X5 3.0sd Sport Test Drive

[dwarfer]

Got a call off my dealer yesterday that their 3.0sd Sport demonstrater was in which is one of the first in the UK so I went for a 30 minuite test drive this morning.

Having drove the 3.0d I must admit there was a remarked improvement in terms of acceleration espically up to about 60mph. Its been a while since I drove the 3.0d so its hard to judge back to back but while its not jaw droppingly fast I felt it was on par with the 4.8 which I also drove a while back. Where I really noticed the extra power even over the 4.8 was in accelerating up steep hills where you can really feal the torque pulling you.
The thing I find is with such a big car its hard to feel like your doing any speed at all till you look at the spedo. The X I drove also had 21" 128's so I was keen to find how they rode over the 20" V spoke ones I have on order. surfice to say I have now upgraded to the 128's as the dealer has given me a buy back on the 20" rims. You do feel the pot holes but you do with the 20" wheels so I don't think there is any difference. The X did'nt have adaptive drive which mine will so im hoping the non sport setting softens things up a bit. Drove over a cobbled street though and bounced all over the show.
So in short, im glad ive held out for the SD which I should have mid December. Its worth the extra few K and feels on par with the 4.8 on the flat but really torquey on the inclines.