2018 is the year of the SUV for BMW, and the X5 is their crowning achievement. An all-new generation of the 4x4 that started it all will debut next month, and the official teaser video they released is enough to get us excited.
We've seen more than our fair share of Nurburgring videos, and the X5 has always been a great on-road Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV). However, it's supposedly much better once the asphalt runs out.
To highlight this, BMW fitted the X5 with the optional new Offroad Package and... sent it flying. The test cycle for this bad boy included the Arctic Circle, Sweden, South Africa and America's deserts.
While the amazing footage in combination with some epic music is supposed to impress us, most of the testing didn't involve driving the X5 to within an inch of its life. And it's not like we haven't had our fill of prototypes in the dirt, what with the G-Class, Rolls-Royce Cullinan and Lamborghini Urus all coming out this year.
Performance is also part of the appeal of a BMW, even if it's a high-rider. That's why the new X5 went to the BMW Group’s testing grounds in Miramas in the South of France, on the high-speed circuit in Talladega in the US and, of course, the Nurburgring.
There, engineers focused on the new Adaptive M Suspension Professional and the Integral Active Steering, which is also being offered for the first time in an SUV, but is also going to be fitted to the X7 and 8 Series soon.
You're going to want that in combination with the M50i powertrain, which will give you over 450 horsepower from a 4.4-liter V8 engine and torque vectoring. A new M50d with a quad-turbo 3-liter has also been confirmed.
The base engine in America will continue to be the sDrive40i/xDrive40i with a rating of 335-hp, while the Europeans will get to enjoy their diesel for a little while longer.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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