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BMW X5 4.4i Sport - Autocar
01.12.2000 |
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It's easily done. I was just 20 minutes into my hour-and-a-bit drive to work when I forgot the X5 was a two-tonne off-roader and started treating it like a grunty 5 Series.
This is the first time we've driven what BMW calls its "sports activity vehicle" in the UK, and its depth of ability has cemented our already positive US driving impressions.
In 4.4 litre Sport form as driven here, the £44,670 X5 4x4 is deeply convincing. But this is a faux off-roader, a car that puts entertaining on-road handling and dynamics ahead of Alpine clambering and tundra busting.
And it's all the better for it. Why, reasons BMW, drive a wallowy and cumbersome behemoth designed to scale the Hoover Dam when most owners will never tackle more than a supermarket car park?
Not that you'd doubt its green lane pretensions. With immense 19in wheels and rugged running boards, the broad-shouldered X5 has the visual menace and muscular reserve to tackle most obstacles. It may not have high-low drive ratios, but the front and rear differentials - which channel 62 percent of torque to the rear wheels and the rest to the front axle - should easily dig the car out of Surrey gravel driveways. There's also Land Rover-derived Hill Descent Control for negotiating those steep King's Road kerbs.
Beneath the bonnet sits BMW's 4398cc V8. Smooth and full of low-rev poke, the M5 soundalike develops 286bhp at 5400rpm and 325lb ft at 3600rpm. It whips the X5 up to 60mph in 7.5sec and on to a top speed of 143mph. With all-wheel drive, off-the-line traction is neck-snapping and cornering grip is massive. Plant your right foot and the X5 jumps off the line when stationary or drops a gear and lunges forward under power.
Throw in superbly direct and accurate steering and a responsive five-speed Steptronic box, and the X5 can be speared past ambling traffic and through corners with surprising agility. This sprightliness effectively camouflages the elephantine 2095kg kerb weight, and is complemented by a fluid ride that most owners of ladder-framed 4x4s will be unfamiliar with. Only low-speed patter over rutted surfaces hints at the stiffer suspension fitted to the Sport.
The interior is pure BMW - restrained, balanced and beautifully built. Equipment includes air con, cruise control, keyless entry and electric seats, while the Sport option adds sports seats, aluminium trim and button-laden steering wheel.
At a touch under £45,000 the X5 undercuts and simply out-points the £46,000 4.0 litre Range Rover HSE, but is dearer than the Mercedes ML430 at £38,640 and Jeep Grand Cherokee at £30,995. But remember, it's not off-road ability that's being judged here. Which is why the X5 makes such a convincing argument.