famed Nurburgring?


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Brian Early, a freelance writer ([email protected]), prepared this report based on travel provided by the auto maker.