If you had to make a bucket list of the
best roads to drive before the chap with the scythe beckoned, the Sea to Sky
Highway would probably find its way into the top 10. This sinuous ribbon of
billiard-table-smooth blacktop traces the shores of British Columbia’s Howe
Inlet and its series of straights, sweeps, downhill corkscrews and fast, blind
rises are pretty much a textbook setting for a scenic blast.
So, there we were, plying what most would
see as motoring nirvana not at the helm of a long-legged GT or snarling sports car
glimpsing nervously at both the speedo needle and rear-view mirror for fear of
a crimson-coated galloper of the law, but in an SUV...
The
BMW X5 is spacious, comfortable and well-appointed
Fortunately, our steed was not of the
wallowing, wafty variety, but rather the third-generation BMW X5, a model with
something of a lofty reputation to defend in the premium-SUV bracket. When the
E53 X5 emerged in 1999, it spelled a sea change in the luxury SUV market by
moving away from the formula of the day: body-on-chassis off-roaders with plush
innards. Instead, it adopted a unibody construction that lent it car-like ride
and handling.
To this end, BMW coined the term Sports
Activity Vehicle to distinguish the X5 as a more dynamically gifted,
road-biased offering than its SUV rivals. While the acronym hasn’t gained much
traction in motoring lexicon, more manufacturers have accepted that an
increasing percentage of buyers value a graceful, but purposeful looking, SUV
possessed of road-going prowess over a blocky, uncomfortable rock-hopper.
The
X5 is typically generous with its legroom in the front, but headroom is only
average for a large SUV
It’s a successful formula that has seen the
X5 tally up around 1.3 million sales spanning 14 years and just two model
generations. It’s also a formula that BMW is loath to depart from and may
explain the firm’s softly-softly approach with the latest model.
The exterior is evolutionary rather than
revolutionary. Up front, there’s less of a pronounced height difference between
the wings and the bonnet, while the signature kidney grille into which the
headlamps now bleed à la F30 3 Series has been drawn out to give the car a
wider façade.
The X5 manages to belie the fact that it’s
larger than its forebear by virtue of a more ventrally compressed frontal
aspect and a tidier, more character-line-dominated set of flanks that lend the
vehicle a more taut, athletic appearance than before.
This
model comes with an eight-speed automatic transmission
Factor in a neat set of L-shaped,
LED-strip-studded brake lamps and you’ve just about covered the revisions. The
new car’s most recognisable elements, the wide track, short overhangs and the
vehicle’s overall silhouette, are not that far removed from those of its
predecessor.
The impression of massage rather than
metamorphosis is also evident inside. There’s a more horizontal facia, with the
lower section given the black-screen treatment (analogue controls crowned with
floating digital readouts on a lower facia-spanning strip), the air vents no
longer occupy a facia-top pod and move into the central facia strip, and more
ornate seat and door panels are offered according to trim level. The optional
LED ambient-lighting strip that skirts the mid-section of the cabin’s trim
throughout enforces the horizontal theme.
BMW was vague regarding actual increases in
cabin space, but it feels appreciably more spacious, both fore and aft, than
the previous car. At 650/1,870 dm3, luggage space is up by 30/120 dm3.
