Review: BMW X5 3.0d (Standard)
The BMW X5 3.0d is quick, capable, comfortable and safe.
They say that Christmas is supposed to be a time for giving but all of us boys know that’s a load of rot. Christmas is when you hope to get toys and lots of them.
The BMW X5 3.0d that carted my family down to Port Elizabeth from Durban for the festive season came with more than I knew what to do with. Satellite navigation, television, on-board computer, parking-distance control that beeps whenever you get too close to obstacles, telephone, electrically adjustable leather seats, infra-red rain sensors to activate the wipers when the drizzle starts, Xenon headlights with washers and separate aircon for the back-seat passengers.
And that’s apart from all the standard gadgetry that affects the way the Bavarian behemoth actually behaves on and off the road — things like self-levelling suspension, cruise control, traction-control, hill-descent-control and ABS.
The trip through what used to be called Transkei turned out to be pretty perilous, thanks to crappy weather, crappy drivers and the hundreds of animals, dead and alive, which litter the national road in that neck of the woods.
We found that the best way to tackle the boredom was to stick the cruise control on to whatever speed seemed suitable at the time and watch the (standard) on-board computer to see how much diesel the big wagon would swallow, what range we still had in hand and what time we could expect to arrive. The first two answers were encouraging — 10,2 litres per 100km and a range of more than 950km. The bad news was that we’d be arriving in Port Elizabeth a lot later than we’d anticipated.
As it worked out, 11 hours in an X5 with all the trimmings proved to be a doddle. And, after doing a couple of thousand kilometres burning diesel over the next week we’re convinced that the 3.0d is the best buy in the X5 range. It’s quick, it’s capable, it’s comfortable, it’s safe and — if it matters to you — it’s unbelievably economical for such a large vehicle. At R416 000 the base vehicle is also nearly R100 000 cheaper than the 4,4 litre V8, and only R10 000 more than the three litre petrol-engined auto version, which is a lot thirstier and no more fun to drive.
At the official launches of the various X5 models BMW South Africa took us over some really intimidating terrain to prove that their vehicles are a lot more capable off-road than most people would give them credit for, so I didn’t intend to take the test vehicle off the tar again. However, in Port Elizabeth I was press-ganged into spending a day on a 4X4 trail by my two brothers-in-law, armed with a Mitsubishi Pajero and a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Both of these vehicles offer more ground clearance and better approach and departure angles than the big Beemer, and both boast low-range transmission, so I wasn’t too keen to get lured into any really tricky stuff trying to compete with them.
As it turned out, we tackled terrain that I wouldn’t have dreamed of going near if I hadn’t previously experienced the X5 off-road and the BMW didn’t let me or its makers down. The torquey diesel engine and the designers’ clever application of the ABS and traction control technology mean that the lack of a low range is really no handicap. The only off-road limitations are ground clearance and the fear of damaging a very expensive vehicle by doing something silly.
We also enjoyed something that the other drivers couldn’t — being able to catch up with the news on TV as we picked our way through the course. The picture — but not the sound — disappears every time the vehicle starts moving.
If ever there was a single car that can do just about everything well, the BMW X5 3.0d is it.
Even without all the expensive extras it’s extremely luxurious. Its 2 926cc six-cylinder turbo-diesel engine produces a whopping 135 kilowatts at 4 000rpm and an even more impressive 410Nm torque at just 2 000. This means that the wagon can crawl through the bush at a snail’s pace with ease and then accelerate to 100kph in less than 11 seconds on the highway without batting an eye. It boasts a top speed of 200kph and all the comfort of a luxury saloon yet offers the economy of a medium-sized family car.
And, finally, it’s capable of far more than most owners would ever believe possible off-road. It’s a helluva lot of money for a car, but it’s also a lot of car for the money.