BMW X5 3.0
Theres No Doubting The Excellence Of The 3.0-Litre Engine Fitted To The
BMW X5, But Does The Whole Package Gel? Andy Enright Reports
Its easy to dislike BMW. Annoyingly right first time entries into new market sectors, monolithic residual values, a swaggering corporate attitude and a dilettante attitude to our domestic car industry havent done a great deal to endear the Bavarians to us Brits. Unfortunately, they make such wretchedly fantastic cars. The BMW X5 3.
0-litre, a belated entry to the 4x4 market, sees BMW at their most imperious, impressive and imposing.
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Pre-launch publicity for the X5 3.0-litre had trumpeted its ability to drive like a normal passenger car whilst offering extended capabilities, and the class leading safety of a monocoque chassis. This last point is important. Until recently, most 4x4s utilised a primitive separate, or ladder, chassis arrangement that offered flexibility and an agricultural articulation to their off road capabilities, but led to correspondingly crude handling on road, whereas the X5 has the skeleton of a road car.
In its latest form, the X5 became even better. Styling changes brought it closer into line with the 5-Series and Z4 while the addition of the xDrive 4x4 system boosted off road ability. The X5s superb road handling stems, in part, from a huge American market consisting of thousands of potential customers who rarely take their macho 4x4s anywhere remotely rugged. The American theme is noteworthy, as the US market for high specification Sports Activity Vehicles, as
BMW dubs the X5, is set to grow exponentially.
The SAV, or Schoolrun And Vacation as one wag dubbed it, is a more urbane offshoot of the huge American truck market, and the X5 was styled in a Californian design studio. Its manufactured at BMWs state of the art facility in Spartanburg, North Carolina by the only folks in the world capable of out-swaggering a Bavarian.
"Think of the X5 as a 530i Touring on stilts and you wont be far wide of the mark."
Packing the straight six-cylinder 3.0-litre engine as seen in the 530i and 330i models under its clamshell hood sorry, bonnet, the X5 generates 231 bhp in standard trim, and will accelerate to 60 mph in 8.5 seconds. With this knowledge on board, it becomes slightly disquieting to climb up into the superbly finished interior and realise youre perched up on stilts.
The engine generates a reassuringly creamy 6-cylinder note, albeit muted somewhat by several thick, American inches of down-home quality. Though the throttle and brakes are pretty abrupt, the first corner is telling. The X5 rolls initially but not alarmingly, and as several corners are stitched together, confidence grows. The ride is supple and the speed sensitive power steering requires little effort to place the car accurately into a corner, although the rather high gearing facilitates a fair degree of constant adjustment and a flaccid feel when driving straight ahead.
The 5-speed automatic gearbox does little to blunt the impact of that power, and although the X5 weighs in at a big-boned 280kg heavier and sits 272mm higher than the equivalent 5 series estate, acceleration is always tight and punchy. Priced at £35,740 for the base model and £37,690 for the Sport variant, the X5 3.0i is equipped similarly to a 530i SE, which is only £3,500 less, highlighting the cars relatively impressive value. Fuel consumption is one area where the hefty X5 blots its copybook somewhat, averaging an unimpressive 22mpg, way down on the 29mpg returned by a 530i.
Most will notice the edgier front headlights but closer inspection reveals that virtually everything forward of the windscreen pillars has been subtly revised. The bonnet has been resculpted with sharper edges that run into the trademark kidney grilles. The front spoiler features bigger air intakes and the front fog lamps now look a lot neater. Things have changed under the skin too.
Whereas the old X5 system was based on a simple fixed front to rear drive ratio with DSC traction control used for critical interventions, the latest set-up is a whole lot cleverer. Dubbed xDrive, this intelligent four-wheel drive system varies drive between the front and rear axles depending upon traction requirements. A series of wheel sensors and data collected from the DSC system, xDrive predicts any loss of traction and an electronically controlled mid-mounted clutch reacts in milliseconds to direct drive to the wheels that most require it. The handling of off road obstacles is informative.
BMW fight shy of labelling the X5 an off road vehicle, because it clearly is not. Imaginative euphemisms are utilised at every opportunity. Other roads. Extended capabilities.
Trail and track. Whilst the X5s off road capabilities are better than youd at first give it credit for, its best not to try to tackle anything that would stump a
Land Rover Freelander, as its lack of wheel articulation and reduced ratio gearbox coupled with its reliance on wide road tyres limit its ultimate capabilities. Keep the target market in mind, however. BMW sold Land Rover to
Ford.
Driving the X5 3.0-litre on road will show its capabilities off best. With its electronic systems switched off, the X5 will perform a graceless, understeering lurch through tighter corners, its tall tyres generating the sorts of tortured rending sounds most often associated with the destruction of a Bond villains lair. After some spirited cornering, its easy to become beset with the image of Muhammad Ali standing over a stricken Ken Norton screaming, "I found you out, I found you out!" yet with the traction control aids switched in, the X5 can be hustled around in a smooth, tidy, vaguely humbling manner. Most of the time you must constantly remind yourself that youre at the helm of a very large, four-wheel drive vehicle. What must be the X5s greatest tribute is that its incredibly easy to lose sight of this fact. The BMW X5 is crushingly fit for purpose.
It combines class leading on road handling with adequate off road performance. It offers markedly superior build quality to any of its rivals, is prettier, quicker, safer and classier, although it represents an evolution of the species rather than the revolution that BMW would like us to believe. Is it possible to buy a car that will do everything? Something that will handle like a sportscar, accommodate a large family and get to places normally reserved for mountain goats? Perhaps not, but BMWs X5 gets very close.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
CAR: BMW X5 3.0i range
PRICE: £35,740-£37,690 - on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 17
CO2 EMISSIONS: 305g/km
PERFORMANCE: 0-60mph 8.5/ Max Speed 133mph
FUEL CONSUMPTION: (urban) 16.2mpg / (extra urban) 28.2mpg / (combined) 22.2mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front, side and window airbags, ABS
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: (length/width/height) 4667/2190/1707mm
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