Any towing tips??

[exbonneville]

The Caravan Talk forum is awash with threads concerning BMW X5 additional cooling Q and A as well as the rights and wrongs of breakaway cable attachments.

As has been mentioned here, with the OP's set up there is more than enough tug for the tow.

[bascule]

Thanks all..

Indespension have just today fitted my second socket (It only had the one, and a fixed bar when I got it).  My old van doesn't have 13-pin, it's still on the two separate so this was the cheapest and easiest solution.
I have no attachment point for the breakaway cable - will probably loop it round the narrow part of the bar below the hitch, it wouldn't be able to lift up and over that without being unclipped.

It sounds like a set of genuine bmw mirrors would be a good plan though -if anyone knows of a set up for grabs I'd be interested!

I'm not going to stress over the extra cooling given mine's a manual box. (hurrah!)

Thanks again!

Ben

[chrisn7]

[quote="exbonneville"]
The Caravan Talk forum is awash with threads concerning BMW X5 additional cooling Q and A as well as the rights and wrongs of breakaway cable attachments.
[/quote]

Really? I visit CT most days and I can't remember the last time there was a thread about the  E53 X5 - which seems a fairly rare towcar choice. Search BMW X5 and you get zilch. Many people there go for Hyundai and Kia, sadly

[exbonneville]

[quote="chrisn7"]
[quote="exbonneville"]
The Caravan Talk forum is awash with threads concerning BMW X5 additional cooling Q and A as well as the rights and wrongs of breakaway cable attachments.
[/quote]

Really? I visit CT most days and I can't remember the last time there was a thread about the  E53 X5 - which seems a fairly rare towcar choice. Search BMW X5 and you get zilch. Many people there go for Hyundai and Kia, sadly
[/quote]

Here are a few, starting with mine from last month:

http://www.caravantalk.co.uk/community/ ... nto-to-x5/

http://www.caravantalk.co.uk/community/ ... oling-fan/

http://www.caravantalk.co.uk/community/ ... 92-bmw-x5/

http://www.caravantalk.co.uk/community/ ... 3-30d-r335

http://www.caravantalk.co.uk/community/ ... in-towbar/

http://www.caravantalk.co.uk/community/ ... ive35d-r88

I agree the CT search doesn't seem to be efficient but googling "BMW X5 caravan talk" brings up plenty, albeit some historical.

[bascule]

Well, I towed with it for the first time yesterday, a 70 mile trip to relocate the van from storage down to my son's driveway in Ferndown.

Don't know why I worried, it was a complete doddle.Economy dropped from my usual 29/30 down to 22.5, but a totally stable tow despite the crosswinds yesterday.

I loved that I am now high enough to see straight through and out of the caravan's rear window and know whats coming behind me well before the side mirrors show anything

Side mirrors - I've not found any 2nd hand bmw ones, so made do with my normal cheapy rubber strap mounted ones - tbh, once I'd juggled with the strap lengths for the larger mirrors they were completely solid and didn't move at all.

Only issue Ive spotted, is keeping an eye on speed. Far too easy to exceed the recommended, it creeps up on you! 

thanks all

[Horizon]

Great result, I find the X3 tows great, so the X5 should be even more planted.
I've removed my detachable tow bar today and am planning to get a ZEB welded on to the under side of it this week ( a zeb is a 12 mm thick piece of metal that used in unistrut assembly for cable tray erection ) and I e got a 10 mm lifting eye to screw onto it , to secure my breakaway cable too.
( apologies to the non caravaners, for the boring talk

[Greydog]

I don't tow a caravan but I do tow a horse trailer with a couple of fat horses all up weight is around 2000kg. Both X5's I have owned (4.4 and 4.6is) have handled it with ease. When looking for a tow car capacity and nose weight were considerations. Both have factory detachable tow bars so the back end is clean when not towing I screw in the towing eye in (it sits just above the tow bar) and attach the breakaway cable to that. As far as MPG goes the on-board computer in the 4.6 sits at 19.8 mpg (I zero it at each fill up) it doesn't seem to matter much whether I am towing or not and that is about as accurate as I need. Having owned a few V8 cars and I budget for 15 so anything over that feels like a bonus to me. Last week fully loaded car 4 dogs and 2 adults, trailer and two horses plus all their kit Sussex to Cannock last month down to Devon so while we mostly only tow in the summer months we do tow frequently. The X5 makes a great tow car in my opinion just wish they were a tad more robust.