> It still sounds tasty, Ken :-)
It has the tiny 3L inline engine and it's trying to move 4700 pounds.
Not a race car in that regard, but surprisingly, it never lost
gumption as it moved far into "six months on my bicycle" speed. It
proved to be faster than me. With the traction control turned off, it
howls the tires coming off the line and going into second gear.
Cornering? It actually did about as well as the A4 Quattro I had and
felt about the same with the active stability and traction controls.
Off road? It's not the Jeep, but did far better than most. I do note
the common comment that it seems to generate a lot more heat from
under the vehicle than I'm used to. But the Jeeps have everything
hanging out in the open more, while the bottom side of the X5 is quite
aero smooth.
There is a spot of rust to address and I'll want to do a little
underbody derusting and protection. It's certainly been driven on salt
covered winter roads. (another reason why it was affordable--it also
has the touchy accellorator pedal complaint).
The white enamal paint proved to save our bacon in one regard.
Insurance is within $1 of the same year, low-end Jeep. Yes, my JGC and
X5 are the same years, but on totally opposite ends of the options
spectrum. If the paint was anything but blah white, it would have been
quite a bit more. Oh, it also helps that the engine is the dinky one.
One thing BMW did well with it is the exhaust note. Dual exhaust on an
inline-6? The exhaust tips are huge, compared to the tiny little pipes
getting there. Regardless, when you get on the throttle, it has a
wonderful V8 sound and the tach has no problem sailing well into that
redline "zone". But the MPG indicator flatlines on "0" while you are
doing it. (must be a vacuum guage disguised as an analog MPG
indicator, as the NAV system will give a digital readout).
I haven't counted them all, but there must be close to 20 buttons or
controls on the steering wheel. I feel like an F1 driver.
One thing I'll say about the manual. It really is well written. It's
not insulting my intelligence like most manuals (especially those from
Japanese makes with the cutesy photos of children driving the car),
but is not without humor. There's a reference to the "Laws of Physics"
which definitely drew a chuckle and looked to be written by the cabin
crew from Southwest Airlines. It is easy to read, not over-simplified,
but written in such a way as to be quite complete without putting you
to sleep.
The interior is the best engineered interior I've ever come across.
Granted, this one has almost ALL of the options for that year, but it
takes it to a new level. It's the little things, like foot well
lights. Perfectly balanced tailgates. Easy access panels that fit
right. Seats that fit. Steering wheel that is in the right position,
etc. One thing that startled me and I had to look it up. When I put it
in reverse, the side mirrors move around giving you additional viewing
coverage, but also to alert you to look at the mirrors. For crying out
loud, even the steering wheel is heated! More stuff to go wrong, I'm
sure.
I know that Mercedes takes it to another level up from the BMW, but
the ones I've looked at sure aren't this good. Speaking of condition,
for 115k miles, the interior is in near perfect shape. One hairline
crack in the wood trim in the center console by the gear shift. Other
than that, not a scratch.
Won't be able to drive it for a week. :(
Man, I hope this thing is reliable. The Audi bled us dry.
--
Ken Norton
ken@xxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.zone-10.com
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