Is it a car, is it an SUV? Yes It is. I can prove it!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Still a great car!

Cons: Small baggage space at rear

The Bottom Line: 
BMW have a clear winner here. There was no doubt in my mind that we would buy a replacement when we were able to.

Author's Review
I recently took delivery of my second X5. The first was a 2002 model and reviewed here:

http://www.epinions.com/content_48484486788

Due to business considerations I left Texas for 6 months and sold the old one, vowing to buy a new one when I returned. Financially this actually made sense as the model holds its price extremely well and I now have a new model with a better warranty with 4 full years to run.

I liked the 2002 model and we used it off road a lot. Typical hard use was down North Padre Island National Seashore, near Corpus Christi. This is a beach 60 miles long with primitive camping allowed anywhere between the high tide and the dunes. The sand is variable with one section being famous for its soft, deep sand. Only 4 wheel drive vehicles are allowed beyond the first five miles and there is little chance for assistance other than the buddy system. The 2003 model has already been down there and so this part of the review is just as relevant to the latest model

The many reviews of the X5 in the press all praise its black top agility and manners. Few journalists apparently even tried the X5 off road, declaring "I doubt if this car is a real off-roader" or some such excuse. Other evidence they can cite is the relatively small clearance at around 7 inches, or so they like to tell you. Besides the X5 is a yuppymobile, isn't it?

Well, it can be if that's what you want. To get to North Padre it takes 4 hours driving on good roads from Houston, generally maintaining speed limit speeds (60 to 70 mph). This can take it out of you after a weekend in the sun, but not if you are comfortable and cool. The X5 provides both in spades (best air-conditioning I've experienced).

Then, when you hit the rough stuff the suspension takes over and it remains a comfortable vehicle (I've owned a Jeep Wrangler which must be at the other end of the scale yet equally adaptable to soft sand). One important feature, turn off the DCS when on soft sand as it uses the brakes to get grip and apparently you can wear out those discs quite quickly. You don't need it anyway in these conditions (it was designed for slick winding roads, not beaches).

Because there are only two of us the space problem at the back is not really a problem at all, we simply load up the back seats or fold them down. We fit a remarkable amount of camping gear in this way, including the mandatary 40 gallons of fresh water for survival on the beach! Weight does not seam to be a problem with repsect to handling. Four up would be a problem and we would have to use a roof rack system.

Sand is not friendly to vehicles and sea salt makes things even worse. The good sign about the X5 is that it is well sealed. The second is that as long as it is given a good hand wash immediatley after coming off the beach little long-term effects are to be expected. A high pressure system works well for the underside.

The 2003 model varies very little from the 2002 model and I would have to think that BMW have ironed out any/all the kinks from this one by now. From that point of view plus the 4 year warranty and service, I think it is a good solid buy. Clearly they think so too or they wouldn't have upped the warranty by 12 months.

The model is the same as before, 3.0 (more than enough power for me) luxury package, auto and rear climate. Again I had to have Xenon lights as all the stock X5s had them though this time I didn't really mind. They do seem to be worth it.