I'm glad that the first time I fired up BMW's X5 sport utility vehicle I had to back out of a parking space, because it made me pay attention to the shift pattern of the five-speed manual transmission, which places reverse in the position reserved for first gear in most cars — upper left.
Even so, I caught reverse rather than first gear a couple of times while waiting for a red light but managed to stop before plowing into the car behind me. I've driven other cars, mostly German I think, with that shift pattern, but usually there is a lockout device such as a push button or the requirement that one push down hard on the shifter to access reverse.
I soon acclimated to this unusual arrangement and stopped pulling the shifter quite as far left and up when I wanted first gear, and it ceased to be a problem. Eventually, I even decided it was a more convenient pattern than the usual down-right position, where the backwards gear resides in most vehicles.
But I doubt many X5 buyers will opt for the self-shifter, anyway. Bavarian Motor Works, builder of "The Ultimate Driving Machine," is the only mainstream luxury carmaker that sells a fairly high percentage of its pricey rides with manual transmissions, but the X5 sport-utility seems an unlikely candidate for this market niche.
Add in a very stiff clutch pedal, and you have a car that is difficult to drive smoothly, especially from a dead stop.
The mom of one of my daughter's friends recently traded her Lincoln Navigator for an X5, and while she appreciates the nimbleness of the Bimmer over the riverboat handling of the Navigator, she wasn't about to forsake the convenience of an automatic transmission (BMW's Steptronic "manumatic"). I imagine most buyers of this elegant SUV will feel much the same.
Incidentally, BMW wants us to call it an SAV for "sports activity vehicle," but that's not going to fly. Maybe they just can't bear the thought of the "U" word being associated with one of their machines, utility sounding so proletarian.
I still haven't gotten used to the idea of a BMW sport-ute since the X5 was introduced last year. The world really didn't need another SUV, especially another ultra-pricey one. But arch-rival Mercedes-Benz has had great success with its M-Class utes and Lexus with its RX300 (which the X5 resembles), so the folks in Munich felt they needed to fill that gap in their lineup.
Although BMW is best known for its sport sedans, the X5 meets the current criteria for sport-utilities, especially those based on automobile chassis rather than truck underpinnings: all-wheel-drive, meaty tires, higher road clearance, higher seating position, fold-down rear seats and a hatchback for greater cargo capacity (the "utility" in sport-utility).
All we need now is for Porsche to bring its long-rumored SUV to market for the circle — or betrayal, as the faithful view it — to be closed and function to have triumphed over form for all but the low-volume niche manufacturers such as Ferrari and Jaguar. (Can you even imagine a Ferrari SUV? Neither can I.)
So-called driving "enthusiasts," as they are known in the motoring press, will never embrace SUVs because putting a car up on its tippy-toes compromises handling, which is why most race cars are built so low to the ground. The X5 may be surer on its feet than other sport-utes, but I disagree with Motor Trend's assessment that it doesn't sacrifice "one iota of driving excitement."
The X5 can be had with a 282-horsepower, 4.4-liter V-8 engine, but it adds $10,500 to the base price, and since every person I know has been rendered considerably poorer over the past 13 months of stock market mayhem, I imagine most X5 buyers will settle for the 225-horsepower 3.0-liter in-line six-cylinder powerplant found in my test vehicle and new for the 2001 model year (only the V-8 was available last year).
Not that the six-pack turns the X5 into a Blue Light Special. My tester was base-priced at $38,900, but a "premium package" (power sunroof, power front seats, wood interior trim, leather seats), a CD player and destination charges pushed the bottom line to $42,620. On the other hand, that's $11,515 less than the V-8-powered X5 I reviewed a year ago. (Somebody call Alan Greenspan. We may have discovered a new economic indicator: the recessionary BMW.)
Fuel mileage is rated at 15 mpg in city driving and 20 mpg on the highway for the manual-shift version. Add the automatic and that will drop a bit. Opt for the V-8 and you're down to 13/17 mpg. Premium fuel only, of course.
E-mail: max@desnews.com