The beauty of this car is that it'll do off-road reasonably well and it can also deliver good performance. At the same time, it can carry a whole family and its luggage - it's sort of an all in one. The X5 4.4 which we have is seriously powerful and you make some incredible progress with it, even if you just lightly tease the throttle. It means you can have a good time on the backroads and then take it off-road should you need to, its no Rangey but it makes a pretty good effort.
One thing worth noting is that the BMW X5 is quite a huge car, it isn't very easy to manoeuvre into a parking space because there is a tendency to forget just how big it is, it really is colossal in size. The flip side of this is that there is a massive amount of space on the inside, four can go in comfort, no matter how tall they are, five is a bit of a squash but still possible. One thing that has proved particularly popular in my household is the split tailgate which is very handy for slinging in little items and then providing easier access for the larger ones.
The X5 came with air-con but little else by way of options, if you start adding to the equipment list, the price rises considerably. It is also quite a costly car to run in terms of insurance and fuel in particular.
I say that I've become disappointed because it's important to stress that we were initially really impressed with our BMW X5. We had eyes wide open about the generally poor fuel economy so I can't say I've lost faith over that. What has become disappointing is a range of things to do with the overall 'driving experience' as they say.
Firstly, my husband and I convinced ourselves we would get used to the iDrive thingy but it's really not clicking for us. We're not the youngest chickens in the coop but I think it would be complicated anyway. Meanwhile we've had various problems with the GPS unit that's built into the car, not all that reliable, and we ended up getting a 'Tomtom' unit instead.
I haven't tried the fancy stereo connections but my son has when he borrows the car, and he tells me it doesn't work well. The other clever gadget is the display that is supposed to guide you into a parking space at the back. That display let me tell you is not very useful even when there's plenty of light, but try it in the dark and you might as well just revert to good old fashioned mirrors. The only trouble with that is that the BMW X5 seems to be designed assuming that you'll be using their parking display, so the visibility is not fantastic. It's huge as well so judging distances isn't easy at all.
I said that we knew the petrol costs would be high. We knew also that the insurance costs would be high, and high indeed they are, even for two 'mature' drivers like us, so watch out for that. We did know about the high petrol costs, but of course we didn't know that cost would go up so high in the three years since we bought it.
Another disappointment is just how poor it is when you get off the beaten track. Again we are a little older and so we may be a little more sensitive to this sort of thing but really our bones felt shaken after going along some country tracks. We take it very easy on country roads now and generally tend to avoid them where possible, which is sad as we lose out on some nice views.
I think I'm getting overly negative now. We will be glad to see the back of our BMW X5 but that's not to say these problems would definitely bother someone else. Give it a try but do bear in mind these things.
I think my attitude to cars changed quite a bit when I had my babies. I just wanted something huge and safe to bundle them into. The BMW X5 is nothing if not huge! It's ok to get the kids seats into the back, bit of a hassle and it could be easier. That might be something I look out for on a next car. But for the sheer safety factor it's hard to imagine another car feeling any safer.
We sat in a couple of X5s in the showroom, and had a look at the option of the special seats that can pop up into the boot. Now the BMW X5 is a very big car and the boot is great, really massive, but those seats are a bit silly really. They wanted something like another thousand for those seats in the back so we didn't bother. I mean they were so small and dinky. We wouldn't want the kids back there anyway so it would only be people travelling with us, and those silly little seats wouldn't have been any good for anyone bigger than a kiddy. But really, that silliness aside, it's a massive massive car, never runs out of space ever. We often get our bikes in there with the two kids seats that attach to the back of them.
I suppose the cost of running it is quite high. Diesels are supposed to be better for that but it's still getting through a tank pretty quickly. Thankfully that isn't really too much of a problem for us but it's worth considering. We've not had repairs need doing yet, but then it's still inside the original warranty so that's not a problem anyway. I don't know that much about cars to be honest but it all feels well put together.
I'm a little bothered by the position of the satnav sometimes. The display is tucked into the dash, in the centre of the car, which makes it a little hard to look at whilst you're driving. It would be nicer if it was maybe on top of the dash, so you didn't have to look so far away from the road.
I got the 4.4 BMW X5 because I heard it was a powerful range of big cars and I thought the extra power in the bigger engine would make it useful off road. WRONG. It just slides and loses its footing.
It's weird because on the road you can do pretty much whatever you like, throw it into any corners and roundabouts etc and it just never bats an eyelid, always sticks to the road. Put it in the mud though and it's next to useless. Plus I soon learned that country types tend to sort of sneer at the BMW X5 as a sort of urban pretender's car, which only made me dislike it more.
It's been reliable though. The fuel bills are extremely high these days, but apart from that we haven't had too many nasty surprises. The tyres go forever too, I mean about 40 thousand miles per set. We are careful drivers but even so that's amazing. There was an electrical problem once to do with some leakage, can't really remember the details it was years ago, but I don't recall it being that costly. Might have been done within warranty.
I would advise not bothering with tinted 'privacy glass' in the back. The BMW X5 is enormous and hard to park at the best of times (made easier with the parking sensors) but the darkened windows make it impossible to see anything through them at night, so not really worth having. Just get some removable blinds, a couple of quid on ebay and less hassle all round.
Some of the interior is feeling a bit old now, starting to come apart very slightly in places. Not quite to be expected from a BMW. I've been pretty pleased with how X5s keep their value and ours has a full history so I might trade it in soon for something that uses less fuel. And it uses VAST amounts of fuel. Definitely not an eco car. I once got an egg chucked at me by some hippy idiot!
I think even the stated MPG of 21 was a bit ambitious for our old BMW X5. Trouble was, it was really deceptive. So powerful that you felt able to lob it into corners and up inclines and things, but all that was driving up the revs and slurping fuel. It just isn't really economical anymore, bit of a relic really of the last days of reasonably affordable petrol. Insurance is massive as well, pretty much the highest group I think, which I really never understood, I mean it's basically a family car.
It is nice and fast, although it'll feel slow still if like me you're coming at it from one of the sportier BMWs (in my case a Z1 lol). If you were coming from something less sporty though you'd be impressed. Not only is it really powerful, it also corners so perfectly, it's hard to believe it's over 2 tonnes.
The size can be an issue in some places. Have all the parking gizmos you like, the BMW X5 is still a real elephant in a car park. Nice and high up mind, really fantastic driving position. That said about the parking distance control, it has failed on us a few times.
Reliability not a strong point generally really, and for a big beast like this the parts don't come cheap. It's odd, it seems to go a year or so without a problem and then break down a few times in as many months. BMW have sorted out a few electrical problems here and there, but they're hardly energetic about it.
Anyway it's a great car for space, really really huge inside. With three teenagers who like watersports we have all sorts in the back, as well as boards and masts and things on the roof. Never a dull moment! I couldn't really recommend the BMW X5 though, it's just too costly to run and too unreliable.
Didn't really know why we got it?!?
Its engine is one of the best diesels available but, as part of the X3 package, it is pricey for a compact SUV.
The suspension is hard and unforgiving and extremely uncomfortable on all surfaces except the motorway.
Own it for less than a year and sold it. Bad idea for off road!
The BMW X5 3.0 Diesel M Sport is the best looking 4x4 on the road. The BMW X6 is well designed but only has 4 seats so is no good for a family car.
The 2008 X5 3.0d Sport offers great performance and is more economical than the previous model. I'd definitely recommend the Sport as it comes with upgraded alloys, colour coded trims and it just looks a million times better than the SE. Not to mention it is quicker and more desirable. The best colours i'd advise to get the BMW X5 in is Silver or Black as these are the most popular colours and when it comes to the re-sale value in a few years these colours will get you the best return.
The build quality on the inside is superb and the BMW X5 Sport has upgraded sports seats and aluminium trim amongst other things. The X5 really is the perfect family car and you can't go wrong. Other contenders in this price range are the Range Rover Sport (which looks good externally but lacks quality on the interior) and the Mercedes ML Class but the X5 wins on all fronts in my opinion.