Bmw Back On Top ; New Car Road Test New Car Road Test the Vehicle That Rewrote the Rules for Luxury 4x4s Is Back, Bigger and Bolder Than Ever, Writes Andy Enright

Summary

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model FAC TS CAR: BMW X5 range PRICES: Pounds 40,820-Pounds 54,155 -on the road INSURANCE GROUP: 17-20 CO2 EMISSIONS:235-355g/ km [4.8] 0-60mph PERFORMANCE: 6.5s/Max Speed 155mph [3.0d] FUEL CONSUMPTION: (combined) 35mpg SAFETY STANDARD Tw in front, side & FEATURES: window airbags, ABS, DSC+, run flat tyres WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: (length/width/) 4857/2250mm FEW cars demonstrate just how rapidly the car industry moves more clearly than the BMW X5. When it first appeared in 1999, it would be no exaggeration to say that it completely revolutionised the market for big 4x4s. Think of the sector pre-X5 and post X5 - it really was that much of a landmark vehicle. Before the BMW appeared, 4x4s were mainly big, slow and agricultural. Other manufacturers were just beginning to see that it was possible to build in a little refinement and elegance but when the X5 first appeared in 1999, it changed everybody's perception. Within four years, however, it had gone from the head of the bunch with no foreseeable rivals to lower middle order. Something needed to be done. Something has and you're looking at it right here in the shape of the second generation X5.

Clues as to the direction this vehicle would take appeared in 2004 with the launch of the BMW X3. Many potential customers groused that the X3 was almost as expensive as the X5 and couldn't see the point of the smaller car but plans for the replacement X5 were already well in hand, with the aim of pitching a much bigger car a good deal further upmarket in order to compete against the likes of the Range Rover, the Porsche Cayenne and the Volkswagen Touareg on an equal footing. Now it all makes a good deal more sense. In the years since the X5 first appeared, much has progressed in the science of packaging a car within a given wheelbase. This much was evident when BMW let slip the fact that the X3 was actually bigger than the old X5 inside and the latest X5 is supersized compared to its predecessor.

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Bmw Back On Top ; New Car Road Test New Car Road Test the Vehicle That Rewrote the Rules for Luxury 4x4s Is Back, Bigger and Bolder Than Ever, Writes Andy Enright

This X5 is only 19cm longer than the old model but manages to incorporate up to three rows of seats. Even with all three rows occupied, there's still 200 litres of boot space. In a more conventional five-seat c...

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