BMW E53 X5 4.4i 2007 Review

Road Test

It's not often these days that a car arrives so far ahead of rivals, it is an icon almost from release.

In this business, you know it has icon potential when you remember the first drive as if it were yesterday. Just as I can recall my first cruise through London in the first Range Rover in 1976 and my most recent drive of the same model, my first acquaintance with the BMW X5 is planted firmly in the memory banks.

On the eve of the BMW all-roader's departure, with the new E70 variant set to arrive Down Under, the X5's presence, style and cohesion is no less than what it was at its 2000 launch -- despite the myriad imitators between. It really is a special machine on one proviso: stay with its standard 18-inch alloys or the smaller options, at least on Australian roads.

Following a solid stint at an average of 13.5lt/100km (BMW figures of a worst of 18.2 for the city cycle and a best of 10.2lt/100km for the highway might be pessimistic) in the midrange 4.4-litre petrol V8, you get a sense of why so many BMW experts are in a quandary about whether to rush in and buy the last of the E53 models or the first of the new X5..

For most of us, it is a decision that will have to wait until the new one is sampled on local roads. In the meantime, there are compelling reasons to have a long hard look at this one.

The X5 never tried to be a seven-seater, instead offering first class accommodation for all five occupants and luggage space to match within a body that was no bigger than it needed to be.

For Australians, it means no harsh space-saver ride when there is room for a full-size spare. BMW even provides straps under the spare which clip into the tailgate so you can use the tailgate as a lever to lift the spare out of its compartment. Brilliant!

The suspension with its rear self-levelling is exactly what you would expect in a big 4X4 wagon that handles so adroitly. It's firm but not annoyingly so unless you order the 20-inch alloys with their 35 and 40-series low-profile tyres. It's common for X5 owners as soon as they hit the big replacement cost of these 20-inch licorice straps to bail out, especially when they don't like the dirt or broken bitumen.

If you live in the bush or head up there often, consider ticking the no-cost option box for one of the 17-inch wheel styles with 65 profile tyres as they improve ride comfort and reduce the risk of tyre damage. The X5 has so much roadholding in reserve at Australian speeds that a slight loss of grip is not a concern and if the roads deteriorate, the higher profile tyres should stay in touch with the road surface better anyway.

The test car with its standard 8.5 x 18-inch rims and 255/55 R18 were on the limit for family comfort when every passenger without exception commented on the firm ride but got over it as soon as they experienced the X5's magic capabilities.

It's not often that you get a big empty box with as many openings as the X5 feeling like a bank vault but BMW chased body strength that matched its best sedans hence the brilliant on-road feel and five-star safety. It's worth noting that the beautifully-chamfered thin windscreen pillars that don't block the view yet deliver five-star crash safety are the result of expensive, exotic metals that you don't find in cheaper cars which rely on much bigger pillars to match the strength.

There is a view that the plastics and detailing inside the very latest BMWs have come down a notch in quality to the extent that some budget cars can feel better. Not the X5. It belongs to the era when BMW simplicity, logic and quality were an industry benchmark.

There is no iDrive here to turn a simple one touch operation into a sequence of three. Everything is intuitive and the ambience is pure class.

Take a long hard look at the cabin layout and the styling and you wonder how both can be improved without messing them up. The only sign of age is the lack of storage and the CD stacker in the rear compartment. Dials and steering wheel controls are sublime even if the speedo calibrations are a little coarse under local speed enforcement.

For its January 2004 update, BMW improved most areas then upgraded it again in 2006 with the standard fitment of satellite navigation and TV monitor. Who cares if you have to wait for a passenger when you can catch the dying moments of the cricket or tennis.

Styling remains sharp after the 2004 nose linked it to other BMW models without ruining the purity of the original. The xenon headlights are outstanding and feature BMW's double ringed glow for daytime driving. Rural drivers would appreciate the test car's Adaptive headlight function and the compass.

The side strips and plain bumper facings leave the X5 with more parking lot protection than most.

The big news in the last of this series was the new xDrive all wheel drive system. It enables the X5 to turn in like a proper rear-drive sportscar but dials in all-wheel drive in exactly the right proportions within 100 milliseconds or about the time that most other systems are still thinking about it. Hooked into the DSC, it can apportion drive so quickly that it can be a vital safety, as well as traction, aid. It leaves the X5 with a steering feel and balance that other front drive based models can't approach.

It is just as well that the dynamics and brakes are well up there when the V8 has the grunt to explore their upper limits. The 4.4-litre V8 with 235kW/440Nm is such a big part of the X5's character that it borders on intrusive.

BMW has not sterilised the sound which leaves occupants fully aware of the grunter that is under the bonnet. Add the benchmark ZF six-speed auto which with its intuitive shifting and downhill overrun control (that senses what speed it needs to hold downhill or when you back off) is a class but involving act. The sequential manual shift mode makes a manual superfluous. The driver's left footrest is unusually big and useful.

The tailgate is ideal for sharing a sherbet at a cricket match and the optional sliding load platform which allows you to load up 150kg at the tailgate then push it in is still impressive.

The latest trim choices and the various high gloss trim inserts and wood grains offer a very different range of cabin presentations but the test car's dark timber highlights and dark trim were a classy combination. 

Even though time has been good to the X5, its pricing is under pressure when something like a locally-built Ford Territory can match or better it in some areas. This, of course, has forced BMW to offer more for the money in the next model with extra size and seating.

Although the new model is but all accounts appreciably quicker and a touch more agile, it is not necessarily better. Several overseas reports are already suggesting that the outgoing X5 might prove that less is more over time.

The good thing about an icon is that if you buy the last and best-sorted of the series and look after it, you can look forward to longterm ownership without worrying about what comes after it.

If you had a mint 1972 Range Rover or an original Datsun 240Z or even a Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 3.5 still in the garage, you would feel pretty chuffed. Owning a 2006 BMW X5 4.4i could prove to be the same in 10 or 20 years time.