Not an ‘X’ but is an Xdrive

[sapphireblack]

Whats the expression? Patience of a saint! Looks loverly

I hope its all that you expected and that it brings pleasure to you and your good lady. I wonder where you can enjoy that power output?

[X5Sport]

Still learning what it all does, and was exactly what we hoped for. As for the power…..probably very few places. To be honest all we were really after was all-wheel drive, and that means it’s this or this. BMW don’t offer any lower power in AWD. My days of hooning are long gone, and it’s being driven in Eco Pro as that deadens the throttle response. In Sport Boost it is alleged to be able to pull about 0.8G!! With the rest of the family being sensitive to motion sickness, careful use will be required.

[X5Sport]

Of course being an engineer means being eternally curious and wanting to know ‘what’s under that?’

When opening the bonnet, you are faced with this:

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Only two ‘ports’, coolant to the left, ac servicing to the right.

Having found how to remove the helipad sized acre of black plastic, I was faced with……wth is this lot…..

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Anything orange is really bad, anything violet is just bad ….. and I can work out the motor is the black thing nearest the camera and low down, with the charging control system being the massive silver box at the back (it can handle 470V DC @ 200kW/h).

The plumbing to the right is the electric engine (BMW term) cooling, electric air con, battery coolant circuitry and pumps.

Fix it at home? Not a chance.

[X5Sport]

First thoughts after having the car for a few days now and using it to commute.

The cabin is a nice place to be. It’s amazing just how quiet it is. Yes there’s a bit of tyre noise, but that’s expected. No one makes silent tyres or road surfaces.

The iDrive system (OS8) is complicated but if you’ve used a smartphone or tablet these days, it is very familiar in how to get things to work. It could do with a few more physical buttons, and I miss the 8 configurable buttons that me X6 has being replicated. It seems all manufacturers are getting rid of buttons though.

The latest cruise control system Driver Assistance Package Professional (DAPP), is a Level 2 self-drive (same as Tesla) and can drive the car all by itself. It’s really weird to have the car driving around on roads without hands on the steering wheel. The system uses 7 cameras, 5 radars and a bunch of ultrasonic sensors plus accurate GPS together with more detailed mapping data (speed limits, road signs, traffic signals etc). You can go near hands-free as long as the driver watches the road, and the car has more cameras in the electronic dash that monitor the driver’s eyes. Fail to pay attention and the car warns you, if you ignore it will then pull over and stop safely (using all of the above sensors). The electric power steering is also a bit odd compared to hydraulic assisted steering, a bit ‘vague’ with little feedback.

One thing I do like is one-pedal driving. The car can be set up to use a much more aggressive energy-recuperation system that when selected means there’s no need to touch the brakes. It takes a bit of getting used to, but having used it all week, it’s a neat trick. The two motors can provide 165kW/h of recharge so downhill section will recharge the 84kW/h battery, though there isn’t enough ‘downhill’ to actually achieve a full charge in the UK at least.

The ride is very good on 19” wheels and tyres - no RFTs on the i4. Suspension on the ‘M’ chassis is adaptive with coils in front, air in back. My other half is sensitive to motion sickness and has no trouble. The E53 with rear air made her ill within 10-15 minutes!

The power is just epic. 544bhp on tap instantly. No waiting for turbos, or the engine rpm to hit the right spot, it just goes….instantly! In Eco-Pro the power delivery is smooth and constant. In Sport it is brutal and because there’s no engine noise for clues about speed, the 70 limit is passed in less than 4 secs. 50-70 also takes less than 2 secs! I’m glad we chose to add the M-Sport seats. They are very supportive and absolutely needed if you want to get keen with the go-pedal.

Running costs? A normal week for us with the X6 is 1/2 tank of diesel £60-70. So far I’ve needed to charge the battery just once (30-80%) and that was £14. A full charge on standard domestic tariffs (£0.34p/kW) is about £28-50 for the same range as above on diesel. Tariffs such as Intelligent Octopus (£0.075p/kW) would drop that to around £3.15, or about £21 for an 8-9 hour charge as that needs longer than the 6 hour cheap rate window and the peak rate is £0.42p/kW so a bit more than Standard Tariff. One supplier is now offering cheap rates at £0.035p/kW/h).