Pics of my new Alpine 35d w/ Nappa (56k Warning)
 

Hi guys,

Just picked up my 2012 X5 35d earlier this week. It was custom order and only took two weeks to build and ship to me. I was quite surprised. The specs are in my signature.

I've had 2 other X5 diesels in the past 2 years and I've traded them due to problems I didn't want to deal with. First was a 2011 with a steering problem the dealership couldn't fix and the second had a terrible creak coming from the doors that the dealership "couldn't reproduce" even though it's not an on-off thing... it was making the noise every time the vehicle moved.

Only mods so far are M-Sport steering wheel, tint, and headlight clear bra.

Anyway, I decided to order this one with as many options as I wanted with things I didn't need like Cold Weather, Third Row, or Adaptive Drive. Here is a list of new things I added that I notice some changes and my opinions on them...

DIESEL ENGINE
Loud as hell inside, even louder on the outside. Power delivery is good but delayed. Feels unrefined. Can't complain though, since I got 3500 ECO credit + excellent gas mileage

ALPINE WHITE
I'm not a fan of the color. In all honestly, I should've ordered it in Black Sapphire because I think that is the best color for the X5. Unfortunately, I'm in Houston and it's too damn hot for that color and the pollen doesn't help. It would've been nice if BMW offered Mineral White Metallic as Metallic is definitely the best way to go.

SAND BEIGE NAPPA
If you are deciding whether to get this, I'd say no. The leather honestly doesn't feel any more special and the extra stitching around the arm rest and seats are annoying more than anything. I will say, though, the Nappa helped stop the creaking in the back seats. The sound that happened on 2 other X5s with Oyster Nevada was caused by the leather rubbing against the plastic. It smells like a new house versus actual leather.

NAPPA LEATHER DASH
Transforms the cabin's look, but I believe it heats up the cabin more too. The top of all 4 doors are leather too, but I'm not sure whether that is part of the Nappa leather seats or the Nappa dash.

SOFT-CLOSE DOORS
I really like this feature. However, I don't like the fact that you can hear the motor running even if you close the door normally. So basically, the feature has to be used every time. I see this as the first thing breaking in this car.

PREMIUM SOUND PACKAGE
I'd say improvement is not that much better than the 2012 stock, except the rear seats don't have a hollow noise coming from the cargo area and there's no terrible screech when the volume is up. The sound is more insulated too, resulting in less road noise and less of people outside hearing.

20" WHEELS
Looks way better but not a real difference in handling. Only difference I've noticed is increased turn radius. Ride quality is similar.

MULTI-CONTOUR SEATS
Definitely the best seats BMW makes. If you can't find a car with this or don't want to pay it, get the stock seats. The Sport Seat is the worst thing BMW makes. I've had a 335i with sport seats and they were perfect. On the X5, it's terrible. In conjunction with the running boards, you will soon have muscle tenderness.




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very nice

very slick
 

Love the leather trim. Nice looking vehicle.

Would be perfect if they offered the colors they do for other regular BMWs, particularly in this combo:

Mineral White Metallic
Ivory Nappa
Piano Black trim

The clear bra is a must-have for sure. I've always had black cars here in TX--for 18 years. Unless my car is parked outside all day, that would be the only reason I wouldn't get black---looks so much better than the others when clean.

I really like my Alpine White/Beige Nappa combination. It always gets compliments too. You get used to the stitching on the center console. Doesn't bother me any more.

I'm new to this board, and have is similar X5 35d on order (in the Paint Shop today).

I wanted Sand Beige Nappa Leather, but did not want the beige carpet. Ended up getting Oyster Nevada.

Although I did not get the Nappa seats, I did order the Nappa Leather Dash. It will be interesting to see exactly which surfaces receive the Nappa treatment.

As a guy who had Oyster Nevada on two X5s before this, I'd say that in combination with the Nappa dash looks way better and should be more durable. Great choice. Nappa is okay, but the stitching is overkill and I actually initially thought the leather was thicker. It's pretty much the same with no grain and slightly rubber-ier. Definitely not worth the extra $$$ BMW is asking for.

It xeems to me that for somethng you custom ordered for yourself that you seem to be complaining about everything.

If I don't complain, who will? Plus, a lot of the options I had wasn't on any X5 on the lot, so I ordered blindly. A lot of those are on the 7, but different cars = different product.

Thanks for your complaints. Now I do not feel like I missed something.

Nappa leather looks and feels very nice in the 7, which is why I wanted it. It's very useful to know that Nappa in the X5 is not as soft as Nappa in the 7. Dealers do not (or cannot) order Nappa without a customer order, so it's impossible to view on a dealer lot.

Adaptive Drive is another option that is never on dealer lots. I ordered it based on many positive comments, but wish it was possible to test drive in advance.

I ordered AD "sight unseen" hopefully anything is an improvement over the stock suspension which rebounds too slowly for me...

How is the AD? That's the only major option I didn't get because I couldn't find an X5 with it and $3500 is a lot to gamble with for only one option

its less if you order with M Sport Pkg ...

I will let you know once I get my car ...

Unfortunately, BMW does not offer the diesel with the M-Sport Package and Adaptive Drive is only available as a standalone option. On the gas, though, it's only a $350 savings....

:(

when I test drove the X5 xDrive50 with the "Sports Activity" pkg I found the suspension very soft, particularly on the freeway, where the rebound felt very "sluggish" resulting in a "floating" sensation, then I drove the X5M ... much, much, much better, not really a fair comparison...

I am "hoping" that the AD option will be somewhere in-between/closer to the X5M experience...

I would have got the X5M but I could not really justify it as a DD with 4 dogs clambering around in it ... so I "made do" with the xDrive50 M Sport pkg + M Performance + Adaptive Drive ... we will see if I made the right choice!

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the X5M has the adaptive drive standard to make it handle the way it does. I'm sure your car would be sweet with the V8 + AD. M-Sport definitely looks better on the X5 anyway, since the X5M has the X6 front end and looks really.... girly.

I think the X5M has a different suspension setup (at least tuning maybe springs) than the other X5's ... it does have AD and similar self leveling ...

I plan on lowering my X5 with the H&R 2" spring kit once it gets here ...

Larry have you seen this ?


The new BMW X5 2007 Adaptive Drive English Language - YouTube

X6 Adaptive Drive - YouTube

super cool, thanks!

Love love love the Nappa!!!

When you order the Nappa Leather Dash, the surface area on the top of all four doors is also Nappa Leather.

grats, the leather trim is definitely the best part, wish I had it too.

Congrats. Appreciate the critical review of some of the options.

Wow..... so you know that airbag warning tag on the dashboard for new cars? Yeah, about removing those.... great metal clips.

Looks like I'm off to the dealer!

LoL this almost happened to me too however I was able to gently take it off.

That sucks,

Hopefully they are cheap,

I almost did the same thing,

Great looking car OP. Same combo as my wife's. If you want nappa beige and black carpets, request from your dealer to have the carpets changed to black with the nappa beige. It took a few try's to get BMW to do it but they did eventually agree. Build took an extra 2-3 weeks and they charged me a $900 custom order fee but it was worth it to us given the wear and tear caused by our 4 kids.

If I had know it was possible, I would have pushed the issue :stick poke
My Oyster Nevada interior has already been built, PCD in 15 days :thumb up:

Please post some pictures :yikes:

Post pictures of it. That would've been perfect. Kinda sucks however that they charged you $900 that really didn't technically cost them anything extra. All it takes probably is some guy with a pen writing on your build order sheet BLACK CARPETS, CUSTOM