Round the world in an X5

[intrepidtoo]

A five year old X5 3.0li may not be the first car which springs to mind when contemplating driving from Sydney to the UK but 52,000km and 100 world heritage sites later it certainly proved to be the right one.

With only two punctures, both late at night 200km north of the arctic circle and a service by the world's most obliging BMW dealer in Islamabad it conveyed us in comfort and style through the deserts of Australia and jungles of Malaysia, across the Himalayas (four times), to the Potala Palace in Tibet, the Taj Mahal in India, up the Karakoram highway to almost the chinese boarder, safely through the Swat Valley in Pakistan and on around Turkey, through the Balkans and eventually up to North Cape and out to the Lofoten Islands in Norway.

Undoubtedly the only Australian registered car to make it through the alleyways of Kathmandu and Vientiane, up to Sikkim and Darjeeling, around Rajasthan, Albania and across to Sardinia, over the Alps via the Stelvio Pass (tame with only 39 hairpins compared with the roads of Hindu Kush), up the Trollstegen in Norway and around the Scottish highlands it never broke down, failed to start or complained about the 85 octane petrol it was fed in Asia.

It's now back in Sydney having a well earned rest contemplating the road from Anchorage to Tierra del Fuego. Maybe this time BMW might be interested in providing some along the way.

For more information on the journey go to intrepidtoo@blogspot.com

[bf900]

Awesome and encouraging...I'm considering driving from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Vancouver, Canada in an X5 35d ....

[AlexGP]

AMAZING!!!!!!

[NeoChaser]

Prob one of the coolest threads on the forum. Thanks for sharing!

[huxtea2]

Sounds like an amazing trip. Thanks so much for sharing.

[cb4]

Wow! I'd love to do that someday.

[Wilesy]

I so enjoyed the pictures, glad you had a safe return to Oz.

[pmeloche]

Outstanding.