The six-speed automatic contributes to this effect. In fairly aggressive driving, it works well, with firm, satisfying upshifts and quick kickdown shifts when you slam the accelerator at 45 mph. But with light-throttle operation, through suburbia or winding into a subdivision, the transmission can be less then smooth. At times it feels rough or balky in its gear selection, almost clunky. BMW's electronic gear selector doesn't help much, either, requiring familiarity to use efficiently.
The gearchange is a tall, oblong device thatreminds us of the paddle control for a video game. There's a button on top to release or engage Park; Drive or Reverse come with a quick flick fore or aft. There's also a separate slot for sequential manual shifting. That's the only improvement in the design, and it fits into the fun/livability conflict throughout the X5.
When the driver wants to shift manually, it works great, changing gears immediately with a quick movement of the wrist, up or down. But this definitely is not a shifter you want to rest your hand on when its set in Drive and you're profiling or going with the flow around town. Even during a moderately hard stop, the momentum and weight of the hand will slide the selector into neutral, and you may not even know it. At a stoplight you might even engage Park inadvertently. When the light turns green, you'll wonder why you're not going anywhere, and then scramble in embarrassment to figure it out.
Stopping power is superlative. Yes, this big sport-utility dips forward more prominently than BMW's sedans might under hard braking, but it pulls to a stop like a sports car. In typical daily rounds, we never came close to exploiting the stopping potential built into the X5. Moreover, the electronic controls allow a driver to maintain fullthe various bits that add up to sporting driving dynamics seem to be just that: bits, somewhat disjointed, without the holistic, organic quality that characterizes a 3 Series or 5 Series sedan.
The six-speed automatic contributes to this effect. In fairly aggressive driving, it works well, with firm, satisfying upshifts and quick kickdown shifts when you slam the accelerator at 45 mph. But with light-throttle operation, through suburbia or winding into a subdivision, the transmission can be less then smooth. At times it feels rough or balky in its gear selection, almost clunky. BMW's electronic gear selector doesn't help much, either, requiring familiarity to use efficiently.
The gearchange is a tall, oblong device that reminds us of the paddle control for a video game. There's a button on top to release or engage Park; Drive or Reverse come with a quick flick fore or aft. There's also a separate slot for sequential manual shifting. That's the only improvement in the design, and it fits into the fun/livability conflict throughout the X5.
When the driver wants to shift manually, it works great, changing gears immediately with a quick movement of the wrist, up or down. But this definitely is not a shifter you want to rest your hand on when its set in Drive and you're profiling or going with the flow around town. Even during a moderately hard stop, the momentum and weight of the hand will slide the selector into neutral, and you may not even know it. At a stoplight you might even engage Park inadvertently. When the light turns green, you'll wonder why you're not going anywhere, and then scramble in embarrassment to figure it out.
Stopping power is superlative. Yes, this big sport-utility dips forward more prominently than BMW's sedans might under hard braking, but it pulls to a stop like a sports car. In typical daily rounds, we never came close to exploiting the stopping potential built into the X5. Moreover, the electronic controls allow a driver to maintain full steering control in full-panic stops. The electronics also help keep the X5 balanced when braking hard through a turn, and they now include a feature that compensates for brake fade as the brakes heat up with heavy use. Yet like the throttle, the brake pedal can feel a bit sensitive. It might require some practice to modulate for smooth, even stops. Next Page