X5 advice?

[tonymor]

My son is considering an X5 as he wants enough power etc to tow a race car and all involved plus it will be a daily drive. Any advice or experience plus do/s and don’t s with these cars?

[Stick Legs]

Having looked at these a lot over the years and driven a few I would suggest the F15 shape X5 40d M-Sport is about the pick of the range.

The best combination of spec, fuel economy, performance and looks.

The 30d is good, but feels it's weight, always needing to shuffle gears to get a move on.
The M50d is mentally quick but I'd imagine the irritation at the fuel economy would out weight the pleasure of the acceleration after a while.

I prefer the ride of the SE spec cars, but so many good options came standard on the M-Sport that I'd have one of those, the body styling of the M-Sport also looks more pleasing to my eye.

Hope this helps.

[MrVert]

I’d echo the above..

Our 40d SE X5 was a fantastic car for 6 years, powerful, 40mpg on a run, spacious and reliable.

A friends 30d wasn’t that much slower and you couldn’t really notice that much difference in pulling power being totally honest.

Brilliant cars.

[fomb]

I often tow 1.5 tons with my 30d. It's a great tow car so pretty much any engine in the X5 range will be fine

[Stick Legs]

fomb said:

I often tow 1.5 tons with my 30d. It's a great tow car so pretty much any 6 CYLINDER engine in the X5 range will be fine

EFA

There is the 25d 4 cylinder 2.0 litre 2 wheel drive thing which I'm sure you weren't referring to but the OP may not be aware of.

[fomb]

Stick Legs said:

EFA

There is the 25d 4 cylinder 2.0 litre 2 wheel drive thing which I'm sure you weren't referring to but the OP may not be aware of.

TIL about the 25d, which sounds disappointing

[Charlie Croker mk2]

Why do people always presume the M50d is going to guzzle fuel ? I always get better than 40 mpg and on a run 45 upwards is on the cards . The engine has so much torque that you never need to rev it to make progress so I would have though that it would be a Ideal tow car - perhaps avoid petrol v8s though LOL . 529 miles @ 46 mpg .

[Wills2]

Stick Legs said:

Having looked at these a lot over the years and driven a few I would suggest the F15 shape X5 40d M-Sport is about the pick of the range.

The best combination of spec, fuel economy, performance and looks.

The 30d is good, but feels it's weight, always needing to shuffle gears to get a move on.
The M50d is mentally quick but I'd imagine the irritation at the fuel economy would out weight the pleasure of the acceleration after a while.

I prefer the ride of the SE spec cars, but so many good options came standard on the M-Sport that I'd have one of those, the body styling of the M-Sport also looks more pleasing to my eye.

Hope this helps.

G series is better in just about every objective measure, more power more torque from smoother diesels B57 far better than N57, better interior, better tech better handling and for me better looks (subjective obviously)

The F chassis cars are cheaper and that could be the main factor but they not better than the G chassis, in fact the move from F to G across all BMWs is the biggest model step change in 20 years.

[Stick Legs]

Wills2 said:

G series is better in just about every objective measure, more power more torque from smoother diesels B57 far better than N57, better interior, better tech better handling and for me better looks (subjective obviously)

The F chassis cars are cheaper and that could be the main factor but they not better than the G chassis, in fact the move from F to G across all BMWs is the biggest model step change in 20 years.

Never driven a G series, so wasn’t qualified to comment.

Edited by Stick Legs on Saturday 30th October 11:41

Edited by Stick Legs on Saturday 30th October 11:41

[fomb]

Regardless of what the 'clean' MPG is, it'll change when towing depending on the car. My 30d does 35-ish clean and 24-ish towing.

I used to have a Disco 4 that did 25mpg regardless of whether it was pulling 2.5 tons or running with nothing on the back.

[andyeds1234]

Wills2 said:

G series is better in just about every objective measure, more power more torque from smoother diesels B57 far better than N57, better interior, better tech better handling and for me better looks (subjective obviously)

The F chassis cars are cheaper and that could be the main factor but they not better than the G chassis, in fact the move from F to G across all BMWs is the biggest model step change in 20 years.

This.
Have owned both the F and G series, and the G is in a different league. Quieter, faster, more comfortable, better built.

[cslwannabe]

Charlie Croker mk2 said:

Why do people always presume the M50d is going to guzzle fuel ? I always get better than 40 mpg and on a run 45 upwards is on the cards . The engine has so much torque that you never need to rev it to make progress so I would have though that it would be a Ideal tow car - perhaps avoid petrol v8s though LOL . 529 miles @ 46 mpg .

Wow. What year car is that and how many miles has it done? Recently picked up a 20k mile F15 50d and it struggles to break 30mpg on the OBC, even cruising on the motorway, so probably even less than that in reality. Even a gentle drive to the Lake District at the weekend averaged 28. Had a 640d a few years ago and that averaged 42ish.

Mind you according to honestjohn realworld mpg the three F15 variants are 31.8, 31.2 and 29.0 mpg respectively so not a whole lot in it.

Edited by cslwannabe on Friday 29th October 20:59

[Lozw86]

My F15 40d averages ~33mpg with mixed driving so not sure how a 50d manages that, unless it’s driven extremely gently all of the time

[custardkid]

We have a L322 range rover tdv8 and an X5 45e
X5 feels more like a saloon in comparison

If we were only to keep one it would be the Range Rover

Worth looking at both depending on budget

[Charlie Croker mk2]

cslwannabe said:

Wow. What year car is that and how many miles has it done? Recently picked up a 20k mile F15 50d and it struggles to break 30mpg on the OBC, even cruising on the motorway, so probably even less than that in reality. Even a gentle drive to the Lake District at the weekend averaged 28. Had a 640d a few years ago and that averaged 42ish.

Mind you according to honestjohn realworld mpg the three F15 variants are 31.8, 31.2 and 29.0 mpg respectively so not a whole lot in it.

Edited by cslwannabe on Friday 29th October 20:59

This is a 2020 M50d with circa 9,000 miles , I was surprised at how economical it actually is If you get caught up in traffic or do short journey's then it ends up at 38mpg per tankful but the best so far has been Manchester to Gloucester 51 mpg but the long roadworks on the M6 meant 50mph for ages ! But I did not buy it for its fuel efficiency , it drives so much better than the Range Rover it replaced .

Edited by Charlie Croker mk2 on Sunday 31st October 11:58

Edited by Charlie Croker mk2 on Sunday 31st October 14:20

[Charlie Croker mk2]

Note the miles remaining , by this point I had already covered 147 miles out of a full tank .

Edited by Charlie Croker mk2 on Sunday 31st October 14:28

[Cheburator mk2]

fomb said:

Regardless of what the 'clean' MPG is, it'll change when towing depending on the car. My 30d does 35-ish clean and 24-ish towing.

I used to have a Disco 4 that did 25mpg regardless of whether it was pulling 2.5 tons or running with nothing on the back.

Good point... Our 50i does 22mpg clean and 18mpg dirty on a run... Since buying it, 18mpg average, but that included a daily SE London school run ... It does shift while making a nice V8 growl ...