Wednesday 9th June 2010

BMW Builds A Million X5s

US-built SUV reaches production milestone

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The BMW X5 has reached a major milestone; the 1,000,000th example has rolled off the BMW Spartanburg production line.

The millionth X5, a sapphire black metallic BMW X5 xDrive35i, is winging its way to a customer in China - as are an ever-increasing number of BMWs.

The seven-digit production figure is testament to the popularity of the X5. On the face of it, you see, BMW's SUV ought to have quite a lot wrong with it: it's the car that set BMW moving away from its traditional 'ultimate driving machine' roots; it was the first ground-up BMW design from the notorious Mr Chris Bangle; and it is - sacrilege of sacrileges - built in South Carolina. A BMW from the Deliverance belt? Doesn't seem right, somehow.

But - and it's a big but - back in 1999 the X5 was something genuinely new, the first mainstream SUV that was blessed with genuinely sporty handling. Some 11 years on, whatever your views on the X5 (and it's probably best not to bring the X6 in here), you can't deny that the progenitor of a whole genre remains one of the best-handling large 4x4s out there.

So happy millionth birthday, BMW X5...

[Greenwich Ross]

Yay...

[GFWilliams]

Greenwich Ross said:

Yay...

[Elskeggso]

Take THAT you eco-nutters!

[BUG4LIFE]

I prefer the look of the original...

On a slightly different subject; I saw an X6 M for the first time the other day and for some reason I really wanted to slap the owner!

Edited by BUG4LIFE on Wednesday 9th June 11:53

[petrolveins]

BUG4LIFE said:

I prefer the look of the original...

I've gotta say looking at that picture ^ I rather agree with you

[Danny S]

petrolveins said:

BUG4LIFE said:

I prefer the look of the original...

I've gotta say looking at that picture ^ I rather agree with you

+2

[J4CKO]

Funny how they dont seem to be as brash and thrusty nowadays, they have mellowed with age and all those looking for ultimate blingy bigness are now cruising in RR Sports, Cayenne's and Q7's, when those dont quite hit the spot they take them to Kahn, ABT or whatever, making a standard X5 look positively self effacing and restrained.


I think BMW has positioned the X6 for those who feel the X5 is no longer obnoxious enough to warrant their attention.

[Greenwich Ross]

BUG4LIFE said:

I prefer the look of the original...

On a slightly different subject; I saw an X6 M for the first time the other day and for some reason I really wanted to slap the owner!

Edited by BUG4LIFE on Wednesday 9th June 11:53

I saw what looked like a squashed X6 in Chiswick a the weekend. It had a GT badge on it...? Looked bloody awful.

[Dagnut]

Lot of motoring journalists predicted epic failure for this....

[Cassius81]

J4CKO said:

Funny how they dont seem to be as brash and thrusty nowadays, they have mellowed with age and all those looking for ultimate blingy bigness are now cruising in RR Sports, Cayenne's and Q7's, when those dont quite hit the spot they take them to Kahn, ABT or whatever, making a standard X5 look positively self effacing and restrained.


I think BMW has positioned the X6 for those who feel the X5 is no longer obnoxious enough to warrant their attention.

+1

[loveice]

Danny S said:

petrolveins said:

BUG4LIFE said:

I prefer the look of the original...

I've gotta say looking at that picture ^ I rather agree with you

+2

+3

a proud owner of the original MK1 4.4 V8.

[Steameh]

Always had a soft spot for the X5, especially the big v8's.

Probably prefer one to a FFRR.

[Beefmeister]

I wonder if the car got a special plaque or summat?

I for one would like to have one if i'd bought that car. It may help resale...

[tom scott]

Still don't understand the attraction. Dealer tried to convince me to buy a 1.8 D X1 a couple of weeks ago instead of a 320 D M-sport. The X1 one is good, except all the benefits of a BMW are given away by it being too high. Live in Scandinavia, and as far as we can see, if you can drive, then you can get around just as well in winter in a rear wheel drive car as a 4x4 SUV. Maybe SUVs are for those who can't drive and don't know anything about cars - which should mean a Toyota is the best solution for that group.

[dinkel]

Elskeggso said:

Take THAT you eco-nutters!

Saw a hybrid electro 7 last week. Could not help thinking: this in an X5 please.

[ArtVandelay]

Before that picture, I would have argued that the new one was an improvement on the old one, at least in terms of styling. After seeing that however, the old one actually looks like a car you could take offroad, it has a more utilitarian look about it whereas the new model looks like an estate on steroids.

[havoc]

"one of the best handling 4x4's out there"



Isn't that a bit like saying "the fastest person we've ever seen on Fat Club"?!?

Surely a 4x4 without any real off-road ability* is just a pointless piece of conspicuous consumption, outperformed by it's saloon/estate brethren which cost less to buy and run...




* Completely ignoring the desire (or lack of) of the owner to actually take the car off-road...

[nickjm]

Greenwich Ross said:

BUG4LIFE said:

I prefer the look of the original...

On a slightly different subject; I saw an X6 M for the first time the other day and for some reason I really wanted to slap the owner!

Edited by BUG4LIFE on Wednesday 9th June 11:53

I saw what looked like a squashed X6 in Chiswick a the weekend. It had a GT badge on it...? Looked bloody awful.

That would be the 5 series GT, and yeah, it is very ugly!

[Trusty Steed]

As a certain Mr Clarkson said "nailed together by cotton pickers". Very funny!!

[spoonoff]

Alot of my petrolhead friends like these. Don't get it myself, one day you'd park next to an E30 M3, then you'd have to drive it off a cliff.