BMW X5
Cops a quick, direct steer back on track
Spartanburg’s superstretch delivers a down-home serving of the good stuff
CALL it tall poppy syndrome, but we were a little critical of the X5 when the just-superseded F15 generation arrived. Could you blame us? Its E-series predecessors proved that luxo SUVS could handle (remotely) like a sports sedan, delivering plenty for family types with petrol pumping through their ventricles.
Though beaten to market by the Mercedes M-class, it was the X5 that perfected the luxury large SUV in the noughties. Trailblazers are always a hard act to follow, and the ho-hum F15, with its slack steering and lack of dynamic sparkle, disappointed.
But that’s in the past; the G05 is here now, and it’s moved the goalposts again. Luxury? Yes, sir. Space? More than ever. Driver appeal? Absolutely.
From afar it doesn’t look all that different, but in each of its generations the X5 has been fairly handsome – the lack of change here is no deal-breaker. But it’s the sub-dermal renovation that bears the most fruit for the new X5. A platform that’s been engineered to trim weight and improve handling is central, but so is the new X5’s larger footprint.
A 42mm wheelbase stretch is another crucial ingredient, and the X5 feels much bigger inside (especially from the second row), though there isn’t such an increase in the optional third row. The incoming X7 will be the true, full-time seven-seater.
The best seats in the house are up the front. Sports seats are now standard, and they offer plentiful support and grades of leather that range from ‘great’ to ‘as supple as an angel’s cheek’. Almost. But you can now spec an X5 to a near-7 Series luxe, should you desire.
Yet the base specification is already fantastic, BMW Australia seemingly scrapping its policy of leaving the best stuff to the option list. Standard for every X5 are cool features such as a pair of crisp, 12.3-inch colour displays, for the slick idrive 7.0 infotainment suite and driver’s instrument panel, a wide-angle head-up display, adaptive LED headlights and software that’s intelligent enough to memorise the last 50 metres of a trip and semi-autonomously retrace your path in reverse – perfect if you just had to negotiate a particularly tricky driveway.
There’s more good news on the dynamic front. The electrically assisted steering still may not be the last word in driver engagement, but the rackmounted motor provides for light, reactive and direct steering and is allied with a suspension tune that endows the two-tonne-plus X5 with commendable agility. The low-profile 20-inch rubber definitely helps here, but there’s no denying that the new X5 makes handling gains. Especially if you go for the quad-turbo M50d flagship, with its torque-vectoring rear diff and rear-wheel steering.
A diesel-only proposition from launch, with a 40i petrol six in showrooms as you read, there is no engine bigger or smaller than 3.0-litres in the X5 line-up for now. The M50d, with four turbos and a brutal 760Nm and 294kw, is predictably the most impressive, but the ‘base’ 195kw, 620Nm single-turbo diesel 30d doesn’t exactly live in its shadow.
In some ways, it’s actually preferable because, unlike the M50d, it can be had with the optional dual-axle air suspension, a $2300 option that endows the X5 with exceptional ride, dialling out the brittleness that can be experienced on the standard coils.
All this, in conjunction with the bigger cabin, generous standard equipment, and a pervading high-end look and feel, means the new-generation X5 doesn’t just represent a return to form, it shoots for class honours.