Impressions: My new 2013 M Sport X5

[XMen]

Hi all, just got my X5 last Friday. Really impressed with X5. Here's the good and the bad, so far.

1) Looks. Love the carbon metallic black paint with its deep blue hue in the light. However, easy to spot dirt on the black paint. Needs more cleaning. The M Sport package gives a more hunkered down masculine look. The 20" wheels are a beauty. The meaty offset tires are nice to look at from behind.
2) Driving dynamics. Got mine with the Adaptive Drive. I'm totally smitten. AD drive works in a way I didn't imagine. I test drove the regular sport suspension that comes with the M Sport package. It was choppy on the high way and bordering on harsh in not so smooth side streets. However, the AD smooths 80 % of the choppiness and not at all harsh. It reminds of the 5 series in smoothness. Significantly more quiet and smoother than the 3 or 1 series. And on twisty roads, the sport button on AD tightens up the steering and X5 feels like it's on rails (better than any SUV I've ever driven) more like a sports sedan/coup. The compliance does firm up more but entirely acceptable IMO. The body has no significant lean on turns...again better than 1 and 3 series I've owned. Braking front end dive is hardly noticeable. Those of you contemplating AD, get it.
3) Engine. Pretty good pull once the revs get to about 2500 rpms. At high way speeds, passing is easy for 2.5 ton truck. From stop, the pull is not much to write home about. I think the Dinan tune will significantly change this.
4) Interior. Very nice. Simple and uncluttered, but the cryptic symbols on all the buttons still takes getting used to. The iDrive still confuse, but I've able to get the basic stuff down (navigation, camera, and radio functions) without resorting to the owner's manual. Not as bad as I thought given all the bad press on iDrive. The luxury seats are very welcome, especially the built in cooling fans in the seat, on hot humid summer days here in the South. The plastic on the interior B-pillar is cheap, hard, and hollow sounding, especially when the seat belt buckle hits it (couldn't the engineers figure out how to stop this by now?). The head up display...me likes especially the navigation. However, the navigation appears to be off by about 100 feet. It will tell me to turn in 100 feet when I'm literally 5 to 10 feet from the turn.
5) Mine came with couple of 1/8 inch thick scratches going straight across the outside B-pillars. My dealer is trying to replace the plastic. You can't buff this out, like hair line scratches on clear coat paint, which was also present on the A and C -pillar on the same side. I'm surprised the dealer didn't catch these. These will be buffed out.

Overall, I'm a very satisfied customer (except for the scratches).

More later....

[Larry Cable]

your car is a similar spec to mine, although I got the Deep Sea Blue Met and the M Performance Pkg.

+1 on AD and pretty much everything else. I will be interested to hear about the Dinan tune ... esp since I opted for the factory +40/30 M Performance pkg.

I'm planning on lowering mine with the H&R 2" kit, if I can find someone to install it!

congrats

p.s
doesn't the short shifting STEPTRONIC bug the hell out of you? it does me!

[Ninja]

Thanks for the write-up. Congrats on your purchase, looks great!

[watrob]

Originally Posted by Larry Cable

p.s
doesn't the short shifting STEPTRONIC bug the hell out of you? it does me!

I have the new 8 speed sports box in M50d, doesn't short shift when pressed.

[XMen]

Thanks for the responses,guys. The 8 speed transmission doesn't bother me that much. When I have it in MS (MD?) mode, it holds the revs long enough not to be bothersome to me. I haven't tried out the manual shift mode yet. The 8 speed allows the X5 cruise at 60 mph at only 1500 rpm. May be it will get annoying in the long haul.

The Dinan tune is not yet available for the 2013 X5 35i. But I'm on their mailing list. I considered the M package tune that increases the hp by 15 and torque by 30, but at $1600, I think you get much more for the bang for Dinan tune with its 55 hp and 100 lb-ft torque increase for $400 more with warranty. Larry, how did you manage to get +40/30 from factory tune?

[X5FX]

The Dinan tune is available now.
Dinan Cars - Stage 2 Performance Engine Software N55 X5/X6

and there is a dealer in your area...get it and let me know what you think. Ive debated driving to Houston to install on mine.

[XMen]

I know about the stage 2 tune for N55 X5. However, this is only for X5 built up to and including 2012. Dinan confirmed this. Apparently, BMW changed some of the engine management codes for 2013 and Dinan hasn't made the necessary update yet.

[X5FX]

I spoke to Dinan just last week and was told it was the same and would work with my 2013 M Sport

[XMen]

Hmm...I was told just the opposite by Dinan and a Dinan dealer couple of weeks ago. I'll have to call them again.

[watrob]

This is the tune available here:-

Power Increase: 45 bhp

Torque Increase: 90 Nm

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