Does the world need another ultra-pricey sport utility vehicle?
I can't imagine why, not with premium fuel at $1.75 a gallon and the choice of all-wheel-drivers already so large that one wonders how people make up their mind which one to buy.But, until now, none of them bore BMW's twin-propeller logo, and for the Bimmer faithful nothing else will do.
Still, if the folks at Bavarian Motor Works thought their highly regarded lineup of "Ultimate Driving Machines" needed an off-roader on the menu, why did they wait until 2000 to build one? And why jump in with a vehicle that only dot-com CEOs can afford when arch-rival Mercedes-Benz has a huge head start with its competitively priced M-Class and Lexus with its (similar looking) RX300?
I asked the same questions of Honda's tardy entry into the minivan segment, a move that finally occurred last year, and the Odyssey is now the hottest ticket in vandom.
BMW says it's no mystery why they did not feel an urgent need to build an SUV. They own Britain's Rover and its Range Rover and Land Rover Discovery marques. "We already had the best sport-utility in the world," said a BMW spokesman.
Even if that's true, which is open to debate, Range Rover and Discovery sales didn't do BMW dealers any good, and over the past decade of sport-ute mania, that's a pretty big hole in a dealer lineup.
Now, the hole's been plugged, by the 2000 BMW X5 sport util . . . oops, I almost called it a sport-utility vehicle. BMW gets testy about its nomenclature. When it brought out a station wagon, BMW insisted it be called a "sport wagon." And the X5 is not an SUV, it's a "sports-activity" vehicle (SAV?) The message seems to be that there is nothing utilitarian about a BMW, even one with all-wheel-drive, meaty tires, a high profile and seating position and somewhat higher ground clearance.
BMW makes no pretense that the X5 is for bounding through the boondocks. Like the RX300, it's one of a new breed of vehicles that is part SUV, part station wagon and part minivan. The X5, says BMW, addresses the company's tradition and philosophy summed up by its slogan Freude am Fahren or Joy in Driving.
I'll buy that. The X5 really was a joy to drive over the past week. Too bad not many people will be able to afford one. My tester had a MSRP of $49,400, but four options and a $570 delivery charge put the bottom line at $54,135. At that price, the X5 should not only be fun to drive but cure baldness and the heartbreak of psoriasis.
The options included $850 for an "activity package" that consisted of a ski bag, heated front seats, headlamp washers and a rain sensor so that the wipers come on even if you're so busy negotiating a deal on your cell phone that you don't notice it's raining.
Other options included $1,050 for a power glass moonroof, $1,990 for a navigation system (rapidly becoming de rigueur in high-end cars even though no one ever uses them), and $275 for tinted glass.
It occurred to me during my week behind the X5's leather-clad wheel that it would be nice if BMW stripped out the options and some of the standard equipment, such as power adjusting steering wheel, Steptronic transmission (a manual shifting mode for the automatic), automatic "climate control" (which never works as well as a manual system), memory seat adjusters and all the other gadgets that boost the price while adding little to the driving experience.
I'll bet BMW could get the X5's price down to $30K and still keep the stuff that really matters, such as the incredible 4.4-liter, 32-valve V8 engine that will propel the X5 to 60 mph in under 8 seconds while being equally at home towing a 6,000-pound trailer.
Actually, BMW is scheduled soon to bring out a plainer-Jane V6 version that will be priced around $40,000, still expensive but close enough to several other luxury SUVs to bring it onto some shoppers' radar. Personally, I think they should keep the V8 and ditch some of the other stuff, which would help lower its avoirdupois.
My tester weighed in just shy of 2.5 tons, some 800 pounds more than a Jeep Grand Cherokee while offering no more people or cargo capacity. Weight is the enemy of performance and fuel economy, which is why the X5 gets only 13 mpg in city driving and 17 mpg on the highway. Premium fuel only, please.
But if you're a Bimmophile, what do you care for such mundane things as gas mileage? According to BMW's market research, the "emotional" factors that will incite you to buy an X5 include: "Escape/freedom, Off road/wilderness, Youthful/sexy/cool, Individual, Status, Control/power and Fun/active."
The "rational" reasons for buying the X5 include: "Towing capability, All-weather/all-road ability, Robustness, Cargo space and Outward vision for driver."
Works for me. I'm as much a fan of youthful/sexy/cool and robustness as the next guy.
In case you care, the X5 is not built in the Black Forest by Germans but in Spartanburg by South Carolinians.