BMW X5 review

Driving position

The BMW X5 is one of the biggest SUVs you can buy in the UK – it’s not far off the even bigger BMW X7, which has seven seats.

Unsurprisingly, this is how it feels from behind the wheel, which is ideal in traffic, where you can easily see over and around many other cars.

However, the X5 never feels unwieldly in tighter spaces because it feels like you’re sat within a normal car, rather than riding on top of an old-school 4x4.

The seating area is wide, so there’ll be no fighting over the heated armrests (yes, you heard that correctly), and there’s endless adjustment in the front seat.

In our highly popular M Sport test model, some of the extra electronic adjustments beyond the usual included side bolsters, headrest height, thigh support extension and even the curvature of the backrest.

Our car also had air suspension with a choice of five ride heights – normal, slightly lower and slightly higher at driving speeds, a higher setting at low speeds for mild off-roading and a lower setting to make getting in and out easier.

There’s actually a noticeable difference between the three ride heights you can use in everyday driving, with the lowest giving the X5 more of an estate-like drive and the highest giving you a superior, commanding position.

Tech and features

BMW X5 trim levels

– xLine

– M Sport

– M Sport Pro

Despite its hi-tech makeover compared with the previous-generation X5, the interior is still a really inviting place that’s easy to navigate.

As standard, you get a large 14.9-inch infotainment screen and a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, but because they’re housed behind a single panel of glass, it looks pretty slick.

The ‘iDrive’ infotainment system has long been praised for being easy to use – this latest version is more like a smartphone than many other cars, with an app-based system making it fairly easy to find what you need.

Like others, it’s operated by a touchscreen, but BMW has retained the rotary controller on the centre console if you prefer to navigate the old-school way. We know we do – it feels far easier than prodding away endlessly when you’re driving.

Another highlight of the X5, although we didn’t get to test it, is the inclusion BMW Digital Key Plus, which lets you use your phone to unlock and start the car – like a Tesla. In the day and age of mobile wallets, we love this.

Although you get everything you need included on all trims, BMW makes it costly to add many desirable extras. Our test car was fitted with a grand total of £17,955 in options alone.

The Technology Plus Pack (£4,000) adds a self-parking assistant, a head-up display and the upgraded Harman/Kardon sound system.

An even more expensive Comfort Plus Pack (£4,300) is well worth it if you do a lot of driving, adding ventilated front seats, heated front and rear seats, heated and cooled cupholders up front, front seat massaging and plenty of other bits and bobs.

The third-most expensive extra added was the Sky Lounge Panoramic Glass Sunroof (£2,650), which subtly lights up at night together with the rest of the car’s interior ambient lighting.

You can buy some of the upgrades alone, but many are bundled into expensive packages.

And while spending nigh on £18,000 probably isn't what most buyers will be doing, you could easily spend half of this without realising. This isn’t unique to BMW, though. At this luxury end of the car market, spending close to six figures on a high-spec SUV is more common than you think, so buying used makes a lot of sense to let another buyer absorb depreciation in the car’s early years.

Engines and power

BMW X5 performance stats

– Power: 298hp, 352hp, 489hp and 530hp

– 0-62mph: 4.3 to 6.1 seconds

– Top speed: 145mph to 155mph

– Driven wheels: Four-wheel drive

With this generation of BMW X5, all petrol and diesel engines now feature mild hybrid technology to improve efficiency, particularly around town in stop-start traffic conditions.

Your choices include a 298hp 3.0-litre diesel (30d), an upgraded 352hp version of that engine (40d) and a 530hp 4.4-litre V8 (M60i).

The car we rode in was the only plug-in hybrid (PHEV) option, the 489hp, 3.0-litre 50e.

It makes a lot of sense in today’s economy, and it’s still a good pick against the diesels.

With a 0-62mph time of 4.8 seconds, you get to match performance with decent fuel economy. It’s only slightly slower than the M60i (4.3 seconds) – but even the slowest diesel does the sprint in 6.1 seconds.

Handling and ride comfort

How your X5 rides depends partly on the trim level, but all models come with xDrive four-wheel drive to put the power down effectively in all conditions.

M Sport models get slightly upgraded adaptive suspension, and M Sport Pro adds active roll stabilisation and rear-wheel steering.

We had this Pro upgrade, and the rear-wheel steering makes a big difference to turning circles even if it does feel a bit weird at first. Trust us when we say it makes life in multi-storey car parks a breeze.

Air suspension is also a standard bit of kit on the 50e plug-in hybrid, but you’ll have to pay to add it elsewhere.

For a large SUV, it’s still pretty sporty in country lanes, but it’s far too heavy, wide and tall to keep up with something like a BMW M3 if you’re serious about performance.

Another big factor that influences ride comfort is wheel size. Alloy wheel sizes start at 19 inches on xLine models and 20 inches on the M Sport or M Sport Pro.

They go all the way up to 22 inches, which are the ones we had fitted to our test car. By increasing the wheel’s diameter, you leave less room for ride-cushioning rubber, so the ride becomes more firm.

At 22 inches, we found this to be true over potholes. We’d suggest settling for 20 inches, or 21 if you must, because they’ll improve comfort and still look great.

Boot space

BMW X5 boot space

– Boot space: 500-650 litres

– Incl. Rear seats folded: 1,720-1,870 litres

For smaller cars, boot volume matters because it’s the difference between fitting the family’s suitcases in or not. At this end of the market, you’ll never be short on space.

There is still a pretty stark difference between the boot size of the plug-in hybrid and the regular models, because you get no real usable space under the boot floor to leave room for the batteries.

Like most of its other models, BMW fitted the X5 with 40:20:40 split-folding rear seats – in other words, all three go down separately. This is ideal for carrying two adults in comfort and still being able to carry something long in the boot, through the middle seat.

The split tailgate sounds like a good idea in practice, and it is sometimes, because it stops items from falling out, creates a nice flat loading area when folded down, and can even double as a bench.

But when it’s down, it’s hard to reach into the deepest depths of your boot.

It deploys electrically via a button, separately from the upper section of the boot, but it’ll close together with the upper section once you’re done filling the space.

Try not to compare the X5 with other large SUVs like the Audi Q7 (780 litres) or Volvo XC90 (708 litres), because these are bigger and best compared to the seven-seat BMW X7.

Compared with the Range Rover Sport (647 litres) and Mercedes GLE (630 litres), the X5 is pretty much bang-on where it should be.

Rear seats

The X5 is the perfect car if you need to carry five in comfort – the rear middle seat is still narrower than the outer two, but you can fit three adults side-by-side.

The floor is pretty spacious and flat, and headroom is excellent because of its upright stance.

30d models can be optioned with a third row of seats, but we’d leave this option out because they’re best-suited to smaller children. If you need a real seven-seater, consider the larger X7 which is longer and has a taller roofline at the back.

Storage solutions

At the end of the wide centre console beneath the dash is a sliding lid that reveals two cupholders and a wireless phone charger.

In our model, we had the optional heated and cooled cupholders, which are a very welcome bonus.

There’s a USB-A port there, and two USB-C ports under the split-opening central armrest.

In the back, the central armrest opens up to reveal an extra storage space and two more cupholders. There’s also a cubby to stow away phones in the centre console, beneath the rear passengers’ climate controls.

It’s also worth praising the deep door bins, which serve as extra storage and have bottle-shaped cutouts.

BMW X5 dimensions

– Height: 1,765mm

– Width: 2,218mm (incl. wing mirrors)

– Length: 4,935mm

– Kerbweight: Up to 2,495kg

Towing

One of the many reasons a driver might want to buy an X5 is to tow. The petrol- and diesel-powered models are rated to tow the UK maximum of 3,500kg, but the plug-in hybrid is rated to a lower (but still sufficient) 2,700kg.

Towbar download (sometimes known as towbar nose weight) is rated at 140kg, so you should be fine to tow some pretty heavy trailers, caravans and boats.

The roof is also rated to support up to 100kg – perfect for roof boxes or tent boxes.

Off-roading

Although most drivers are unlikely to go green-laning in their X5, it’s well up to the task of muddy fields or pulling a boat up a slipway.

Besides the optional air suspension that raises the height by up to 40mm, there’s also an optional off-road package with extra programmed modes for snow, sand, gravel and rocks.

Safety

Some of the upgrades that BMW gave the X5 over its predecessor are better active cruise control, lane change warning and a system to detect and prevent collisions at crossroads.

If you opt for the Parking Assistant Pro package, you can even park the X5 via a smartphone app.

The fourth-generation X5 was awarded a full five-star safety rating when it was introduced in 2018, but this facelifted model from 2023 hasn’t been tested separately. We have no reason to doubt its safety credentials, though.

Fuel economy

Diesel models might be the cheapest to buy, but with a maximum rating of 39.2mpg and a realistic expectation of 30-35mpg, we’d probably suggest going for the plug-in hybrid.

It costs more to buy, but the large battery with a realistic range of 50-55 electric-only miles means you can go about most of your driving on the cheap.

We did a 300-mile round trip with a flat hybrid battery and got around 33mpg, because the system is still able to turn off the engine and recharge the battery when you’re slowing down or easing off the throttle.

This figure quickly rose to 45mpg after another 100-150 miles of driving once the hybrid system had been charged.

The V8-powered M60i will do 23.7mpg on paper, but you’ll probably struggle to get near 20 with real-world driving.

Like-for-like, the X5 PHEV gives you more electric range than the Audi Q7 TFSI e and Volvo XC90 T8, but it’s beat by the Mercedes GLE 350 de, Mercedes GLE 400 e, Range Rover Sport P460e and Range Rover Sport P550e.

Reliability

The X5 uses familiar underpinnings and mechanical parts, including mild hybrid and plug-in hybrid systems based on BMW's fifth-gen eDrive platform.

This means it’s the same battery tech as you get in the i4 i5, i7 and iX, which are all known to have strong electric-only ranges and battery longevity.

The My BMW app also lets you monitor your car's health and conduct basic diagnostics, reducing the need for costly trips to the garage.