This guy is not too impressed

[jimbeattie]

I read an article in the Times, a UK rag. The motoring section had this review of the X5. Enjoy.
http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol...cle2791661.ece

[jimsaq]

heh that's cos it's badge doesn't say 'range rover'

jeremy clarkson is a funny bugger, love watching top gear and reading his write ups, but I never take anything he says as being remotely close to reasonable conclusion - it's pure entertainment rather than informative and fair vehicle comparison

the other thing is that driving around in the UK is nothing like driving around in much larger-area open countries like australia or the US. the entire continent is a tiny piece of land where people think a 10 mile drive is a journey - and so much of jeremy clarkson's commentary relfects this. and top gear's idea of 4x4'ing is driving around in a quarry through a couple of puddles of mud, or through a boggy field - it's no wonder they think the range rover is so awesome

jeremy clarkson for some reason also has a fixation on categorising an X5 as a vehicle that tries to be a 4x4 when clearly it doesn't. it's heavily biased for road driving with limited utility

have plenty of grains of salt ready when you read his writeups or watch top gear

[PeteM]

Clarkson is trying to blame the bus driver for him kerbing the wheels so he doesnt lose face ( he misjudged it), if you look at the number of words put down in relation to the actual information about the X5 you can see it is about entertainment not factual reporting.

I would also like to know who these people are that said the E53 drives better than the E70, it was probably his mum when she was filling his hot water bottle for him, before she tucked him up in bed.

[rh71]

I would still love to see Top Gear do a video segment on the X5... but seeing how they've really disliked it twice on paper now...

[jimsaq]

yeah I'd love to see the new twin turbo diesel with adaptive drive taken for a run around their track

[Fredo]

Originally Posted by jimsaq

heh that's cos it's badge doesn't say 'range rover'

jeremy clarkson is a funny bugger, love watching top gear and reading his write ups, but I never take anything he says as being remotely close to reasonable conclusion - it's pure entertainment rather than informative and fair vehicle comparison

the other thing is that driving around in the UK is nothing like driving around in much larger-area open countries like australia or the US. the entire continent is a tiny piece of land where people think a 10 mile drive is a journey - and so much of jeremy clarkson's commentary relfects this. and top gear's idea of 4x4'ing is driving around in a quarry through a couple of puddles of mud, or through a boggy field - it's no wonder they think the range rover is so awesome

jeremy clarkson for some reason also has a fixation on categorising an X5 as a vehicle that tries to be a 4x4 when clearly it doesn't. it's heavily biased for road driving with limited utility

have plenty of grains of salt ready when you read his writeups or watch top gear

You'd be amazed we do actually drive more than 10 miles in the UK...which by the way isn't a continent it's a country. It is however conveniantly located near to a continent called Europe which you may or may not have heard of. I'd bet most people in Brisbane don't use their cars to drive much further than Noosa or Surfers....which given the speed limits and lack of great driving roads doesn't make Australia the best place in the world to drive a car

[Fredo]

If you actually read the review he says it handles and rides better than the E53 and then spends the rest of the time talking about how 4x4's are too big for London which is nothing to do with the X5 specifically. He then decides he'd prefer either the ML63 or a Range Rover both of whcih are considerably more expensive than the X5 and not a true comparison.

I'd like to see what a kerb would do to an ML63's wheels with the tyres they have on them.

He rights sensationalist columns to amuse the masses and sell his books and DVD's. And he's always hated BMW's........

[janisX5]

Jeremy, you are not right!!! Only RR fan can say that X5 is ugly...

[Monksgirl322]

...And it's made in America, heaven forbid! That's always the kiss of death as far as Jeremy is concerned.

[jimsaq]

Originally Posted by Fredo

You'd be amazed we do actually drive more than 10 miles in the UK...which by the way isn't a continent it's a country. It is however conveniantly located near to a continent called Europe which you may or may not have heard of. I'd bet most people in Brisbane don't use their cars to drive much further than Noosa or Surfers....which given the speed limits and lack of great driving roads doesn't make Australia the best place in the world to drive a car

hi fredo
I didn't mean to imply you don't drive more than 10 miles - I just said 10 miles was considered a journey. This is the picture my mum's side of the family (english) have painted for me in the course of conversation/correspondance over the years and has probably been reinforced by exposure to tv as well, for whatever that's worth.

sorry about the ignorant continent comment

I don't know how far most people in brisbane drive their cars, but you're probably right. having said that, noosa is about 120km from brisbane.
personally, I've put 80,000k's on my odometer in the past 2 years and I don't even drive for a living - but that's kind of beside the point - I wasn't trying to suggest someone from england isn't qualified to comment on a vehicle, I was just suggesting that a substantial amount of clarkson's rhetoric is clearly stemmed from his experience in his own environment of the UK which is quite different to the US (where I perceive the majority of this forum's users to reside) or australia where I am