

WHEN BMW LAUNCHED the original X5,
it was lauded as an SUV that could
still be a pleasure to drive. It was a vehicle that, to all intents
and purposes, deserved the BMW label
of ‘The Ultimate Driving Machine’.
After sampling the grunty X6 a few years ago, complete
with a twin-turbo V8 under the bonnet, Lucire’s experience
of BMW’s large SUV
platform was very promising. The X6, with its Tonka-toy-like looks,
imposing size and head-turning ability, was a big SUV
we actually loved, despite having had reservations about the concept.
The X6’s critics, however, point to the lack of logic
behind it. Why, they cried, must it be an impractical coupé
shape mixed with the sheer bulk of an SUV?
How many concepts can the human mind cross-over in a crossover?
The X5, then, answers the criticisms. While it was launched
first, we experienced the vehicles in reverse, and the X5 that BMW
loaned to us was a very different beast: the Xdrive40d, a three-litre
turbodiesel six. This was the sensible solution, on paper, to the
excesses of the twin-turbo V8 X6: it had a normal shape with an
upright tailgate, and a diesel engine giving a claimed 7·5 l/100
km (38 mpg); we averaged 9·6 l/100 km (29·4 mpg), for reasons we’ll
go in to.
While everything in the cabin is immediately familiar
after being in the X6, the drama had disappeared. While the X5 still
imposed through its size again—it is taller, though less lengthy,
than the X6—there was a feeling that one had opted to blend in.
With SUVs a common currency these
days, the X5 didn’t make you feel flash-Harry special as its brother
does.
Probably because it’s not supposed to. X6 is designed
as a special vehicle for the town poser, something to drive along
slowly along urban boulevards and have one up on the me-too, same-again
Porsche owner. With second-hand Cayennes dropping to ridiculously
low prices and 911s failing to elicit much excitement to observers
(though we’re excited about the next-generation Typ 991),
X6 is a vehicle that raises you up a notch.
X5, then, is the one that gets about its business quietly,
without fuss, being dutiful and practical. No more hassles about
having a small rear window that is difficult to see out of. And
yes, you can fill up the boot with plenty of gear should the occasion
demand. The lower part of the tailgate folds down, making loading
more convenient.
In fact, Lucire even tested the X5 on a
school run, queuing up with soccer Moms and their minivans and lesser
Ford Territorys, where it fitted in to place shape-wise. Only when
the BMW badge came into sight and
our test subject hopped in did she feel suitably impressed.
Our test X5 was well appointed, inside and out, and
we never had the sense that BMW had
skimped on the extras. (Our earlier experience in the X1 was less
comfortable.) There were no hard plastics in the cabin on the pretext
that a workhorse SUV must have easy-to-wash
surfaces—a convenient excuse for some companies to put in less-than-stellar
materials and charge a premium for utility—and it was a comfortable
way to undertake long drives.
We took the X5 off-road as well, gently so, to trails
in the Wairarapa that would pose little problem in a Range Rover.
It handled those metal roads well, the four-wheel drive giving a
far more confident experience than the times we had tackled the
same road in a front-wheel-drive saloon. Width was the one issue,
but at 1,933 mm it is comparable to the likes of the Volvo XC90
(1,898 mm) and the Volkswagen Touareg (1,940 mm). (We would have
had a Touareg for comparison but it had a fault; its owner tells
me that in two years, it has been off-road—and not in the sense
you might be thinking—for nine months.)
So it’s all very practical, then.
But, one might ask, what is it doing in a magazine that
goes on regularly about style, that undefinable quality that cars
in Lucire tend to possess? For the simple fact that
it has plenty.
True, the X6 might be more imposing, but we love vehicles
that have an X factor (no pun intended). The X5 may indeed be very
practical, suited to off-road use as well as the school run, but
it packs something very surprising indeed.
Three hundred and six Pfederstärken under
the bonnet, which it sends to the four wheels with amazingly strong
grip. It may be a very pleasant diesel on the outside but it acquitted
itself over the Rimutakas just as an X6 would. The X5 is a Q-car,
and we do not mean the Ingolstadt type.
On one of our final days with the vehicle, we spied
a Porsche 996 coming up behind us, just as we were leaving Featherston
for Wellington. Autobahn practice would dictate that we let
the 996 pass at the first passing-lane opportunity. So we did. And
what a mistake that was.
Mr Middle-Aged 996, blonde passenger riding shotgun
after a day in the wine country, kept getting in our way.
We’ve driven the 997 and assuming the limits were just
a little less stratospheric in its predecessor, we expected better.
But the X5 kept firmly on his tail, the big vehicle
never being anything but sure-footed as it tackled the notorious
hill.
The Porsche might have had us on the straights but its
owner could never take the corners that well, despite the Swabians’
best traction control and electronics correcting for the 911’s weight
issues.
At the end of the journey, we could say that the X5
has something special. It’s the SUV
that you buy if you want to blend in a little. And, if you ever
need to, surprise the heck out of any poser in a Porsche who is
wondering about the kidney grille quickly looming in his rear-view
mirror. •
Jack Yan is publisher of Lucire. |
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The X6 might be more imposing, but we love vehicles
that have an X factor (no pun intended). The X5 may indeed be very
practical, suited to off-road use as well as the school run, but
it packs something very surprising indeed
|