X5 is gone
 

I ordered a new 22' v-nose enclosed race trailer, and considering how poorly the X5 towed my small 18' enclosed trailer I knew I was going to have to part with the X5 for a proper tow vehicle. The old trailer with 911 and spares in it weighed 5900 lbs on an official scale and the 4.4L struggled to pull even slight grades at 70. Considering the new trailer, loaded, will be close to 6800lbs, 800 lbs above the tow rating for the X5, I knew I was going to have to change. So the X5 departed yesterday, replaced with a GMC Yukon Denali. 415hp from the 6.2L, 8900 lb tow rating.

I'll miss the fun-to-drive nature of the E53. With the H&R suspension, the modified exhaust, and the staggered 19's with the Bridgestones that replaced the worthless Michelins, the X5 was always a pleasure to drive whether on the highway on a long trip pulling my old open trailer 1,000 miles or just running to the store. But the Denali is definitely faster right out of the box, and it'll be nice to run regular gas again too. And what a difference in Nav, though part of that may be due to the fact the the E53 was really old technology compared to a new SUV.

Anyway, it's been a pleasure to know everyone here. Thanks for the posts on how to wire in the trailer controller with trigger for the electric brakes, for the posts on replacing front suspension bushings (frequently) and all the electronics posts- installing the bluetooth, Sirius, and the Allstars sub enclosure. At least I'm still in the BMW family with my 528i and my R100RS bike.

Stay tuned- I pulled some of the things off the X5 before I traded it and will post the Allstars sub enclosure with 8" JL sub, Sirius module, and the 18x9 TSW winter wheels with brand new Michelin Latitude Alpin 255/55-18 snows that I bought in December. Gotta get some pics and post them all up. Just didn't have time to pull the factory hitch off sorry.

Sorry to see you go, but makes sense. Funny, I just posted in the E70 forum in connection with my search for a fresher tow vehicle.

I think about a move to GM for a tow vehicle, but I want to keep my garage to only 2 vehicles, and I'm guessing the Yukon is sloppy as a daily driver compared to the X5 right?

I'd tried the basic Yukon/ Tahoe versions, including quite a few times renting them in my weekly business travel and they are sloppy and somewhat slow. The Denali is a vastly different vehicle. Far more HP and torque, different wheels and tires etc. But definitely not in the same league as an X5 or Audi Q7 for handling. I really wanted a turbodiesel SUV but there is no American SUV with a diesel, and both the BMW and Audi are limited to 6600 tow rating. The Touareg tdi is rated for 7716, but is too small to pull close to 7,000 lbs, very short wheelbase, too narrow to see around the trailer etc. So the Denali was my compromise.

I have quite a number of friends I race with who have moved from X5's, Touaregs, and MDX's to Denalis, and all have been very happy with the move. While the Denali isn't as agile as an E53 or E70, it's still pretty spry for a big body on frame SUV. And I've got my 528 to play with for those times I feel the need to go have some fun on back roads, though now that I'm post-50, I find myself being more sensible on public roads and having my fun on the race track.

There's a few american SUV's with diesels... Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Liberty, and Ford Excursion. Used, yes... but they're there.

Good choice on the Yukon btw... VASTLY better tow vehicle than the X5.

Just out of curiousity... did you HAVE to have a SUV? A full size truck with crew cab wouldn't have worked?

Just built a Yukon Denali on gmbuypower.com. $63K!! One can buy a used X5M for that kind of money. Maybe it is all about the wheelbase and sheer weight of GM iron, but wondering how the Yukon would be a better TV than the X5M, at least for my purposes at 4,500 pounds of trailer.

It's all about the wheelbase and the weight. It probably weighs 1000 lbs more, has a sold rear axle (at least I think it still does) and is just overall much more stable with a big load than the x5.

There's a lot more to towing than being able to drive forward and go up hills... any 4 cylinder jeep can do that... it's about keeping the load stable and not getting pushed by the load when the course of direction changes... and stopping.

As a for instance... I used to tow a trailer/boat that totaled around 6500 lbs.

Started with a Jeep Cherokee - Solid axles, coils in front, leaf springs in rear... weighed around 4k lbs. Towed fine in a straight line but not good if I had to manueaver fast or stop fast. The brakes were by far the biggest issue, if the trailer brakes were to fail I would have been eff'd.
Moved to a Silverado crew cab - Solid rear axle, leaf springs... weighed around 6k lbs. Towed fantastic. Couldn't have been happier.
Then had a 2000 Range Rover - Sold axles, air bags all corners... weighed around 5500 lbs. Towed amazing also. The Silverado probably was a little better, but not by much.
Now I have a F350 super crew - Sold axles, leaf springs... weighs almost 7k lbs. When people use the saying "I couldn't even tell I was towing anything" this is it. Unreal how nice it tows... I could go across the country towing a 12k lbs load and be fine... the other vehicles would have worn me out mentally and physically just because of the extra attention you need to pay while towing with them. Yeah, they were great for little jounts around the state... but anything more than a couple hours would have been too much.

Cherokee, as in the XJ?? I had a 1998 XJ with UpCountry and used it for towing a 2,300 pound pop-up trailer several times. Felt like my life was in jeopardy all the time with its horrid drum brakes, floundering suspension and overall ill handling. Solid rear axle was a frightening thing. Started towing with our X3 and sold the Jeep in following week. No comparison in terms of power, braking and overall handling while towing.

Obviously, I want the safest choice, and am really interested to learn how how the X5 is less competent for towing than a Yukon, assuming you tow within weight limits of each respective vehicle. Wheelbase and weight rule for the Yukon, but suspension, wheels/tires, center of gravity, brakes, engine, and dynamics weigh in favor of the X5.

Yeah... good ole 99' XJ. Lifted 4.5" on 32's no less.
I did forget about the WJ I had for about a year... towed better than the xj, but not by much. Brakes were better but that was about it.

As for the "...Wheelbase and weight rule for the Yukon, but suspension, wheels/tires, center of gravity, brakes, engine, and dynamics weigh in favor of the X5." I'll wholeheartedly disagree with all of that. It's just a completely different ballgame when you're talking about a full size SUV built on a truck platform vs a SAV that's basically a big car in terms of towing ability. I don't care if it's 2000 lbs or 6000 lbs... the Yukon will tow better every time. You just have to experience it to see for yourself. It's not the everyday smooth regular old driving that sets them apart... it's the holy sh&t that semi almost ran us over aversion that the Yukon will survive and the x5 will jack knife and roll. (extreme example of course). In all seriousness though... you just have to try them back to back to see.

Here's my rationale:
X5 tow rating is 6,000 lbs. BMW doesn't differentiate between 3.0 and 4.4.
Wheelbase is just 112", and a pretty narrow track width.

My 4.4 pulled my aluminum open deck trailer with race car pretty well, but it was a combined towed weight of just 4500 lbs. However whenever I put 8 wheels and tires up on the tire rack, the wind resistance could be felt in a big way. But I felt the X5 performed great for a unibody vehicle, and I could pull hills and run at 75 on the interstate as well as if not better than my friends with Tahoes.

When I bought my 18' enclosed trailer, my towed weight was close to the max tow rating of the X4. And even thought it was a v-nosed trailer to cut some of the wind, the 4.4 struggled to pull even the mildest grade. I never used 6th gear, left it in 5th whch was 3000 rpm at 68 mph. Fuel economy dropped to 10 at that speed on flat Illinois and Indiana highways. When I'd hit any inclines, I'd have to drop down to 4th just to maintain 60+ because of the weight combined with the wind resistance. Many hills got pulled at 50-55 in 3rd , and fuel economy on those trips dropped to 8.5-9 mpg. There is absolutely no way the 6 cylinder could pull anything more that 4000 lbs max.

One other note- my trans failed at 74000 miles. Thank heavens for CPO warranty. Service manager knew I towed, he also tows a trailer with his X5. Even thought I'd had the trans fluid changed at 35000 miles, the trans fluid was absolute crap when it came out. And the truck was starting to have problems on the 3-4 and 4-3 shifts. Keep in mind up that point the most I'd pulled was the 4500 lb open trailer. I'm not certain the trans would live to the abuse of pulling 6000lbs. And it shows that trans fluid needs to be changed often.

The other factor was the X5 chassis- the open trailer weighed less than the X5, and was extremely stable at all towing speeds. The enclosed trailer was a far different story. Even though I run a dual-cam sway control weight distributing hitch system, on windy days on downhill stretches, it was the tail wagging the dog. 112" wheelbase just isn't enough, and the track width of the X5 doesn't help either. Thank heavens my E53 was a Sport with the staggered 19" wheels which helped.

I really wanted a turbodiesel, but the Jeeps were unibody too, and their tow ratings are lower than even the X5. Excursion diesels are all at least 8+ years old now, and all have megamiles on them. And those things are huge. In the ideal world I'd have gotten a 3 or 4 year old GMC 2500 with the Duramax turbodiesel and Allison transmission. Supurb tow vehicle, but I have kids and need the utility of an SUV. So a truck wasn't an option. So the Denali became the compromise.

Bottom line- the X5 with V8 was a competent tow vehicle at less than 4500 lbs. Beyond that and I just didn't feel safe towing 1000 miles from Chicago to VA through the mountains.