10,000 mile review: X535D

[Armand]

MY ’10, X535D Plat Bronze, premium, tech, winter package, Sport Activity (suspension delete) with 19” RFTs, premium sound, comfort access, Sirius. No mods.

I just noticed that I’ve passed 10k miles. Hard to believe really. The anxiety of the long wait, the excitement of delivery are now distant memories. Hopefully this summary will provide some useful information to some members.

Interior and exterior quality: I have not had any quality issues inside or out. The car was delivered in mint condition and to this day I have been very impressed with the build quality. There are the odd things like when you look in the space between the driver seat and the center console, the wiring is visible close to the floor. It never bothered me. One complaint I have is about the leather seats. Mine are camel/brown (Nevada) and over time, the blue from our jeans has rubbed on and has very slightly changed the driver seat color. The dealer says they can treat it but it’s still annoying.

Space/roominess: Our other car is a minivan and we felt we were spoilt for space but we discovered that we could fit everything we typically took with us on a ski trip (for four people) in the X5 – mind you, we have the extra storage space where the spare would have gone. No complaints about space. The minivan has never been on a long road trip since the X5 joined the family!

Engine: Once received a reduced power engine warning which happened at 300 miles right after I filled the tank for the first time. It went away and never came back. The dealer didn’t find anything. Fuel quality could have been an issue. I had used Valero. Since then I have only used Chevron or Shell. In the first couple of months of ownership, the oil level went down a little. I was at the dealer for some reason. They spotted it and filled it up. To this day the oil level has stayed at maximum.

Consumption: This combined with a degree of eco-friendliness were among our top criteria and the X5 has not disappointed. We consistently get well over 30mpg on the freeway and in town, depending on how bad the traffic is and how aggressively you drive, you can get between 17 and 20. My Toyota Sienna has a tough job doing better than 15 mpg.

Instrument cluster: I am constantly searching for the time on the instrument cluster. Some information on the dials is just too small. May be I’m getting old.

Gear stick: It took some getting used to. Some close calls too. Once I put it in reverse and tried to get out of the car. That’s what you do in an ordinary car! The fact that in sport mode you push for lower gear and pull for higher gear is also initially unintuitive but like everything else, you get used to it. Today, I can drive our three cars with three different gear shift styles without any problems.

Noise level: If you are highly sensitive to engine noise, then this car might not be for you. I actually like the deep growl as you pull away at the traffic light. You hardly hear it in normal driving but at very high freeway speeds you do hear a hum. I have not tried a non-diesel X5 so I don’t know for sure if this is a diesel issue or the BMW engine note.

Fuel: This is my first diesel and just like the pumps I was very green when it came to owning a diesel. I had visions of running out of fuel or putting the wrong fuel in the tank etc… It all turned out to be baseless. First of all diesel pumps are abundant and with the safety mechanism it’s practically impossible to put in gas. But some diesel nozzles don’t fit nicely and I don’t mean the truck stop ones. I programmed one of the radio buttons to give me the nearest diesel stations which is handy when you are on the road and are looking for a Chevron. Fuel stations are not as clean as gas stations. I would not fuel up on my way to work or a party. This car has an incredible range so you won’t be visiting the pump very often.

DEF/particulate filter: I cannot say for sure if I have ever heard, smelled or saw the car burning the particulate. During a long drive, I received a “999 miles to no start” around 8k but then it went away. DEF is quite cheap. I almost bought a big case of it from the local VW dealer but since the error went away, I saw no reason to buy at the time.

RFTs: Had two flats within the first three months of ownership – both rear tires. Michelin paid for one to be replaced and repaired the other one. Did not pay a penny – not even for mount and balance! I did not purchase the dealer insurance. If your new car came with Michelin tires, check out your warranty because yours could also have the features that came with mine. I keep an air pump in the back of the car because in most cases, even after you get a low pressure warning you can fill it up and keep driving. In all, I prefer the RFTs because I use the space for the spare as extra luggage space and it’s great. I have learned that if I check the tire pressure once every two weeks and reset the TPM, then not only am I increasing the life of the tires but in case of damage, I will be alerted sooner and thus can prevent complete loss of an expensive tire.

Turbo/tranny Lag: It’s definitely there but I don’t run into it any more. The accelerator is not linearly calibrated. It appears that if you press your foot 1/3 of the way, you actually get a lot more of the oomph. It could be because of the twin turbos. But I have found that I can get out of any situation without having to slam my foot on the gas- which in my experience is when the lag occurs (not all the time though.)

Comfort access: Has some quirks such as the car beeps if you are washing it and the key is in your pocket. It hates water getting splashed on the door knobs when the key is near by. Otherwise this is one of the best features of this car. I can’t live without it now. Cool features such as closing the windows from the driver side are great.

Safety: We feel incredibly safe in this car. The 255mm wide tires cling to the road like a leech and you just can’t get the car to misbehave. So what if this car is incapable of offroading! I can’t even find dirt roads around where I live. But in rainy weather this car does beautifully where other cars would swerve or lose traction. I have had limited experience with snow and slush. The car handled the conditions very well.

Handling: Apart from the safety aspects, the handling of this car is superb and I don’t even have the sport suspension. Even my wife who is no car enthusiast is hooked on it. She swears she gets home about 20 minutes earlier on her commute when she takes the X5. We are wondering if she is going too fast and not realizing it or what!

Navigation: This feature sucks. The maps have inaccuracies. I often hear turn left when I should turn right. It occasionally takes you up the garden path literally and you’ll find yourself nowhere near where you should be. BMW needs to find a new supplier.

Rearview/topview: Absolutely indispensible features. Twice now the top view failed to come on when I engaged reverse. Haven’t been able to reproduce it recently.

Voice activation: OK feature. I use it to dial numbers while driving.

Toolbox: Some tools are missing and BMW is no longer stocking them. I would check to make sure the allen wrench is included. If not, drive by the dealer and they will give you one. If the roof gets stuck open, that tool is the only way to close the roof.

Seats: I have the sport seats. Getting out of the car takes a bit of an effort because of the deep bucket and the tall sides. The adjustments are good. In all, I am neither impressed nor disappointed. The ride is definitely firm. You start with the firm suspension and then you add RFTs, so you should expect a very firm ride.

Premium sound: All I can say is it’s great. I have not listened to the regular sound system. The CD exchanger that came with the MY2010 is a good choice if you want to just keep some CDs in the car but I have found that (perhaps with old CDs) you get no track information. The extra USB is cool I can charge my iPhone but I don’t really listen to my iPhone music in the car. I have too many options. I usually resort to Sirius which constantly plays the top of the charts if you are into it or choose from dozens of other channels. For a while I had loaded my music on the hard drive but that too lost its cool factor. It isn’t easy to manage the files.

Bluetooth: The hands free phone feature is great. I use it all the time. One annoying thing is if the sound level is high, I can get a big shock if someone calls me. BMW could have done a better job of adjusting the volume when calls come in.

Email feature: the ability to email an address to the car is very handy. Pity the nav is crap.

Auto hold: Another fantastic feature. I use it all the time. The car could suddenly jerk into a stop if you are not careful. I have learned to avoid that. Great feature.

Sorry for the long note. Others have been very helpful to me on this forum. I hope I have provided useful information to some.