Either way, BMW’s engineers have delivered, again, and managed to make all the X5s feel remarkably alike from behind the wheel. Sure, the steering might be slightly lighter in one, and we detected more road noise coming into the cabin in the iX5, but the differences were all fairly minute.
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Along the twistier roads on our test route we noticed the car leaning even so slightly through the corners, but the body movement is incredibly well controlled and feels natural, allowing the driver to get a sense of when they’re perhaps pushing the car too much. The steering was lighter than we expected, particularly in the petrol version, but even so it was direct, precise and consistent through the corners.
The car did fidget slightly on certain roads, but we assume this is a side-effect of the suspension being tuned with handling as a priority. It’s a price we’d happily pay, plus the fidgeting was nowhere near enough to be annoying or make the new X5 feel uncomfortable, especially because it also did an impressive job of absorbing the impacts from potholes – although these did send a thump into the cabin.
Rather amazingly, at no point in our drive covering all manner of roads have the car’s ADAS features nagged or bothered us, even when we headed off the beaten track. After dealing with aggravating lane-keep assistance and speed-limit warnings in a few cars recently, it’s reassuring to know that some companies can get this right.
We expect the new X5 will cost about the same as the current model, meaning a starting price of somewhere between £70,000 and £75,000 for the base petrol and diesel. The plug-in hybrid version is likely to cost closer to £80,000, and we suspect the electric iX5 will do, too. The first examples should be arriving in the UK by spring 2027.
All-in-all, while the new BMW X5 features plenty of innovations, it still feels immediately familiar from behind the wheel and, we think, exactly like a modern BMW should. But which one did I like best? The one engineers describe as the “hidden” of the range, which feels the most agile and pleasingly punchy and mechanical: the six-cylinder petrol-powered 40 xDrive.
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Model:BMW X5 50e xDrivePrice:£80,000 (est)Engine:3.0-litre 6cyl petrol PHEVPower/torque:483bhp/700NmTransmission:Eight-speed automatic, all-wheel drive0-62mph:5.0 secondsTop speed:150mphEconomy:TBCCO2:TBCEV range:63 milesOn sale:Late 2026
