... or is it the drivers that are just tools ?

Ok I generalise, but combine a stereotype top model 3 / 5 series driver with an off roader and talk about aggressive.

Is there a superiority button you press in one of those things or is it fully automatic ?

It happens as soon as you wake up in the morning thinking "I fancy a tank with a BMW badge on it"
Horrible, horrible cars.
astraboy.

The last one was a 4.4 planted 10 feet from my back bumper on the motorway.

- You know the story, traffic clears, down to 4th and the gap widens to 100 metres before more traffic. This happened 3 times and he still didn't get the message - so I guess he feels safer almost touching the car in front ?

I had enough by then and was stupidly tempted to putting some 'serious distance' in between us. Fortunately I then braked, moved over and waved. He stared straight ahead.

Genuinely thinking of getting one of these, for just that reason. My new experience of driving in Portugal leads me to conclude that ALL Portuguese signal "get out of my way" by driving horrifically close at high speed. And they have the accident stats to prove it. Forget Britain, here it is linked with total recklessness plus Latin machismo. In an X5 I could join the club, and I can get one for a lot cheaper than list price.

What I want is motorised sharpened angle iron, with red-painted tips, to come out of the back of the car at head height when I press a button.

(Did the maths last night, looks like it'll be a RAV4 instead...)

Just give the brakes a short sharp hit not long enough to be dangerous but hard enough to cause the X5 driver to react, the X5 can brake well for a 4 by 4 but it wieghs loads and dives under hard braking. This makes any heavy braking in an X5 an unpleasant experience and most drivers will learn thier lesson.

What utter bo11ocks, I get this behavour from drivers of Vectras, Primeras, and other repmobiles much more than BMWs.

Is there an envy thing going on here ?

Corpulent

Not utter b*llox but utter fact around my neck of the woods.
Envy is the absolute last thing on my mind. Getter rammed by a 2 tonne off-roader is.

X5 owners are cnuts in my experience- you'd have to be to buy the thiong in the first place lets face it. The car looks arrogant and aggressive so it attracts buyers with those personality traits.

[Edited by sebastian - 10/29/2002 8:18:06 PM]

Not a fan either.

What can you do in an X5 that you can't do in, say, a Zafira or something like that?

Apart from say "look at my BMW badge, i'm more important than you".

Drive across a muddy field ?

just wait for the porsche barge 4X4 to come out !! on a motorway near you soon.lol

S55, like X5's really DO get driven across muddy fields. :rolleyes:

C'mon, serious reasons only....

as a general rule I not a great fan bimmers, but I did have the plesure of taking a 4.6? off roading at bmw corporate day, which I can honestly say I was impressed, very quick considering the size of the thing. The driving instructor also seemed very impressed with it and in his words "its idiot proof"

Slinky, proving the point exactly.

Not a serious driving machine (let alone an ultimate one), but a status symbol.

Yeah I find I get all irrationally steamed up [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] when I see one, and why oh why oh why do they all have X5... registrations when :rolleyes:

Just wait until they all ditch their x5's and get the new Porsche soft roader.....you wont even be able to leave them behind! 450 BHP Twin turbo V8, top end and midrange acceleration = a lot more than most scoobs :(

And before anyone mentions the 'twisties' forget that as well cause they'll just drive through the fields rather than round them on the road :p ;) :p


[Edited by Nat21 - 10/29/2002 10:18:39 PM]

writes out a prescription for X% envy for most of you...lol

http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/smilie/tung2.gif OK TelBoy - not an X5, but my wife gets the same abuse on the school run.........

Imagine a hill start in the wet with a full load and front wheel drive...... in fact imagine a long uphill stretch of motorway with a small engine......

http://upload.turbosport.co.uk/getpi...2539954097.JPG

[Edited by S55 HOT - 10/29/2002 10:35:46 PM]

Ultimate 'get out of way tool'?

Some of the big Yank 4x4's are as intimidating as hell, but I think the biscuit has to go to a Merc M-Class near me. Its the Brabus MV12 (7.3 V12 - 500+bhp) - jet black, black windows, earthquake inducing engine note (through 4 fist sized exhaust pipes) and the reg S4TAN :D

i had a bit of a set to with a toyota land cruiser on the a303 the other day... seems to be abother car to attract the w*nkers. Some guy was going all the way up the right hand lane literally pushing all the cars out the way, or driving so close that they were intimidated into moving. He then proceeded to jump a 1/4 mile que where the 2 lanes merged into one by driving accross the chevrons.

I caught him up eventually when an undertaking manouver he made didnt work and i then proceeded to avoid letting him jump the next que. Of course when i did pass him would he look at me... oh no, just stare straight ahead. The ironic thing is that despite his driving like a prick... he had 3 young kids in the car! What a knob. I did feel the pangs of roadrage for a long while afterwards.... its pri*ks like that that cause horrendous accidents, and others that suffer.

So not just x5's!!! :P

It's the X5 that's the hooligan I reckon - I was out on a test drive in a 4.4 and it's a beast of a car. Amazing power from say 0-40 e.g. pulling onto a roundabout from stationary not much will touch it.
Feels about as fast as a 530 or maybe a 535 after that.
If I hadn't been in one I'd think it was the usual bad handling wobbly 4x4, but it really is the ultimate big jeep thingy, if you subscribe to the arms race theory of 4x4's, it's great weapon.
Only did 12mpg tho :eek:

I promise anyone on here that 30 mins in an X5 4.6is will leave you wanting one, I did.

Honestly boys the 4.6is is an absolute belting car!, not cheap no but it is simply awesome, only the new Range Rover comes close in my books. But these are status symbols.

Tom/Jack,
You'll get no sympathy on here for a non biased approach......:(. never let a balanced approach get in the way of slagging of BMW's and their drivers. I just wonder if the BMW BBS site has as many crashes and speeding points collecting on it as we get here. ;)

Regards
Cammy