2014 BMW X5 Review

The X5 M50d offers plenty of grip and you can play with the balance using the throttle. However, you’ll never quite convince the car to oversteer properly. This is a safe, stable drive, but we can’t talk about a sporty experience, not even in the SUV context.

We’re going to stretch things out a bit and talk about a recent drive in an Audi Allroad BiTDI with the optional Sport rear diff. Setting the differential to its Sport mode allowed you to perform slight power oversteer, without having to throw the car into a bend in order to get it to slide. Yes, there’s a weight and size difference between the two, but we wouldn’t have expected such a big gap in terms of handling.

Despite all this, BMW stayed straight and true when it came to its core business: making engines. The tri-turbo M57S is as sharp as ever. The peak torque of 546 lb-ft (740 Nm) arrives between 2,000 and 3,000 rpm, while the 381 HP come from 4,000 to 4,400 rpm.

Using leather coming from Bavaria, BMW whipped its engineers until they managed to cut 0.1s off the 0 to 62 mph sprint time, so the M50d now needs 5.3s for the job, while efficiency was boosted by 11 percent. During our drive, the car averaged 17 mpg (14 l/100 km). Lean on the throttle heavily and the tri-turbo sips fuel like a petrol unit. However, this is the kind of engine that fully rewards you if you're nice to the pedal.

As for the real world feel of the aforementioned acceleration figure, this comes in a rather unexpected way. The three turbines make sure the power delivery is more than linear, also making turbo lag obsolete.

The tri-turbo three-liter unit doesn’t seem to have heard about diesel engines' reciprocating mass issues - it likes to be revved and feels very good past 5,000 rpm. In a bit of a fantasy interpretation, you could say this feels a tad like a naturally-aspirated petrol engine, but with a shortened rev range.

There's also a properly mean soundtrack, albeit generated via the car's speakers. Notice the “engine voice” difference between the “Comfort” and the “Sport” modes and you'll understand.