BMW X5 review (30/10/2013)
In idle moments, one might dream of being let loose up that hill in an old Can-Am McLaren, or a Lotus turbine Indycar, or an old Ferrari Le Mans car (a 330 P4 would do nicely), or some otherworldly and outrageous piece of kit.
Most definitely not on the list was the 1956 Leyland PD2/12 Titan double-decker bus, in the livery of the local Southdown company, in which I found myself chugging up the famous hill, recently.
Said bus had been laid on by the good people of BMW to ferry us hacks from the nearby Goodwood Hotel — where we had just run into none other than actor Hugh Grant, putting his golf clubs into the back of his Ferrari FF — to the main house, where they were launching the third generation of their massively successful X5 range.
Aside from the many distractions of the house — not to mention the three original Stubbs paintings in the entrance hall, or the pair of Caneletto paintings in one of the drawing rooms — the new X5 looked at home outside the columned main doors of March’s house, and BMW felt this regal setting was appropriate for the event and for their car.
The X5 was a ground-breaker when it was unveiled in 1999. It was the first 4x4 endowed with fantastic road-going abilities, rather than brilliant off-roading ones. The X5, the first of a kind, was labelled as a sports activity vehicle instead of a sports utility vehicle.
The X5 was a hit with the buying public, as an upmarket set of wheels for the upmarket set. Ten thousand X5s were sold in the UK in 2005, and, in the same year, 38,000 were sold in the US.
The second-generation arrived in 2006, and was no less popular: 640,000 of them were manufactured between 2007 and now. On the basis of these figures, BMW, understandably, is confident of a similar result for the Mark3 X5.
The X5 accounts for 40% of the total volume of X Range sales, and X Drive versions of their cars (i.e. 4x4s) account for 20% of total volume. Surprisingly, BMW say that X Drive versions of their 3 Series are outselling Audi’s equivalent quattro models two-to-one in the UK.
But what of the new machine? The design has been modestly tricked around with to give it a more elegant, yet purposeful look; prices for the new range will be only slightly higher than for the old one, but the car will have substantially more standard kit; it boasts class-leading dynamics and efficiency; it is much more luxurious; oh, and it will be available with a tow-bar (electric operation optional).
Unfortunately for us Paddies, neither of the cars that are expected to be the main sellers here in Ireland — the sDrive25d SE (which will be priced at 67,380, on the road), and the xDrive25d SE (71,000 OTR here) — were available to drive, so we had to make do with the xDrive30d M Sport (87,310) and the xDrive50i M Sport (118,050).
The former was fitted with a revised version of the familiar, six-cylinder diesel, which outputs some 190 kW (258 bhp), while the latter had the new-generation V8 petrol unit, which boasts an output of 330 kW (450 bhp).
Around the busy by-ways of West Sussex, it was a little hard to engage fully with either of these cars, but in the same way that Land Rover has upped its game with the new Range Rover, BMW has done so with the X5.
The X5 has been refined dynamically and mechanically and, even though the emphasis has been to add greatly to the car’s technological prowess, existing fans will find much to drool over.
Somewhat fatuously, given that so few of these machines will ever be asked by their owners to perform off-road, BMW arranged for us to take to the wilder parts of March’s estate to demonstrate that their revised 4x4 system can tackle something other than a leafy suburb. It managed fine and did not let anyone down.
Even so, I’m not sure I’d be so keen to try it in the upper reaches of the Black Valley.
Incidentally, BMW say that the new car will be sold with ‘summer’ tyres as standard, but the company will offer ‘all-weather’ tyres as a no-cost option.
The new X5 can be ordered now and all models will be available by early in the new year. Fans will not be disappointed.
Would BMW give me a go up that hill in something more exotic, something along the lines of the Brabham BT52, with their 1000+ M12/13 Turbo engine, which Nelson Piquet drove there this summer, perhaps? I’d say that might just beat the Leyland bus.
