BMW X5, fast but does it handle?

I was driving along the other day when this big black X5 appeared in my rear view mirror. Not content with driving at 40mph, which was the speed limit, he decided to see just how close he could get. Now it's bad enough when you have a car tailgating, but a big vehicle like an X5 is even worse. I resisted the temptation to put my foot down until we entered the 60 zone where I floored it but only up to about 70. Alas these big X5's have a lot of grunt and this failed to shake him off my tail. However we were approaching a roundabout with a slip road curving off to the left which takes you onto the A19. Noticing the road was clear I entered the sliproad at about 60 and just before the apex or the curve, dropped it into 3rd and floored it. The X5 driver tried to do something similar except, as I noticed in my rear veiw mirror, he only succeeded in understeering and almost hitting a traffic island. After he regained control he didn't bother me any more and kept a respectable distance. 

What I did wasn't big or clever but it made me feel good.

Hi peter im glad you showed him up!!!!

Us car drivers are getting few and far between we seem to have been taken over by the 4x4 brigade!!!!

micky_h wrote: They are big but they ain't clever

I couldn't agree more

hi guys

Well on a slightly tenuously unrelated subject, we had a Range Rover parked in our car park last night. Sorry, I meant randomly aimed in the direction of several spaces. Now either the owner is either a) utterly incompetent at driving, or b) arrogant in the extreme by taking up several spaces. The shame of it is that the Range Rover is a very nice vehicle, a bit big granted, but an engineering masterpiece nonetheless. The fact that such an enormous vehicle could quite happily climb various mountains only amazes me further. So why oh why do people feel the need to buy such devices and drive around city centres in them?

From what I've heard about the X5 with a few subtle mods it does indeed handle very well, never going to be a sports saloon with the ride height but with stiffened springs it improves things no end. Perhaps the driver in your case Peter was suffering from a bit of a) above.

Jolly good show, I hate X5's - we should all be driving hydrogen powered Smart cars anyway

Edited by phb10186

I can't yet comment what the big X is like at the limit but AFAIK the sport suspension (inc. active dampers) makes a massive difference given the mass of the thing. When hiring one point-to-point the culmination of diesel torque and completely planted chassis allowed me to easily stay with an E46 on some back raods and on a dampish day. The experience is quite surreall: In sport-trim it corners amazingly flat, with virtually no roll and the front shows amazing reluctance to wash out.. at limit it's even supposed to show a tendency to oversteer on lift or limit.. as shown by Tiff on 5th Gear.

In fact I've seen them going round roundabouts faster than you'd dare normally,... a combination of 4wd, fancy electrics and active dampers. Of course entry speed is everything.. That said you can't cheat the laws of physics but relatively speaking the X5 is a better handler than many other beemers (particuarly older models) when you take into account size, weight and cog. Given the example you gave it's no surprise the X5 struggled but over a range of handling disciplines I'm sure you might rethink. It's no sport car but it's a lot of fun..

Ok they're not that eco but in diesel form they're not the worst culprits either - the fact that they're bonkers is what makes them appealing.. and I see them as no less excessive as uber audis or Jap 4wd banzai machines.. 4wd adds another level of grip, traction and stability which in Scotland is a huge plus. However owners don't tend to hare about in them but instead waft with a smug smile..

Not sure if it's fair to slag off other models and it simply comes across as a case of the green eye guys.. It's a bit like in the school playground.. having spent years being picked on, as an E36 owner, from E30 owners, are you now looking for the fat kid to bully.. come on.. he'll squash you..

Edited by M BLUR

ive driven some lesser 4x4s in the past - discovery.... land rover 110....range rover... ford maverick...

these jeeps (i wince at having to call them cars) all had one thing in common - roly poly handling with a high centre of gravity, makes me feel very uncomfortable, i much prefer being in contact with ye olde terra-firma, the closer to it the better

i don't mind admitting that "green-laning" is something that would terrify me, all these massive lumbering behemoths titled over at crazy angles and navigating down sheer drops, and all at walking pace too, but yet give me a car and an open track and ill happily drive the wheels off it without any kind of fear - strange eh?

Edited by stephenperry

stephenperry wrote: ive driven some lesser 4x4s in the past - discovery.... land rover 110....range rover... ford maverick...  these jeeps (i wince at having to call them cars) all had one thing in common - roly poly handling with a high centre of gravity, makes me feel very uncomfortable, i much prefer being in contact with ye olde terra-firma, the closer to it the better

Agree with you on most SUVs Stevie but the X5 with sports dampers etc rolls less than most family saloons I've been in.. no.. really! It's surreal ad if you can get down for a southern meet you can jump in ad see what ya think..

 

and clealry I'm biased as you can guess...