Anything good or bad about the new X5?
 

Thinking of replacing my current ride with an X5 - has anyone driven one of these yet?

Current ride is a MBZ ML430 - built on a VERY stiff frame. It's been a good car but it has 150K miles on it and my daughter is about to start driving. It has little resale value and is very safe(6 airbags), so I think she will be driving it.

The X5 is is a unibody, so it should have a better ride. How about build quality of newish Bimmers?

I've got a 2002 4.6X5 that I've been happy with. It has a very stiff ride which I like, but rear passengers and my wife don't. It is a well made, solid vehichle that has 57K on it with no rattles or noise of any kind. I also have been looking at the new X5 since I need additional seating. I'm going to wait for a diesel because I can't justify the 14 mpg I'm getting. Very expensive too. I think a loaded 4.8 is pushing close to $70-80K?

Yeah - the 7 seat option really saved me over the years. But now my youngest child is 11 and 5 feet tall.

You might want to check out the new MB diesel SUV. It's gotten good reviews and the rear seating is actually very good. Styling wise, I could pass.

You cannot imagine how much I'd like to do that - but here in California it's currently an impossibility. Even the new Bluetec engine is not ok as of this date.

It's especially frustratiing as I have 1100 gallons of diesel in the yard behind our office.

I think in 08 they will have one for CA, if you can wait. I'm tempted to buy a used SUV for when I need to tow or for hauling kids, (4) and just get a nice sedan for myself. Damn families!:)

Yeah - having 3 kids really changes your perspective about SUV's. First off, you need the room - esp. on road trips. Then there's the safety factor - I've spent many years getting these kids to young adulthood, and I'll be damned if they get needlessly hurt in some accident. And then there's the towing...

Been looking too. Mercedes has great room, but doesn't look spectacular from the outside. Audi is nice inside, but outside seems odd to me. Local BMW dealer didn't have any to show 2 weeks ago, so I haven't seen one in person, but the third row seat is the only reason I can look at them now - I'm soccer coach to teams spring and fall, and need the room......Have an MDX now, which is nice but boring. New one is OK, but costs German money, so figured we might as well get an all German fleet. Or South Carolina/Eastern Europe really - LOL!

Your tastes are much like mine. I've been looking at the MDX also. Kind of a neat car, but when the try to cram a 3rd row in a car that really has no part in having one, all the passengers behind the driver suffer. Performance wise the car is great and the looks are too bad. I also looked at the MB R350Diesel. Kind of interesting I guess. Doesn't tow but you can get one in a diesel. 6 passengers only. I'm thinking its more station wagon the SUV. I saw the Audi over the summer and didn't know what to think. It just looked big and bloated. Audi scares me with the reliability anyway. Like I said maybe I buy a Soprano Escalade that must be going for pennies on the dollar since the last gas crisis. That, or I'll just wait for a diesel X5. It's kind of hard to find a car the fits all your needs. So far the X5 4.6is has.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1166062079.jpg

The new X5 is longer. My ML had the 7 seat option, and it came in very handy over the years - and there was enough room for 2 adults and 5 medium to small kids. Like you said, leaving the soccer field, spur of the moment extra kids coming for a visit, etc. And since the new X5 is longer - don't know if longer than the old ML - there should be enough room.

For once, however, I don't need longer and I don't need the third row option.

BTW - on the ML these extra seats were VERY heavy and very secure.

what safety factor? Many SUVs seem less safe than passenger cars.

I think they are safer than most cars. There's hardly any substitute for a lot of steel, air bags and crumple zones. I believe the vehicle with the greatest mass - most of the time - wins.

And I believe the roll-over risk was primarily a six-o'clock news story. Consumer Reports confessed to screwing with some of their rollover studies. AFAIK the still make millions of them - seem like there has to be a pretty good reason, since trendy now = Prius or hybrid.

Well you'd have a hard time convincing my SIL of that after her Navigator got rear ended by a large truck. Would not have turned out well if she were in a smaller car for sure. SUV's are inherently dangerous when driven like a sports car. Higher center of gravity + 4500+ lbs + latte + 60 mph in a 25 mph turn = probable crash. We've had a SUV in our house for 10 years and have nothing but good to report, well....sort of....

Subscribed for round 17,832 of the SUV bashing craze. :)

Quick - put on the flame retardent suit.

BTW - how would hte SIL have fared in a Prius?

Well considering a large delivery truck failed to note the stopped traffic and SIL's Navigator got crushed from the tailpipe up to the second row - well - the math gets easy. In that contest the height and mass of the SUV saved their lives.

great, lets all just own bigger and heavier cars...the one with the most mass wins!

Accidents happen. If it is your time, it is your time. Doesn't matter if you're in a Navigator or a Yaris.

Do you have kids? If not, I might respectfully suggest that your perspective could change a little about the "if it's your time".

Buy it out of state, own it for 90 days, then bring it in.

yeah, I do have a son, age 10. I don't feel the need to drive around in a 5K lb SUV to "protect" him. Maybe you could ponder the world you are leaving to your kids and how your current "footprint" affects it...

Or how about when you make an honest mistake and the bumper of your suv crushed the head of some other parent driving a regular passenger car.

I understand that there are a number of reasons for owning an SUV. I do not consider "safety by size/weight" to be a valid one. It is a selfish rationalization and typical of the "me at all cost" american attitude. Respectfully suggested of course...

regarding the X5, LA Times review:

http://www.latimes.com/classified/automotive/highway1/la-hy-neil13dec13,0,2954015.story?coll=la-home-highway1

I don't drive around in the SUV to protect them, I drive the safest vehicles I can find - IMO, obviously.

Have been driving SUV's for a long time. I had a few fender matchups over the years - mostly not my fault, but some mine. Never did it lead to any injuries - and certainly their bumpers are no higher than your average minivan.

And I have never, ever considered it selfish to defend ones self. BTW, is it selfish to order parts shipped by trucks as they are proportionaly involved in more hiway accidents than carsa nd suv's combined.

As for our collective childrens' futures and the footprints we leave behind, should we all sell our gas guzzling, polluting 911's and drive Camry's and PRius'?

yes, let's go right to black and white thinking. I drive a gas guzzling 911. For a few hours every weekend then for track days. But my main car is not a 5K lb hulking SUV. It doesn't have to be all one or the other.

You will drive whatever you want. Free country. I just think that most people who drive SUVs don't really need them. And I believe the safety rationalization is just an excuse. Your implication that those that don't drive SUVs (or the safest vehicle out there, evidently an MBZ GL450) don't care about the safety of their family is rather ludicrous.

Wonder how so many of our parents managed to raise large families before SUV's were even invented.

remember, station wagons kill

The review of the the X5 points out the good and the bad. Plenty of electronic gremlins to go around with all the computer circuitry the car has. This is hurting BMW as well as many of the other foreign cars.

That's true, but the new X5 apparently has change that fact somewhat, it's based on the current 5-series chassis now, the old one was based on teh e39 chassis.

We have two SUV's, a 2001 Tahoe that is my winter driver is the weather is bad, and the car we use for towing the camper, etc. My wife has a new Volvo SUV, and we have been very happy with it.

The NA motor (non V-8) gets decent gas mileage as well. We get about 22-23 mpg on the highway with the V-8 in it. It has a very good amount of storage space and the third row disappears into the floor very well. It will cost less than the others you have mentioned as well.

Bill

Bill, you're using it in a manner that makes sense: crappy weather and towing. I don't quite understand why they are necessary in SoCal by people with small or no family and no towing needs. But to each their own...

The next time an Escalade parks in a compact spot next to my GTI, I reserve the right to remove all 4 valve cores from their tires...

I agree Todd. My wife drives the XC90 every day, but she also drops off the kids and picks them up from daycare. I plan driving the Turbo as much as possible, and during the summer using the HD as much as possible as well.

One of the reasons I wanted to get rid of the WRX. It wasn't big enough to comfortably take the kids, and it wasn't a 911...

Bill

Sports cars should be light and efficient, and I hate the idea of an SUV. Yet I drive one and am likely to get another one next year. Try to offset it when I can - my daily driver is the Chicago commuter train and my own legs to the office, so the hulking SUV and old 911 don't worry me too much. ;) 911 has put on 12,000 miles in 5 years for a grand total of 34,000 right now as it hides from the salt - actually, took it out in the rain yesterday since we seemed salt free.....

Do I really need a big car, no. And is the "cool" factor there? It sure is. I think we all know that the best "cars" out there from a mechanical/save the earth sort of view point must be minivans for large groups and mini-minivans (Toyota Matrix-ish) for smaller groups - hybrid or not....

I do worry about wasting gas and crushing other people, but see it as a bell curve. Need another big car for the three kids and soccer teams for another few years, then move downward towards the ultimate goal of a small two seater for the wife and me - but this time instead of a creaky old Fiat 124 or Triumph TR-8, with any luck it will be a Cayman....SmileWavy

But that'll have to be when we don't need to get out of the unplowed alley in our old town as I don't think the Cayman has much snow/ground clearance....

RKC - I agree with the downsizing. We've already gone from 8 seat belts (Expedition) to 7 (GL). I suspect in 3 years we'll be down to a 5 passenger vehicle, possibly a car. It's all a funtion of hauling - whether it's kids, stuff or towing.

RKC - Don't you think the "cool" factor has largely disappeared from the SUV? I certainly do here on the left coast.

Nostatic - I never, ever said or even iimplied that those who have small families and don't drive an SUV don't care about their family's safety. But it is an honest, and I think, legitimate concern of mine. There are so many things that are outside our control in life - in some areas, you try to do what you can.

Well, yes, SUV's aren't really cool anymore. And minivans aren't made fun of like they were - though they still have baggage that feels like a slight failure of spirit - like a Camry in Amana white instead of a VW, Honda, or old BMW for instace.

Still, some of the macho aura remains with SUV's here in the midwest. And as a skinny triathlete who grew up in San Diego and doesn't give a s**t about the Bears or the Cubs or the Sox or the Bulls, my manhood is already pretty suspect here. LOL!

Car-topping a kayak and/or towing a Hobie Cat to the North Woods instead of Jet Skis or a big power boat ain't helping either.....Maybe I need a Hummer.....;)

Don't we all. ;)

It certainly mattered in this case. Now of course she could lose control of her SUV tomorrow and roll it, or get hit by a bigger, faster, truck, train, falling satellite, and thus fate will have gotten even. We all make decisions that work for us. Sorry (not) if us choosing a large vehicle that intimidates the dude driving the Mini Cooper S (love that car too) but that's the way life works. Sue me.

The LATimes article notwithstanding, has anyone driven the new X5?