XSeries-forum

Just thought I would post up my thoughts on my new (to me) X5 two  weeks on...

Comfort access is brilliant. Just makes everything so much easier. Not sure I would ever be without it now. By far the best thing about my car in my opinion.

Head up display is excellent. It's not something I will ever actually need and I could certainly live without it but overall it's an excellent toy.

Reverse camera - pretty rubbish. Can't see anything at night

Stereo. I have the professional. Had the professional on my E53. The sound was better on my E53. This is very disappointing. Stereo is ok but it is poor for what was the top of the range stereo before the individual came out.

MPG - I get 24 on the trip computer. Have done a bit of receipt crunching and 24 does actually mean 24. This is 50% motorway at 80 and 50% general town/A/B road driving. A little disappointing (was expecting 27) but not the end of the world.

Idrive - I find it slow and unresponsive when scrolling. (08 model year). Wish I'd tried it before I purchased the car. Don't rate it at all. Probably won't buy another BMW because of it. If you have an older BMW and are thinking about upgrading to a car with idrive then I suggest you try it extensively first. Took it into BMW and they said car already has the latest update so nothing they can do.

DAB radio. I live in Sutton Coldfield north of Birmingham. Around 2 miles from the local DAB transmitter. I never get a signal. I drove 50 miles to Stoke yesterday and hardly ever got a signal. Complete rubbish. Need to borrow a portable DAB radio to find out of its a problem with the car or if DAB signal is just rubbish anyway.

Heated seats - warm up much faster than my E53. Very happy.

Twin turbo. Quick for a 4x4. Very happy with the speed.

6 speed Gearbox - Much better than E53. Does not have 'the lurch' that the E53 did.

All in all the car is ok. BMW quality is not what it used to be. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed with the car in some respects. I've had 2 BMW's previously (M3 CSL & E53 X5 facelift) both of which I loved very much. In terms of being a nice car to drive/place to sit etc, it is up there with the best. Some of the toys and interface let it down in my opinion.

Interesting. I've got a 2011 build LCI X5, and no probs with the idrive responsiveness. MPG - I get 25 for short journeys around town and 30 if I throw in some longer trips (per computer so may be a little out), got 26 on recent ski trip to Switzerland with monster roof box.  Agree re the hifi that the pro (i also have it) is a bit disappointing.  No probs with rear view camera in low light - works very well in my view.  Build quality is excellent in my view - with niggles such as blanks in rear seat power points - feel better suited to £6k rather than £60+k car.

My one bugbear is the woeful SatNav ...

I had a play with a brand new X5 and the idrive seemed ok on that too. Guess it may well just be the older cars. Whilst the sat nav is not brilliant I knew that before I purchased it so can't have any complaints there. Just got used to it on my E53 so will be the same with this one.

there are two types of idrive, ones that have a dvd nav disc [ccc] and ones with hard drives [cic]...
sounds like the hard drive ones are quicker ..

From the web:  The CIC system is a major update to iDrive, ....and is generally more responsive than CCC, to address one of the common complaints of iDrive.

DAB sounds like a problem, unless it needs retuning to your local 'ensembles'.  Dealer tuned mine and it's great.  Can't remember how it's done though - and may well be different on the '08 variant.  Once the tuner has the local channels stored it then 'knows' what to do when changing transmitters.  Same sort of issue as changing the service area on a Freeview telly, you need to retune the system.

Richard

CAmera is rubbish at that age, maybe better in newer ones.

Had mine a couple of months now and have to admit, I love it! Clearly I have lower standards. Sound is a fair point, but I quite like the I-Drive system and the drive is considerably better than the E53.

My thoughts 4 weeks into mine

Camera fine generally but agree in low light not as good as I'd hoped. Fine in daylight

iDrive seems to work well on mine (2012 model)

I'm actually pleased with satnav. Maybe I'm easily satisfied but its certainly much better than my previous Audi ( tho not as good as a £100 tomtom)

Getting 28mpg so far based on mainly town and some A road driving (av speed been 24mph)

I think build quality is good, don't know if its been improved since 2008 however

Overall very happy with my first BMW

The rear view one on mine switches to monochrome in the dark and works fine.  In fact I think they're all day/night type (not going out as it's brass monkeys goolies breaking weather out there!).