THE RIVALS

MERCEDESBENZ GLE, FROM £55,020

A slightly bigger and flashier vehicle with a fine range of engines and a lovely cabin. On-road comfort is assured, but as with the BMW you have to dig deep to afford the various off-road packs.

PORSCHE CAYENNE, FROM £55,965

Very loosely based on the same chassis as Bentley, Lamborghini, Audi and VW SUVs of similar size, although Porsche engineers developed their own air suspension and drivelines – which they didn’t share. This car saved Porsche and is the best-driving SUV.

RANGE ROVER SPORT, FROM £61,645

The first version was a boat anchor, but this second generation is an expensive, mainly aluminium SUV. Drives beautifully and doesn’t give much away to a full house Range Rover in the rough. Classy, but the V6 diesel is heavy, thirsty and gruff. sophisticated suspension, yet it will be the most popular trim level in the

UK. Go figure.

And also as ever with BMW, the options list is a scary and damaging place if your name happens to be Wallet. If you want to go as seriously off the road as a BMW X5 owner is likely to stray from a Waitrose store, then you’ll want the £2,595 x-Offroad pack, which gives you a mechanical rear differential lock, a sump guard and a series of transmission, engine and suspension settings for different terrains: xSand; xRocks; xGravel and xSnow. Not just any old sand, rocks, gravel and snow, then.

Along the bone-dry banks of Rose Creek, south of Atlanta, we trundled up and down existing but steep (up to 43 per cent gradient) tracks. The hill-descent control worked well, considering the grip available from the standard 21in Pirelli tyres, though in wet grass it might struggle.

A Fiat Panda four-wheel drive or a Suzuki Jimny would have cinched this challenge. However, with a total wading depth of 540mm, ground clearance of 264mm, decent approach, departure and breakover angles, a 2.7-tonne towing weight and a 20in all-terrain tyre option, the X5 need no longer hide in the garage when the going gets tough.

On the road it’s a class act, too. The ride is first rate, breathing comfortably with bumps and undulations. There’s a fair old swish from the big tyres and the wind rustles around the door mirrors, but on the whole it’s quiet and refined.

On air suspension the front has a tendency to want to go straight on in corners, especially if the suspension is set in Sport; leave it in Comfort and let the body roll a bit more so the outside tyres are pressed more firmly into the road.

The steering feels direct but without a lot of feedback. M-Sport cars have a slightly neater turn-in to corners and feel a tad more sporting, but not three-and-a-half grand’s worth.

The straight-six diesel is the pick of the bunch, growly, technicalsounding, but with a pleasing turn of performance and reasonable economy. The eight-speed automatic gearbox slurs changes nicely and doesn’t often want for a gear.

BMW has employed its usual cool approach to design in titivating the interior – read myriad shades of grey, although with that sombre tone you’ll be glad if you’ve specified the £2,440 panoramic glass roof. Sometimes the design eats at the practicality, however. The digital main instrument binnacle has opposite-swinging needles for the speedometer and rev counter, which is plain confusing. Most of the rest of the interior package, including the connectivity systems and the gesture control, is easy to use, although it’s still too easy to switch off the radio when trying to explain a particularly exciting bit of doughkneading in the latest

episode.

The satnav was having a day off on lots of the test cars, which we put down to early models and the effects of Hurricane Florence; it has great graphics, though. And the latest version of BMW’s limited self-driving system works well, too, with a far calmer approach to steering corrections than in the 5-series saloon.