X5 Road Trip Report

[X5 Copa]

Hi Bimmerposters,

Just back from a road trip of approximately 2000 miles in my 2011 X5 50i with Dinan Stage II, and I thought I would post a trip report relating to the X5s performance. In a word: Outstanding!
I drove from Park City, Utah to Cambia, California, drove up and down the Central Coast and all over Paso Robles wine country, and then back to Park City again. I had this rig loaded to the gills, with my wife and 4-year old girl riding shotgun and passenger. Plus, we had heaps of gear in the rear, particularly on the return run, when we had added 20 bottles of fine wine. Practically had stuff poking out of the windows and roof! Heavy running.
One great thing: The X5 absolutely loved the cool, dense coastal air! Man the thing was rippin!! I do most of my driving at altitude, between 5,000 and 8,000 feet above sea level in ski country. And while she is certainly a performer in the high country, I was struggling a bit with a sluggish throttle and pulsating acceleration between 60 mph and 80 mph. At sea level, and unloaded, the X5 turned into a monster! No more pulsating acceleration. And as for the sluggish throttle, I was actually admonished by my girls due to the too-frequent whiplash effect, as I was in Sport/Manual Mode pretty much every time I wanted to accelerate. I have not been back in the high country long enough yet to gauge the throttle and pulsation issues at altitude, but I am wondering whether there is a direct correlation between those issues and the high altitude of home? Performance will certainly be affected at high altitude, but would the effects include my sluggish throttle and pulsating acceleration issues? One thing to consider is that this was originally a Florida car, and now it is at altitude. I would think that the X5 would self-adjust, but maybe not? Running lean?
Anyway, back to my report. Maybe most importantly, I have been spending time on this and similar Boards, learning about my X5. Thing is, much of what comes up on these Boards relates to problems being experienced with vehicles. That’s just the nature of these Boards, and reading all of this stuff had me a little anxious about even taking the X5 on such a road trip. Especially driving with my girls across so many miles through deserts in Utah, Nevada and California, and back again. I had only been driving locally before this trip, and I was almost expecting something to go wrong. But absolutely nothing went wrong. Nothing. Nada. This taught me to keep these Boards in perspective. Sure, no vehicle is perfect. And it may well prove to be the case that my Toyota 4Runner turns out to be far more reliable than the X5 in the end. But I do believe that it is easy to develop a skewed impression about vehicles by constantly reading these boards that are so naturally and understandably filled with problem-related posts. In the end, I now have a great deal more confidence in my X5 after such a stellar performance on this road trip.
Great fun!

[rennis]

It's a modern vehicle with decades of R&D behind most of the systems. Yeah, things break, but overall you should never have to worry about driving long distances in just about any newer car these days. You are right, message board "problems" make it seem otherwise.

Glad you enjoyed the trip. Looking forward to my first long road trip with my 50i here in a few weeks!

[lensman5]

I just finished a roadtrip with my 2011 X5 3.5 premium. Drove 3128 miles no issues at all thank God Florida to NY to Canada to Michigan to Tennessee to Fl. this is the second time I am doing this and no issues at all.

[CarGuy89]

Wow what a great read! Just closed a deal on a CPO'ed 08 4.8i today! I'm so excited to start putting some miles on her and reading these stories just makes me wish I had it right now (getting detailed before delivery Sat).

I really like your way of looking at things. Only the negatives really stick out and that's often over emphasized. Those who have a great experience will be a lot less likely to write anything versus those who have a bad one. Thanks again and I look forward to spending more time on this great fourm!

[XZeb]

Just driven recently in my 2013 M sport 30d from London to Dresden on the far Eastern side of Germany close to Polish and Czech borders and back - twice. Had a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The car was an absolute dream. Driving on the autobahns - especially the wide, flat and long roads in the Eastern half of Germany (built for the mad fuhrer back in the 30's for his war apparently) was a blast as well. With no speed limits you can cruise on 160 km per hour safely and comfortably and sometimes find yourself creeping up over 200kph. Even then you still get overtaken. Safe to do this on long stretches with no other cars around but better to be around 150 when there are others just in case someone jumps in your lane unexpectedly.

Having Bluetooth playing all my music from phone made it even better.

Looking forward to more road trips round Europe soon !

[P1]

Originally Posted by CarGuy89

Wow what a great read! Just closed a deal on a CPO'ed 08 4.8i today! I'm so excited to start putting some miles on her and reading these stories just makes me wish I had it right now (getting detailed before delivery Sat).

I really like your way of looking at things. Only the negatives really stick out and that's often over emphasized. Those who have a great experience will be a lot less likely to write anything versus those who have a bad one. Thanks again and I look forward to spending more time on this great fourm!

I am glad your '08 4.8i is a CPO because that model and year is notoriously the least reliable of the E70s...

[P1]

By the way, had one of my favorite trips in the '08 X5 two years when I drove all the way from Belgium to Tuscany. If you're interested, here are some pictures...

http://www.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=737872

[XZeb]

Nice pics. Car looked fantastic. Great locations as well.

[CarGuy89]

Originally Posted by P1et

I am glad your '08 4.8i is a CPO because that model and year is notoriously the least reliable of the E70s...

Yikes that's not what I want to hear I read up on all the problem areas, ie suspension noises, idrive problems, general electrical issues and this car had none of those symptoms. It rode really nice, no squeaks or rattles (prob b/c I don't have the rear shelf thing). Had the water pump and timing case cover just done, also had some suspension things replaced in the past so hopefully it will be good for the next few yrs. I plan on driving it for a good 4-5 yrs at least so let's hope they go by smoothly!

Great pics by the way, looks like a fantastic trip!