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How Does the 2014 BMW X5 Handle Busy City Streets?

A big question on everyone’s minds when the new X5 was announced was how will it handle busy cities? Let’s face it, the world is constantly changing and cities will become more and more crowded as time goes by.
2015 BMW X5 M50d Inside the City 17 photos
Photo: Original image by autoevolution
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Recent studies show that in around 2-3 years around 60% of the population will be concentrated inside or around cities thus making them even harder to deal with. In this context, if you’re an SUV enthusiast you can either say goodbye to the type of car you love or make sure you pick the right one.

Last week I had the chance to experience the brand new BMW F15 X5 inside a very busy city. With the holidays quickly coming up and everyone out shopping for one thing or another it was almost mandatory that I spent at least a couple of hours in traffic before all my chores were done.

Since that was the case, I though it would be a good idea to see just how good the new traffic assistance systems from BMW actually are. My car, an M50d that was priced at EUR110,000 (USD150,000) had only a couple of the features that BMW brags with related to the new iDrive and ConnectedDrive functions.

Amongst them I found the active cruise control with Stop&Go function really entertaining. If you’re using this kind of function for the first time, you’ll find it stressful but it is brilliant, nonetheless. What does it do? You set the preferred speed inside the city (that’s where the Speed Limit Info proved to be very useful, showing me exactly what speed I should do, depending on the street) and the car automatically brakes and starts off, keeping a safe distance from the car in front of you.

You can even set how big the gap between the car in front and your own should be. Starting this month, the Traffic Jam Assistant Plus function will even take over the steering, to keep you in lane.

Let me tell you, this function is the best optional feature you can get if you live in a big city. It’s so easy to use and allows you to relax in traffic, even enjoy the luxurious interior. That’s where I had the BMW Live and BMW Apps options to play with that allow you to browse the internet and listen to your favorite music with the new iDrive.

Another thing you should definitely get is the Navigation System Professional. In big cities around the world, the screen will even show you the buildings in 3D images, allowing you to get a better grip on your location. It’s extremely useful if you’re lost in a new city.

Overall, the new X5 handles a busy city with ease, as long as you get the features I listed above. The car is big, make no mistake about it but you won’t feel it as massive as you might think at first, mostly thanks to its technology.

Oh, and before I forget, parking it is very easy thanks to the Park Distance Control feature that comes as standard. Sure, you can get the Parking Assistant starting this month, but as long as you can parallel park a regular car, the PDC will be enough so you can save some money and get the Harman Kardon sound system that’s worth every penny and will make you experience even more enjoyable.

As for the fuel consumption, I talked about it already, you can go as low as 10.5 l/100 km (22 mpg) a rather impressive value for what the M50d offers in terms of performance.
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