The new BMW X5 4.8iS is a machine with a mission. Its predecessor, the 4.6, had the sport-ute performance crown pretty much to itself. But, now X5 has to live up to Porsche's new Cayenne Turbo and its kissing cousin, Touareg V10 TDI.
Cayenne will storm to 100km/h in 6.1 seconds on the Reef, race to a 15.6 quarter-mile at 170km/h, pull from 80 to 120km/h in 5.1 seconds and from 120 to 160 in 6.2. But, it costs one-and-a-half million bucks.
Touareg V10 runs a 7.2 second 0-100, a 15.4 second quarter at 149km/h, and pulls from 80 to 120 in 6.5 and from 120 to 160km/h in 9.7 seconds. It costs ten grand under R700K, and it has another major advantage as no matter how we tried, we couldn't get it to use much more than 14l/100km. The Cayenne proved difficult to keep under thirty.
So X5 4.8iS had lots to prove when the beautiful blue example arrived at our door.
The X5 carries the subtle, but significant, X5 facelift along with a new BMW M tweaked 4.8-litre version of Munich's ingenious Valvetronic V8 lump. It churns out 265kW at 6200rpm and a chunky 500Nm at 3600rpm, and is mated to a superbly interactive intelligent autobox and x-Drive AWD, which offers as positive an effect to on-road manners as it does off road.
The blue theme is carried on into the cabin, and once inside the differences between X5 and its rivals are obvious. Like its M siblings, iS melds driver with car — car and driver immediately feel like one in typical M-like tautness. Somehow BMW has made its little truck feel far more M5-like than if you were to compare Cayenne to 911 or the Touareg to GTI.
More:
http://motoring.iafrica.com/carsinaction/fast_impressions/354580.htm
Cayenne will storm to 100km/h in 6.1 seconds on the Reef, race to a 15.6 quarter-mile at 170km/h, pull from 80 to 120km/h in 5.1 seconds and from 120 to 160 in 6.2. But, it costs one-and-a-half million bucks.
Touareg V10 runs a 7.2 second 0-100, a 15.4 second quarter at 149km/h, and pulls from 80 to 120 in 6.5 and from 120 to 160km/h in 9.7 seconds. It costs ten grand under R700K, and it has another major advantage as no matter how we tried, we couldn't get it to use much more than 14l/100km. The Cayenne proved difficult to keep under thirty.
So X5 4.8iS had lots to prove when the beautiful blue example arrived at our door.
The X5 carries the subtle, but significant, X5 facelift along with a new BMW M tweaked 4.8-litre version of Munich's ingenious Valvetronic V8 lump. It churns out 265kW at 6200rpm and a chunky 500Nm at 3600rpm, and is mated to a superbly interactive intelligent autobox and x-Drive AWD, which offers as positive an effect to on-road manners as it does off road.
The blue theme is carried on into the cabin, and once inside the differences between X5 and its rivals are obvious. Like its M siblings, iS melds driver with car — car and driver immediately feel like one in typical M-like tautness. Somehow BMW has made its little truck feel far more M5-like than if you were to compare Cayenne to 911 or the Touareg to GTI.
More:
http://motoring.iafrica.com/carsinaction/fast_impressions/354580.htm
