Those of you who've driven the E53 and E70..

[CGSTL]

I agree with your assessment but the power delivery seemed smooth to me. I didn't notice a loss of power as it climbed through 2nd and 3rd gears.

Originally Posted by onesixeight

The E70 is a much improved SAV over the E53. Biggest improvement is the suspension where the ride is a 100x better, but still retains the great sport characteristics.

Like others have mentioned, the steering is much lighter at lower speeds (even w/o active steering), but gets progressively heavier with speed. On center feel is great and the car holds its line very nicely at higher speeds. Another thing I notice is the steering alignment is very on-center. I'm not sure what suspension and alignment gurus call this, but when I tested other SUVs, namely the GL 450 and ML 63, the car would always veer to the right. I notice that Benz's tend to do this more than other cars, but these were bad. At first, i thought it was just the car they gave me to drive, but after testing a few of them, they were all like that. I'm very picky about things like that, so I'm glad the X5 has a nice on center wheel.

But there are a few complaints...The transmission and engine aren't as smooth as the 4.4i. Don't get me wrong, the new 6sp unit is great, but it seems like they need to perfect the programming and tuning of it. Acceleration is not as linear as before, and now, off the line, the car revs really fast and sort of bogs down in 2nd and 3rd gears. It seems like 2nd and 3rd are too low geared, to deliver power smoothly. I got a E53 loaner yesterday to fix some rattles, and I was floored at how much smoother the 4.4i. Anyone else notice this? But the transmission is great is manual mode, where upshifts are quick and downshifts a SUPER smooth. Rev matches and you can barely feel the downshifts.

Otherwise, the E70 is a much improved SAV and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

Chris