Are you surprised that his BMW X5 is now twenty five years old
Ok, we didn’t make a spelling error. The BMW X5 is NOT a ‘SUV’ as dictated by all other car manufacturers since the SUV was invented by the JEEP brand five decades ago. It was the Jeep Cherokee that gave birth to the SUV name and today it is very very very loosely used by every car manufacturer to get SUV buyers to buy their slightly raised car based vehicles.
Meanwhile, the SAV name was invented by BMW marketers back in 1999 and instead they called it a ‘SAV’ which means ‘Sports Activity Vehicle’. Shown for the first time at the 1999 New York International Motor Show, it was clear that BMW wanted North Americans to love this all new SAV.
The reason for this ‘slight’ designation change was because BMW engineers had decided to deliver the X5 with more ride and drive excitement instead of it being a ‘utility’ vehicle.
So, the BMW X5 was first marketed as a luxury SUV. It was launched globally by BMW in early 2000 right after its late 1999 unveiling. It is based on the E39 5 Series and features all wheel drive and a line of straight-6 and V8 engines. European and also ASEAN buyers got a torque filled 3.0L turbo diesel engine.
The history of the X5 begins in the late 1990s, when Chris Bangle drew the first sketches from his ‘Designworks Studio’ in California. In many ways, the current car closely resembles these initial sketches.
BMW engineers (the company had ownership of this legendary car manufacturer) were able to look and use Range Rover technology and parts in the development of the X5-one such example would be hill descent control.
In many respects the X5 was also influenced design wise by its British counterpart; in this case the X5 got the two-piece tailgate straight from the Range Rover. Many parts and electronics were also taken directly from the E39 5 series parts bin to save costs.
In contrast to the Range Rover models, however, the X5 was designed as a sporting car. BMW reportedly worked hard to ensure it was referred to as an SAV (Sports Activity Vehicle) instead of an SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle).
Even though the X5 was a four-wheel drive vehicle, BMW chose from the start to route 60 percent of the engine’s torque to the rear wheels, making it feel as close as possible to the company’s rear-wheel drive sedans.
By the way, today, a used BMW X5 is priced between RM8,000 for a ‘work in progress’ unit or up to RM20,000 for a buy, drive and enjoy unit. Take our word when we say, it is better, far better to buy a RM20k buy, enjoy and drive unit as parts and restoration can cost easily more than 15k for the below average unit. Happy 25th birthday X5!
