PCD X5 50i M Sport with review of Michelin Alpin winter tires

[335xray]

Picked up my Alpine White M Sport 50i on Friday at the Performance Center. As many people have said, the delivery experience was awesome. A special thanks go to Andy and Ray at the Performance Center. Andy did my driving instruction portion and my delivery. I met Ray at lunch and I rode along shotgun in his M5 for the hot lap which was truly a thrill.

I flew out Thursday night on a non-stop flight to Greenville-Spartansbugh airport. I called the hotel from the plane and they had Warren waiting for me in a gold 550GT which was pretty darn nice. He told me BMW provides them with new vehicles every 10K miles. The staff at the hotel was very nice and I had a late dinner on the performance center and then hit the hay.


Early morning rolled around, up, showered and packed and off to the buffet. Any buffet you can get a custom omelet is pretty darn good in my book. At breakfast I met Brian and Nicole, a really fun, crazy couple from Iowa. Brian was picking up a 335iS and was very excited (Congrats guys!). After breakfast, they get everyone on the short bus for the trip to Performance Center.


When we arrived, Brian's car was in the lobby and my car was in one of the delivery bays.


We started the morning with bit of classroom time as they always do. A nice explanation of what we are going to do during the day and why they do it. Ray did a very nice job.


After class, we were all placed in cars/trucks similar to what we were taking delivery of. I got an X5 Diesel which was fun since I was never able to drive one at my local dealer as they were always pre-sold. We did three different exercises, the skid pad, emergency braking and the road coarse/slalom. Lots of fun to be had at each exercise, learning how traction control saves your butt etc. We did the skid pad in 335d since it isn't as fun in an X-drive vehicle. The rest of the exercises were done in our respective vehicles. I was glad it wasn't my X5 or my tires on the road coarse as the tires were protesting quit a bit

Danny, thrashing a 550i pretty well


After the road coarse we came back to the Performance center, some of the group did the off road coarse and the factory tour, while my group did our delivery. Any did my delivery and did a great job. Very thorough but he didn't drag things out. I learned several things even though my wife had taken delivery of her X5 35i SA just two week prior at our local dealer. I was able to spend as much time with the car going over it as I wanted, then they had me take it out and park it on the tarmac out front with an M6 and E90 M3 competition package.











Andy with the X




We had a nice lunch where I got to meet Ray again, one of the instructors who is a very accomplished motorcycle and road racer. Right after lunch (they feed you and stuff you full and then sling you around) they did the hot laps in the M5. I got to ride solo shotgun with Ray for my lap and boy did I have a shit eating grin from ear to ear. The instructors are truly skilled drivers. That was definitely the highlight of the day besides actually picking up the X.


Ray in the M5


After the hot lap our group did the off road coarse and then the factory tour.


Some deep wading...


Brain getting his X tipped and trying to get out to photo it at the same time...the delivery guy was like..."Uh, safety first, you need to get back in the car..."



Another tipping shot...



Brain and his sweet 335is



The X and the factory




The Factory tour entrance



After the tour, I high tailed it over to a local tire store where I had already had a set of winter wheels and tires shipped so I could have the summer only wheel/tires switched out...good thing I did. The local store had me on my way about 100 minutes later. The hardest thing was getting the OEM 20's into the 55 gallon drum garbage bags I brought and then lugging them into the back of the X. Hot tip for anyone transporting the 20"s...they just fit with the rear seats folded down. You could only get some one in the front passenger seat.

With my new X6M 20" reps on (Staggered 10" front and 11" rear shod in Michelin Latitude Aplin winter tires 275/40-20 all around) I headed through the hills of SC, NC and TN. I ended up taking NC-208 and TN-70, which are two lane roads with no lights where they truly let loose a snake and followed it with a bulldozer. I ended up doing most of that portion of the trip in the dark.

The truck handled awesome with the winter tires on with adaptive drive set to sport and the tranny set to DS. I didn't push it too hard since I was staying within the break-in recommendations, but the truck felt planted and wanted to go even faster. After arriving at my Uncle's home in TN, I had a leisurely night with family. My father had stuck around after Thanksgiving to meet me and drive back to Ohio with me, so we got up fairly early Saturday, had a heart healthy southern breakfast and headed home...and it just started to snow!



It snowed nearly the entire trip home to Ohio, with temps hovering just above, then below freezing. I was so glad I didn't risk it and leave the summers on. Boy would that have been dangerous and stupid. The 20" Michelin's handled the drive without breaking a sweat...even a passing run above 90

All-in-all I couldn't be happier with the truck, the PCD or the snow tires. I highly recommend the PCD if you can arrange it and if you haven't been to the Biltmore Estate, you should make the short trip up to Asheville. My trip home was 435 miles and got 18.8 mpg with an average speed of 59 mph. Not too shabby.



X

[Viperfreak2]

Great review and PC delivery story.

[ZheHbKa]

cool! thanks!!!

[wallyx5]

18.8 is not bad at all for the 50i. The white is classic.

[335xray]

Originally Posted by wallyx5

18.8 is not bad at all for the 50i. The white is classic.

Thanks. Its my first white vehicle and I love it.

The fuel economy has decreased a bit since I have been home with more city driving. Now hover around 15mpg which still isn't bad.

I have the black performance grills to install and GP thunder 7500K fogs and angels to install and I will post some more picks/

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[IGotId]

very nice looking X5! think your pics have finally sold me on alpine white for good!

i would love to hear updates on your 20" snow tires performance through the winter...

[335xray]

Originally Posted by IGotId

very nice looking X5! think your pics have finally sold me on alpine white for good!

i would love to hear updates on your 20" snow tires performance through the winter...

I'll let you know how tomorrow goes with the snow we got today. Not looking forward to the commute tomorrow morning more because of all the other drivers, not the snow.

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[rh71]

heh you get better gas mileage than I do with the 3.0 engine. I know it was all highway, but still pretty ironic.