Today I had the pleasure of taking a BMW X5 for a spin. I was very impressed by the X5, the first thing that I noticed was how sharp the steering is compared to the usual family car suspects. Not overly hefty, but enough so to be enjoyable. In addition, the turbo-charged straight-6 never left me wanting for power. In fact, at no point did I use more than half the accelerator pedal's available travel to call for boost. You can find plenty of reviews that call out the X5's handling for not being on par with some of their more high-performance wares. But let's be fair, it is quite possibly the best handling three-row SUV available. The ride was firm, but comfortable, and far from the floaty and disconnected experiences that you find in other vehicles in this segment.
When it was time to LATCH in our car seat, I found it be quite an easy affair, and loading up my little passenger was a cinch. On a side note, I did not have 3 car seats with me, but I would suspect that the second row is a 2 child-seat only affair. No problem, that's why they offer a third row. Speaking of features, our tester was nicely equipped technology-wise. My two favorite features would have to be, in no particular order, first, that the navigation system is integrated with the heads-up display so that you never have to look away from the road. And second, I very much enjoyed the rear-view camera with "Top View". You can call up multiple views with this system. Obviously, theres the traditional rear-view with indicating lines based on the direction of the front wheels, so that you know exactly where you are headed. Then there are the cameras in the front bumper that allow you to see what's coming down the road, when the person in the next lane has pulled far enough ahead to block your physical view. And finally, the top view, which uses cameras in the mirror housings to show you if you are in the lines when parking, and would make for a great game of "who can parallel park in the tightest spot"!
BMW's Sports Activity Vehicle, or SAV for short is assembled in Spartanburg, SC. Several years ago I had the privilege of touring that facility, and the excellent BMW Zentrum Museum/Visitor's Center. If you are ever in the neighborhood, I highly recommend that you stop by.
Special thanks to Quentin at Sharpe BMW for the test drive, and the info!
BMW X5 Gallery (Photos courtesy of BMW)
