2014 BMW X5 Review

There's clearly more refinement inside the X5, but the changes also have a negative consequence. You see, just like all Audis look the same on the outside, most BMW interior are hard to distinguish from each other these days. And with the X5, they’ve just added one more to the list.

Furthermore, the world has come to an end - there’s no other way of explaining how BMW’s door lock migrated from its holy dash center position under the hazard lights. Each front door now holds a lock/unlock button. However, this means that rear passengers can no longer spread to lock the doors if the driver goes out for shopping, for instance.

The place of the central lock button has been taken by an illuminated green button. Using one an iDrive menu, you can set up which active safety system this enables / disables upon being touched.

The key words here are Driving Assistant and Driving Assistant Plus. The first is a package including lane departure warning, as well as a system that detects pedestrians and cars in front of you. The latter can prompt the braking system, as well as apply moderate braking.

As for the Plus version, this mixes the aforementioned functions with the Active Cruise Control with Stop and Go. This can automatically slam the brakes, being able to bring the car to a standstill. This month, BMW introduced the Traffic Jam Assistant Plus, which can render the pedals obsolete in such traffic conditions. What's more, the feature also controls the steering to keep the car in its lane.

The driver is treated with a digital cluster, which uses a Head-Up Display as a sidekick. Once again, tall drivers may find the through-the-steering-wheel field of view a bit too short to include the full view of the instruments. Apart from this, the ergonomics are pretty much spot on.

The fit and finish are nice and smooth, but the BMW X5 still falls behind the Range Rover Sport and the Porsche Cayenne. Our M50d tested came with a pleasing Aluminum Hexagon trim, while the rest of the materials also set it apart. We were drawn to the Alcantara on the Sport Seats (standard on the M50d) in particular. This seems to make the seats softer altogether, so we thought about recommending it for families. Then we remembered how small children and Alcantara mix...