Space as luxury is a long-lived concept. Kings of yor lived in palaces, not cottages, and the kings of now flaunt space with 100,000-square-foot mansions and 100-meter yachts. Automakers like Cadillac are keen on this concept, positioning their largest SUVs as their most luxurious offerings. But has BMW adopted this concept and made their X5 a flagship-worthy vehicle? I aimed to find out.
Available to me today are the 2018 X5 and the 2018 750i, respectively the largest SUV and car sold by BMW in North America. I have just 30 minutes with each vehicle, but that should be enough time to sort out the pecking order.
My first drive is the X5. The X5 is larger in every way—except length—than the 7-series, making it dimensionally a good fit for the new money tastes seen in Beverly Hills and Bel Air. Stand on the street corner in that part of the Wild West, and a ceaseless parade of Escalades, G Wagons and Range Rovers will pass you by. Who can blame them? If your city’s twelve-lane highways were clogged from dawn to dusk like Los Angeles’s, you too would want a vast leather throne, isolation from the world outside and elbow room for decompressing. Should there be more X5s in the parade?
From the driver’s seat in the X5, I find ample room to spread my wings wide. Backseat passengers can get comfortable, too, assuming the driver and front passenger are courteous with their seat positioning. (This X5 is a 5 seater, not the optional 7 seater.) The doors’ notably low window sills increase the light in the cabin and accentuate the feeling of riding high. I feel like I’m king of the road, and from behind the roundel-blazoned steering wheel, full-sized cars appear small. While the panoramic sunroof increases the cabin’s airiness, it is one glass ceiling that men will hit before women. (Tall men like me will wonder why there isn’t more headroom.)
The materials and build quality in the X5 are all excellent. I take a moment to enjoy the soft leather on the seats and armrests; thank goodness BMW put their good hides in the X5. The dash design is nicely uncluttered, classic and restrained. It’s less flashy and angular than the updated dashboard from the new X3, but I prefer the X5’s simplicity.
I start the engine and get underway. Being an X5 xDrive50i, the SUV packs a 4.4l turbo V8 underhood. It produces 445 hp and 480 lb-ft of torque, which is more than enough power to make the X5 sprint. Put the V8 to work, and its throaty burble quickly turns to bellow; forced induction has not silenced the beast. Gearheads will approve; Sierra Club members may not.
BMW’s M division has not put their greasy hands on the X5 xDrive50i, and frankly, that is a good thing when the pursuit is luxury and relaxation. The X5’s ride is plush, its steering is light, and its brakes, while ample, won’t snap my neck if I am hamfooted. There is significant body roll when I lean the SUV into the corners, but that is the compromise inherent in a soft suspension. The X5 would be a quiet place to cruise, too, if I could just keep from stamping on the gas with my right foot. This vehicle would do just great on a two-hour 20-mile slog across Los Angeles at rush hour.
I park the X5 and move into the 750i. As soon as I open the 750i’s door, I realize the luxury competition between the X5 and 750i only existed in my head. The diamond-quilted seats have braided leather accents, the interior design is more flowing, the materials are richer and more varied, and the in-car technology is a generation newer. Without a doubt, every new technology developed by BMW is tried in the 7-series first.
The new technology is loaded with many tricks. Hand gestures waved in front of the navigation screen can dismiss phone calls or turn up the stereo’s volume. Adaptive cruise control with lane following capabilities takes some of the stress out of highway driving. Touch-panel buttons have replaced the “outdated” physical buttons of the X5. Normally, this button replacement would be a reason for distress, but in the 750i, the touch-panel buttons are scalloped so that my finger knows where one button stops and the next begins. When I press the virtual button for the ventilated seats, a hidden color screen lights up behind the panel, and an animation of wafting blue air visually indicates that my high-priced behind will soon be cooled and perfumed. (The 7-series ambient air system offers a selection of different scents.)
I’ve driven the 750i before and know it’s fast, refined and surprisingly well controlled through the bends. But I haven’t spent much time in the car’s best seat, the rear-right seat, the one meant for the chauffeured executive. Controls in the rear-right allow you to adjust all features of the air conditioning and entertainment systems, extend the privacy shades, turn on the in-seat massagers, fold the front-passenger seat forward and recline the rear seat. A footrest drops down from the front seatback, too, should you want to put your feet up on the way home.
It sounds supreme, but jamming all of these accommodations into a stretched sedan comes with compromises. The rear headroom in the 7-series is tight for the taller gentleman, and if 6’ 2” tall me reclines and stretches out, the crown of my head bumps the rear window shade. Although the flip-out tray table, personal entertainment screen, and footrest recall business-class air travel, the 7-series is a generation behind the air industry in not offering lie-flat seating. (Is that forbidden by highway regulations?)
It’s hard to enjoy the luxuries when my speed-crazed chauffeur is behind the wheel. The 750i uses the same turbo V8 as the X5, but the car is much quicker—and quieter—than the SUV. The 750i doubles speed limits in seconds and maintains legally reckless speeds through sweeping corners. From the rear seat, the car seems to lift and bound over bumps, but the control and directional stability appear good.
After 10 minutes in the Teutonic centrifuge, I am ready to put my feet back on solid ground. Having been in both vehicles, there is no doubting that the 750i is the flagship of the BMW lineup. From a German perspective, I see why the autobahn-slaying sedan deserves to keep the crown; time is precious too. For the rest of the world, I remain convinced that BMW should lavish the X5 with its full catalog of fittings and fineries. The X5’s extra room and ride height are a foundation on which a palace for the road can be constructed. When your commute is limited to 15 mph rather than 150 mph, you’d rather stretch out in the X5.
Mike's Steering Column 