BMW X5 xdrive45e M Sport
List price £69,915 Target Price £64,447 Target PCP £637 0-62mph 5.6sec Top speed 146mph Official economy 235.4mpg CO2 27g/km
THE PROBLEM WITH most luxury SUVS is that they drink like a bunch of students during freshers’ week, but the BMW X5 xdrive45e is an exception.
Indeed, this plug-in hybrid can travel up to 54 miles on electric power before it needs to use any petrol at all.
That’s significantly better than key rivals such as the Audi Q7 55 TFSIE and Volvo XC90 Recharge T8. And that range advantage also helps the X5 to qualify for a low 7% benefit-in-kind tax rating. Company car drivers who choose the Q7 or XC90 will be taxed at 15% and 16% respectively.
True, the 45e won’t be as efficient as a diesel X5 once its battery has run flat, but if you enter your destination into the sat-nav, the hybrid system is clever enough to juggle between power sources to maximise economy on your trip. For example, if you’re starting on the motorway and finishing in the city, the 3.0-litre petrol engine will take most of the strain at the start so there’s enough battery power left over for the more congested sections to follow.
Don’t go thinking that the xdrive45e is just a luxury SUV for penny pinchers, though. It’s also fast enough to outaccelerate plenty of hot hatches (we managed 0-60mph in just 5.1sec at our test track) and the air suspension is beautifully judged, giving it sharper handling than the Q7 yet a more comfortable ride than the XC90.
Refinement is another strength. The standard eight-speed automatic gearbox shifts almost imperceptibly and wind noise is well suppressed. Meanwhile, the X5’s engine is quieter than the XC90’S when it fires into life and more tuneful when you rev it hard.
Finding a comfortable driving position is a doddle, because the seat moves every which way electrically. It also features a memory function that lets you quickly return it to your chosen position after someone else has sat there and adjusted it.
What’s more, the seating position is high enough to make an HGV driver feel at home, the interior is beautifully finished and BMW’S idrive infotainment system continues to set the standard for ease of use, despite being loaded with features.
In fact, the only real disappointment is that, unlike the XC90, the X5 xdrive45e can’t be specified with seven seats due to the need to squeeze in its hefty 24kwh battery. Nonetheless, it’s still very practical, with loads of space for five people and all their luggage.
THERE’S NO SHORTAGE of great electric cars now, but great electric driver’s cars that make battery power properly fun have been a bit thin on the ground. The Porsche Taycan is a notable exception.
It’s available with a choice of power outputs, most of them outrageously high. Our pick is the 4S (the cheapest model with four-wheel drive) fitted with a larger, 93kwh battery added as an option. The battery upgrade increases the official range to 288 miles and adds a little more power, with 469bhp in normal use and 523bhp for short bursts.
When we tested that model, it hit 60mph from a standstill in just 3.6sec – and there are two even quicker versions available.
Sure, there are variants of the Tesla Model S that can do an even faster sprint, but it’s not a patch on the Taycan for handling finesse and driving thrills. The Taycan is the benchmark, even beating the closely related Audi E-tron GT.
You get hefty yet precise steering, taut body control and keen responses to all your inputs, and the car feels agile and engaging, despite its weight. If you add the optional active anti-roll bars (called Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control), it outhandles all its rivals, including the lighter Porsche Panamera. For all its sportiness – and despite having slightly firmer suspension than the E-tron GT – the Taycan is still a comfy car. It’s relaxing whirring down the motorway or hustling through busy town traffic.
Very few performance cars are more welcoming to sit in or better finished inside. From the curved, frameless screen behind the steering wheel to the array of tactile, dense-feeling materials and supportive yet comfortable seats, it’s exactly what you’d expect from a Porsche. In this category, only the E-tron GT can compete for interior lustre.
The whole family can share the glow of ownership satisfaction too, with room for two six-footers to lounge on the standard two-person rear bench.
The boot can’t hold anywhere near as much as the Model S’s, but it’s big enough to make the Taycan more than a weekend toy. It’s also the joint