Entered CNET Catalog: 02/17/2007
SKU: 100820806
Manufacturer: BMW of North America
Product summary
The good: There is a lot to like about the 2007 BMW X5, but its handling really stands out. In the cabin, its Bluetooth cell phone system works very nicely and its stereo sounds good and can play multiple audio sources, including MP3s. The electronic shifter also has an interesting, sculptured look.
The bad: Although it has full-time all-wheel drive, the X5 isn't a serious off-roader. Expensive options drive the price up rapidly; fully loaded this car would push $70,000.
The bottom line: Although it's an SUV, the 2007 BMW X5 is for people who appreciate performance. Everything about the car is rock solid, from its cabin tech to its handling, and we would feel as comfortable driving it on windy mountain roads as we would over icy terrain.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 04/12/2007
Photo gallery:
2007 BMW X5
BMW performed a major redesign on its biggest SUV, giving the body a more modern look, adding power, and upgrading the cabin with some decidedly futuristic details. Like many new SUVs, the 2007 BMW X5 also gets optional third-row seating to maximize its people-carrying capabilities. And, like other BMWs, it offers a strong performance character.
The new X5 has pronounced wheel arches, a design cue not exactly unique to BMW, and more curves all over the body, though most prominently in front. Bold, prominent creases mark the hood and the side of the car. These changes give the sheet metal a more flowing look than the previous generation. Large ducts below the traditional BMW kidney grille suggest a big power plant that needs to take big breaths.
As technology enthusiasts, we had a lot to explore in the X5's cabin, from its rear-seat DVD system to its intriguing shifter. Some of it we had seen before, such as the iDrive system. Other features, like the multicontour seats, gave us a lot of buttons to push. Our test car lacked navigation and only had the base stereo, but the audio quality was still strong, as good as some premium systems we've seen. Handling and performance were everything we would expect from a BMW, too.
Test the tech: The burger ring
The BMW commercials that attest the new BMW X5 was tested on the Nurburgring, the famous racetrack in Germany, inspired us to do some performance driving with our test car. Lacking the time or funds to go to the real Nurburgring, we plotted out our own Northern California Burger Ring, or Norburgring for short.
We decided our ring would go from the Taylor's Automatic Refresher in San Francisco's Ferry Building up to the Taylor's Automatic Refresher in St. Helena, in the middle of wine country. Taylor's Automatic Refresher in St. Helena is a classic drive-in-style restaurant with excellent hamburgers and an extensive wine list. To make our trip a "ring," we went via Santa Rosa, took mountain roads east to St. Helena, and then headed back to San Francisco.
The first leg of our journey took us through the streets of San Francisco, where the X5 handled well for an SUV. It actually felt like a smaller car as we merged in heavy traffic and stayed between the lines of narrow street lanes. As we passed the In-N-Out burger just off Hwy. 101 in Marin, we acknowledged this fine burger chain with a wave, but it wasn't our destination today.
Once in Santa Rosa, we looked for Los Alamos Road, which our printed Google map showed as having the right kind of twists for our purposes as well as being a route to St. Helena. Unfortunately, our X5 didn't come with navigation and we never found this particular road, so we settled for the St. Helena Road, which fortunately proved to be as winding as we could want. We pushed the X5 hard through the many turns on this road, and it felt amazingly composed throughout.
The X5 uses variable ratio steering, changing the lock-to-lock steering wheel distance depending on your speed. This technology goes virtually unnoticed as the car always seems to have the right steering range. The steering is somewhat heavy, but that was perfectly fine on this mountain road, as it translated to a solid handling feel. We felt no body roll on hard corners, although we were cognizant of the car's height. It's not a low-slung sports car; however, it handled better than any other SUV we've driven.
When we finally descended from the mountains and the adrenaline rush started to wear off, we pulled up at Taylor's Automatic Refresher. The BMW X5 was perfect in keeping with the well-heeled wine country clientele "slumming it" at a burger joint. And that bacon cheeseburger was certainly tasty after our fun drive. We avoided sampling from the wine menu, as we had more driving to do.
The ride along the eastern side of our burger ring was tamer, mainly involving highways. The X5 proved comfortable for this part of the run as we switched from our auxiliary input-connected MP3 player to the Sirius Satellite Radio. Another nice feature to cool our posteriors on this sunny day were the X5's seat fans, which blow cool air up through the seat and the seat back.
In the cabin
Our tester BMW X5 had all the luxury we expected from the car maker, such as seats covered with thick leather, black dashboard material with just the right amount of give, and appropriately placed metal accents. The steering wheel is satisfyingly thick, and the shifter looks like a sculpture. As with other recent SUVs, the X5 also gets a third row of seats, although these are small and have little legroom. But they do fold away into the floor of the cargo area.
One of the more remarkable features is the panoramic moonroof, a vast expanse of glass over the front and middle-row seats. Push a button in the overhead console and a large portion of it slides back, letting in lots of fresh air and possibly serving as a landing bay for remote-controlled airplanes. The optional multicontour seats not only had heating and cooling but came with buttons to raise and lower the headrest and to extend the front of the seat out for extra thigh support.
One new BMW feature in the X5 is the smart key fob. You push the fob into a dashboard slot, which powers up the navigation system and the stereo. To start the car, you push the engine start button. We also saw this arrangement in the BMW 328xi, and it reminds us we will have to find a replacement for the word "key." The X5 has an LCD placed at the top of the stack and BMW's iDrive controller set near the shifter. The fact that our X5 didn't come with the navigation option tells us that BMW is starting to include the LCD standard, a good move in our opinion because it offers much better information than a simple radio display.
Our car came with Bluetooth cell phone integration, something BMW does very well. We easily paired up a Samsung SGH-D807 with the car, and in no time at all it had captured our phone's address book. We were easily able to make calls through the iDrive interface, either picking entries from our address book or manually dialing the numbers. And either we are getting more used to iDrive or BMW has tweaked it to improve the interface.
After first cranking up the stereo, we looked at the car's spec sheet to see what sort of premium system we had. We were surprised to see that this strong sound was coming from the X5's base stereo system. Although not as good as we heard in the Land Rover LR2, which had a premium system, the X5's base system sounded very good. It produced a strong, full sound with decent separation. It didn't hit the low lows or the high highs, but it is satisfying.
We have no complaints about the audio sources. The six-disc in-dash changer plays WMA and MP3 CDs, there's an auxiliary input in the center console, and it has satellite radio. The interface for all audio sources is excellent. For satellite radio, you can choose a category view and see a list of all stations. FM and AM radio stations are displayed in an interesting, staggered format which is easy to read, especially because it automatically shows radio call letters instead of frequency. It shows MP3 and WMA CD contents in a tree format, showing the contents of each folder separately; standard CDs are shown in a unique, radial format which neatly conforms to the iDrive paradigm. We also like that the system can show track names and read CD text from standard CDs.
We also got the rear-seat entertainment package in our X5, which uses an innovative placement for the video screen. The fairly large LCD is mounted on a bracket over the rear of the center console. It folds up, then swivels around so the rear-seat passengers can see it. The advantage of this arrangement is it can be angled to favor one rear seat or the other, offering a better viewing angle if there is only one passenger watching it. It has a self-contained DVD player, which can also play CDs or even show pictures.
Under the hood
The 2007 BMW X5, in its largest engine configuration, gets a 4.8-liter V-8 under the hood, an increase over the previous year's 4.4-liter engine. The new engine puts out 350 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque, which is plenty to push the X5 quickly off the line. We liked the throttle response in our test car and noticed little acceleration lag. And the engine makes a very satisfying growl when pressed.
The shifter's futuristic looks match the way it works; it's an electronic shifter that you pop forward to put the car into reverse or pop backward for drive. Push the button on top and it goes into park. It works well, and we like how BMW acknowledges the electro-mechanic nature of the modern automatic transmission. In drive mode, you can push the shifter to the left to get it into sport mode or push it forward and back to row through the automatic's six gears. We really liked how this transmission held the gears up into high rpms when we mashed the throttle, giving us the acceleration we wanted. It offers good thrust in drive mode, and even more in sport mode.
We commented on the X5's superior handling in our burger ring experiment. BMW's xDrive all-wheel drive system, which contributes to the handling, relies on a center limited slip differential. xDrive isn't a serious off-roading system, and you probably couldn't take the X5 into the same places you could drive the Land Rover LR2. But the X5 does have hill descent control, which could be useful for going down steep driveways in icy conditions.
The X5 has a raft of road-holding safety technology, such as stability control. It also comes standard with adaptive headlights that follow the steering wheel into turns. Its park distance sensor not only has an audible warning but shows a graphic on the LCD with indications of how close objects are to the front and the rear of the car. The system can be shut down from a button on the dashboard, which is good because it goes crazy in heavy traffic.
The X5 can also be had with a smaller, 3-liter, inline six-cylinder engine. With the V-8, the car gets an EPA-rated 15mpg in the city and 21mpg on the highway. In our mixed city and freeway driving, we ended up with 16.5mpg. The car gets an emissions rating of ULEV II, or ultralow emissions vehicle, from California, which is a good rating for an SUV of this size.
In sum
Our 2007 BMW X5, with the 4.8-liter V-8, had a base price of $54,500. Our options were the third-row seat ($1,200), panoramic moonroof ($1,350), rear-side-window sun blinds ($250), multicontour seats ($1,200), heated front seats ($350), heated rear seats ($500), park distance sensor ($700), rear-seat DVD ($1,800), Bluetooth ($750), and Sirius Satellite Radio ($595). With a $695 destination charge, the total comes out to a whopping $63,890. We might have chosen some different options on this car, such as the upgraded stereo, which uses 16 speakers, two subwoofers, and a nine-channel, 600-watt digital amplifier.
While we really like how the BMW X5 handles, it is a pricey ride. Although lacking third-row seating, the Land Rover LR2 is much less expensive and more capable off the road. The Mercedes-Benz GL450, though, we would lean heavily toward the BMW X5.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6out of 6 user reviews
Hands down, the best car I've ever owned.
Pros: Impeccable service, head-turning styling, racecar-like handling & acceleration, throaty V-8 growl that sounds like a Mustang, plethora of technological features, a sport mode that actually pins you in your seat - all with the practicality of an SUV.
Cons: Back up camera is a bit heasitant to come on, computer is somewhat sluggish when running through the never-ending functions, can't disengage my nav once it's dialed in, interior trim work is peeling back - not acceptable for a car of this caliber!
out of 6 user reviews
Classy, GREAT Ride But High Maint. in the Techno Dept.
Pros: Design is classy and beefy with a tight and solid ride. Sporty feel and responsive steering. The pano roof allows for stargazing and even with the roof open, there is little wind noise. X5 feels very safe and heavy. Bluetooth excellent.
Cons: Acceleration is slower than the previous years' model. Some of the features in the I-Drive are overkill, like the climate control. Frustrating gear shifter. DVD monitor (option) is in a poor location and is always in the way. No sunglasses holder.
out of 6 user reviews
Biggest waste of money I've ever spent
Pros: large panoramic moonroof, heated/ac seats in comfort sport package
Cons: iDrive froze on daily basis, electronic gear shifter had to be replaced, radio volume froze/unable to raise or lower until car would restart, rear camera stayed on sometimes for 20 minutes
I had mine 'built' since the color I wanted was not a standard (white). So last summer my brand-new 2007 LOADED X5 showed up. Didn't even make it to the first stoplight off the dealership before my Check Engine light came on. Dealership was closing, told me to bring it back the next day -- I did, they couldn't find anything wrong with it and sent me along.
3 days later I parked my brand-new car and ran inside a store for 5 minutes; came out and the 'amazing' electronic gear shifter would not let me out of park. Couldn't reverse, couldn't go into drive -- NOTHING. BMW's response system (built into car) supposedly called a tow truck for me -- it showed up 3 hours later and the guy told me since the gear shifter was out, he needed a special truck and couldn't take the car! Then he laughed when he saw the gear shifter and said they were worthless and he'd been on more new-car tows for that problem than anything else the past year.
So after taking the car in AGAIN to the dealer to get the gear shifter replaced, two weeks later I get more red light/engine warnings flashing on my screen, warning me to take the car to the nearest dealer and stop driving immediately. This is in downtown Chicago rush-hour traffic. So aside from the panic of not knowing what the hell was going on, my radio volume was stuck and as I tried to call for help from my cell, I couldn't turn it down. (By the way, the wonderful Bluetooth installed in my car never worked with my phone (new Blackberry) and the BMW 'specialist' just couldn't figure it out, so I had to do without that extra option I paid for.)
Needless to say I told my dealer to keep it since it was an obvious lemon. Talked to more people who told me they had absolutly nothing but trouble with theirs.
Folks I've owned almost every brand of car and SUV out there, from Toyota to Mercedes to Chevy to Ford and more than I can list -- save yourself the aggravation, hassles and money and do NOT get an X5. They are overpriced versions of a brand that's become more of a 'budget' luxury car than any other I've seen.
out of 6 user reviews
More hype that function in whats used most!
Pros: quick, comfortable, stylish
Cons: basics like stereo pre-sets are useless / frustrating
out of 6 user reviews
Get the Technology Package
Pros: Performance, technology, style, cargo utility
Cons: Some molding has loose fit, valets don't know how to drive it
What I didn't expect was all the utility in the technology package. The DVD navigation system is very good with restaurants, traffic information, and route information all integrated. I've gotten into the habit of setting a Nav destination even on commutes and well-known routes because the BMW system gives me traffic and detour warnings all along my route.
Now that I've gotten skilled with the iDrive, I like it very much. I think a lot of thought was put into how to make it very functional yet have a stylish look (instead of the 50 buttons you'll see in the Infinity). The iDrive has a bit of a learning curve. But if you're reading this review on CNET, you should be able to handle it.
The display screen is not as bright as some other modern navigation screens and might not look as good on the dealer lot. After driving this car for while, however, I'd say the positioning of the display screen at the top of the dash, the sloped angle of the screen, and the deep setting in the dash with a sun shade over it makes the BMW X5 screen very easy to read while driving in any light condition.
The system can can also do a split screen display which lets you watch the map in one window while simultaneously showing your radio, telephone list, etc. in the other window. Why my sales rep didn't demonstrate this great feature amazes me because it is very cool.
I wasn't sure how much I'd use some of the other technology such as rear camera, weather band radio, satellite radio, and bluetooth. But I use all of them frequently and do not intend to own another car without them. Yes, the technology packages put a 4.8l at near $70k, but it's also going to increase your resale value -- especially as these kinds of features become standard and cars without them become 'dinosaurs'. As I said, Lexus and most other SUVs are really not comps to the performance and technology of this vehicle.
I also added a dealer-installed radar detector (Escort 9500 with Laser shifters) and love that. The only technology I'm really not using a lot is the Heads Up Display. It is a good quality display and shows your speed, direction, and next navigation turn. But since I'm not driving turn-by-turn very often, I haven't used it a lot.
out of 6 user reviews
Excellent all around driving machine!
Pros: styling, handling, interior,gadgets, BMW service, space, performance
Cons: Idrive can be less complex, size is a tad long for my taste. Backup camera does not work well.
I'm very happy, overall.
Some things that are good:
A real trunk, with a non-fussy cover! Yay!
Amazing lighting system. (bi-xenons, LED Tails, cornering lights)
Good standard audio system
wonderful driving experience
quieter and more refined
cool glovebox
nice pano roof
rear and front parking sensors
IDrive is good on Bluetooth and Radio.
Oh, and TiAg looks stunning! IMO
Things that I'm not crazy over:
Electronic Parking Brake is annoying. I like the reassurance of a manual lever.
Push Button Start take a few steps. I know there is Comfort access, but for 1k, no thanks.
IDrive for Climate and Nav takes getting used to.
Voice Control can recognize numbers, but not address book entries.
Back Up Camera displays colors completly wrong.
I wish there was a slot for the iPod Cable from the center console.
No sunglasses holder
Everything else is great!
I would highly recommend the 2007 BMW X5 3.0si for any premium SUV shopper.
