New xDrive40d M Sport member

[Swirl80]

After test driving pretty much every SUV/4x4 (within budget) around I eventually decided on a 65 plate xDrive40d M Sport. Eventually came down to a Cayenne Hybrid or the X5 and seeing as Porsche give no discounts or deals at all (and I love a bit of haggling and negotiating) I went with BMW who were offering a great deal on the Sales manager's nearly new X5 with pretty much all the options I was after. Test drove both the 30d and 40d and tbh, if I hadn't drove the 40d I would of been more than happy with the 30d but spoilt myself by doing so and could only have a 40d! Unfortunately Stratstone (who I'd spent a lot of time dealing/negotiating with) wouldn't clean the X5 I was originally interested in so due to my time in January (when they said they could clean it) being limited I went to Lloyd Newcastle and done the deal they offered that day just before Xmas. Always felt a bit uneasy about that deal tbh, the car again was a manger's car but when I saw/drove it, it was in use so obviously dirty. When I asked to see it clean so I could inspect it they refused due to skeleton staff working over the Xmas period. If it were me and I had a customer saying they were wiling to pay the deposit that day I would of taken it to the local hand car wash place but all in all I got the car I wanted at the price I wanted.

Having recently owned a Range Rover L322 then fully spec'd Evoque Dynamic Lux (don't ask, but the deal was too good to turn down.....) I can honestly say that the X5 is better in (almost - will be posting a separate thread/adding to others regarding annoyances) every way..........obviously never tested off-road and have no intention to do so. Owned Land Rover for the last 5 years and only saw the snow twice for a period of a couple of days in that time so if it snows, I'll work from home 

Spec:
BMW X5 xDrive40d M Sport
Black Sapphire
20" Star-spoke style 491
Smoke White Merino lthr - BMW Individual
Piano Black - BMW Ind.
Harman/Kardon surround sound
Panoramic glass sunroof
Sun protection glass
Seat heating, rear
Steering wheel heating
High-beam Assistant
Reversing Assist camera

The car is pretty much stock and have no real mod's planned. Only thing on the list of potentials is changing the grills to black but unsure if it'll be too much with everything being black. Love the M Performance body kit but the cost (IMHO) is astronomical for what it is and it will be worth next to nothing when I come to sell it.

There's a good chance I'll regret the white interior having 2 young kids and I had loads of issues with stains from jeans on the L322 (light interior) but I've not had any marks so far and got them from day 1 with the L322.

Driven 600miles so far and the road noise from the stock Dunlops is noticeable but coming from LR the car as a whole is significantly quieter on the motorway so I'm happy. However I am starting to see the stone chips / pebble dashing on the rear wheel arches and with the car being black it shows up pretty fast . On that note, does the film protection actually work? Looking to have the arches done (bit like the M3/M4's) but won't waste my money if they're rubbish.

I've been reading this and bimmerpost forums for a while and picked it up last week but with the weather being as cack as it has been as soon as I washed the car it rained so only managed to get some pictures today. Excuse the pics as it was getting dark so had nipped out to the nearest supermarket carpark and had to do a bit of editing in order for you to actually see anything! Will hopefully get some better ones with a better backdrop once the weather clears up a bit.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsksnyDha

It's been ~10yrs year since owning a BMW (previously owned an E39 530d) and can't believe why I ever moved away.

Happy to hear thoughts, comments, criticism on the spec and lack of mod aspirations  !

[jonsteele]

Nice motor, similar to our (except colour). I'd go for the black grills, I put them on ours and they look so much better (I hate chrome). There's a picture in here somewhere of a black car with them on.


Sent from the dark side by the power of the force!!