BMW X5 E70 7 seats is there an alternative ? Any issues ?

[Steve996]

PhilboSE said:

Good question, the dealer did it so I assumed he knew what he was doing. If he didn't know his own merchandise then he may have cost the dealership the sale! I must I can't remember now what he did, I just said "show me the rear access" and my 5-year old couldn't get in...

The second generation X5 was almost brand-new at this point so it genuinely could have been dealer cock-up.

Based on my Beemer dealer experience that is a definite possibilty!

Certainly ours (4, 7 & 10) manage to get in and out without too much drama so long as the whole seat is pivoted.

[Zod]

Even I can scramble into the back of our X5 (although I wouldn't be comfortable there for a trip of more than twenty minutes) and I'm 6'2".

You need to use the top lever to tip the seat AND slide it forward.

[Steve996]

Zod said:

You need to use the top lever to tip the seat AND slide it forward.

[J4CKO]

Its funny, the Ford Galaxy would do a fine job but they just arent posh enough for a lot of people, as for the XC90 screaming family 4 by 4, surely thats what it is as would be any other car if it has four wheel drive and you put your family in it which I guess is what you are doing, what are you trying to say ?

I suspect a lot of owners of premium Off Road stuff would be quite happy with a Galaxy or other MPV if it had another badge on, I think some worry that they may be mistaken for an airport taxi or, god forbid that you are not fabulously wealthy and that would never do at the school gates.

[Zod]

J4CKO said:

Its funny, the Ford Galaxy would do a fine job but they just arent posh enough for a lot of people, as for the XC90 screaming family 4 by 4, surely thats what it is as would be any other car if it has four wheel drive and you put your family in it which I guess is what you are doing, what are you trying to say ?

I suspect a lot of owners of premium Off Road stuff would be quite happy with a Galaxy or other MPV if it had another badge on, I think some worry that they may be mistaken for an airport taxi or, god forbid that you are not fabulously wealthy and that would never do at the school gates.

Yes, and a £5 watch tells the time just as well, but I still have an IWC on my wrist today. It's human nature.

[ism123]

We've had a 7-seat X5 latest shape for 2 years now. Great car, v thirsty - 20mpg round town and that's what it does most weeks, only issues were a new rear led and a front parking sensor.

I'd looked at S-Max, Touran, E-class estate and even Discovery. The Disco's the only full-time 7 seater. Happy with our choice so far.

[rj1986]

Pr1964 said:

Official figs for 30d pre 2011 8 speed gearbox

Imperial mpg ie UK mpg

27 urban
40 extra urban
34 combined


And apparently in real world its
17
30
24

Ie they are 10 mpg lower than advertised.

It appears in city driving winter time it possible they would be even lower for short journeys so low teens is very possible.

I have the 07 3.0d- meant to get 40+ on a motorway. I do get that...if i go at 50.
Day to day, about 25-30 on a mixture of roads. Or 4 to 5 mile per £1.

I have the 20"s. A bit more harsh than the 19's on the demo. But look damn impressive.

[Steve996]

rj1986 said:

I have the 07 3.0d- meant to get 40+ on a motorway. I do get that...if i go at 50.
Day to day, about 25-30 on a mixture of roads. Or 4 to 5 mile per £1.

I have the 20"s. A bit more harsh than the 19's on the demo. But look damn impressive.

Remapped 58 plate twin turbo and we can get about 30 mpg on mixed driving, maybe mid 20's in town

[Ranger 6]

Glad you like it, but thought a couple of things would help

Pr1964 said:

Things which are annoying.

The satnav which doesn’t have postcode entry! Poxy…. £2500 option beaten by a £80 satnav what a joke! a new disc can give that functionality (have a look on BMWland for a thread which has the best vendors for these) - it's still a pain though and I still have a TomTom because of the better speed camera database & itinerary planning
The start stop button what is the point, just have a key and avoid the extra step or have proper keyless. so they can charge more for the keyless....
Electronic oil check... No dipstick … why? The way of the world with BMW unfortunately - I had this on my 130i and was deeply distrusting, but having said that, never had an issue and it was pretty good with levels
Aluminium trim is fragile and on this car is scratched all over. If you can choose something else, the wood trim in mine is much better than the std alloy trim
£1300 for tyres when they need replacing and one puncture and the tyre is dead. Not always - like most tyres it depends where the puncture is. It seems to be something perpetuated by poorly informed tyre sellers who won't repair RFTs. Repairs are doable - don't be fobbed off

[Zod]

I love keyless go. I'm forever trying to open the door of my Aston, inagining it has keyless entry, having got used to it on my M5, then our X5.

[Steve996]

Pr1964 said:

The satnav which doesn’t have postcode entry! Poxy…. £2500 option beaten by a £80 satnav what a joke!
The start stop button what is the point, just have a key and avoid the extra step or have proper keyless.
The electric handbrake WHY?
The 20 inch alloys which will curb easily in London and make the ride a little annoying.
The boot space is smaller than my ML and the tail gate is annoying rather than just having one door you have two.
Electronic oil check... No dipstick … why?
Aluminium trim is fragile and on this car is scratched all over.
£1300 for tyres when they need replacing and one punture and the tyre is dead.
Fuel economy not as advertised but not in the teens…. Still better than my ML which only manages just over 20 in town.

Satnav - as has been said this can be sorted

Start/Stop - got to say you get used to it, although since I got the Evoque I find myself forgetting to stick in the key in the X5!

Leccy handbrake advantage is it can be set to auto.

Agree on the alloys, the fronts on ours are a mess and are going in for a refurb.

The 2 piece tail gate is sometimes quite good when you have stuff that can roll about. It's also good with our dogs, I can open the top and get the leads on etc. and the dogs don't jump out until I drop the bottom tail gate. They easily could but they recognise the bottom being up as a sign to not jump out!

Not sure about the electronic oil level, I'd be happier to have a dipstick as well like on Porsche's where its electronic and manual.

Get wooden trim, my 58 plate trim still looks like new.

You can get tyres way cheaper than that and I wouldn't have run flats on my X5 again ever! Msport suspension and runflats = crap ride quality, it's transformed by changing over to non-runflats, my last set for the 20's were about £700 for mud & snow tyres from Camskill

We get 27-30 mpg average on our mapped twin turbo but it does drop down a bit if I'm doing more town driving. It improved by about 10% after the remap.

[Zod]

Pr1963, I agree that without keyless go, the need to insert a key and press a button is a pain.

[Zod]

Pr1964 said:

Where the silly economy gauge is there should be a coolant tamp gauge.

Absolutely.

[Steve996]

Pr1964 said:

Update
I couldn't see any alternative.
So on Monday I bought a 7 seat 2010 30D M Sport in Space Grey with the latest iDrive and the 7 speed auto.
The ride is hard around London with the 20" wheels so when they wear out I think I'll be replacing with run flats. NOT///
Overall much nicer to be in than my old Merc ML though the boot is smaller and it's bigger to park.
The parking system is no where near as good as the ML's was and the 20" alloys have been mm away from damage several times all alloy and hardly any tyre not good for curbs so some fashion over practicality but hey ho it's a great drive and plenty of poke when needed.
The seven seats already come in handy with the grandparents in town.

Kushti


I'm starting to sound like BMW drive Oh noooooooo

Edited by Pr1964 on Thursday 15th March 22:12

Good stuff - enjoy.......get it off runflats and get it a remap!

[Zod]

I take it you don't have the top-down camera system, pr194? (not that it's prevented my wife from kerbing the wheels).

[Steve996]

Pr1964 said:

Can anyone point me towards info on remapping ?

I've got reservations about them but the salesman said there are BMW approved remapping services.

For me it would be about improving economy and how many miles it would take to recoup the remap cost....

This is just my family motor so I don't want to waste funds which would go towards more interesting motoring....

It was a local guy up here who did mine, I was 200 ish and it took about an hour, main thing they do is remove the false constraints applied to manage the CO2 emmissions below the gov't tax gas threshold. Given that I've seen significant gains in performance and about a 10% improvement in economy its a bit of a no-brainer.

[Aeroresh]

Pr1964 said:

Changed from the 20's to 19's.

OMG it's a complete transformation!

Speed bumps potholes no more crashing no jarring they just roll over imperfections in the road and the handling has almost become nimble …..

I am staggered I would never have believed the size of the transformation it’s night and day.

I can actually drive around London and at the end of the day I don’t feel like I’ve been on a rollercoaster battered by my car quite incredible.

On the downside out of town on the twisty stuff I don’t get that 911 feel in handling that was there with the 20’s.

But for me that’s not a problem besides a lot of those roads are potholed to buggery too.

Conclusion if you’re driving the stty roads of London or any other speed bump pot holed city, go with the 19’s your neck spine and family will thank you.

If you live on a German autobahn then 20’s

God knows where 21’s would work (a race track?)


Fashion over common sense an example of less is definitely more …..

Im guessing your car doesnt have the air suspension option then?

[Zod]

Pr1964 said:

Aeroresh said:

Im guessing your car doesnt have the air suspension option then?

Nope I bought it S/H very few have it as an option on the X5 it's called Adaptive drive and a £2,500 option so I guess not many buyers select it I only saw one listed with it S/H.

My mistake was I had test drives in London in cars with 19's and then I went and bought a car from a countryside dealer on the test drive the harshness of the 20's wasn't apparent so not an issue but once back in London after a few weeks it started to become very tiring to the point I was thinking of getting shot of it.

I'd imagine the adaptive drive would be very good whether it's worth £2,500 is debatable though
Because as I've discovered with sports and 19's the ride has been transformed and I'm really very happy totally works for me.

Adaptive Drive makes a huge difference. I barely notice the difference between 19" and 20" wheels on ours and the Adaptive Drive makes the car much better in the corners.

[Zod]

Yes, it's a bit odd: the button is behind the gear lever and is makred "SPORT". When preseed, "SPORT" appears on the dash display. I actually called the dealer to ask where my adaptive drive button was the day after I bought it.

[Zod]

It's pig ugly though.