New 2013 BMW X5 review, test drive

Climb into the driver’s seat and you can instantly sense the step up in quality. The dashboard is well made and looks rich with its variety of materials and textures, and despite the buttons being a bit too small and fiddly, they still have a nice, tactile feel. The best bit is the intuitive touch pad on top of the iDrive controller. It allows you to access your phone book with just a scribble of your finger (it can read quite well), in addition to the conventional scroll/push function. 

The seats are really supportive with good side bolstering and though you are not sat too high off the ground, all-round visibility is quite good. The rear seats, while not overly generous in size, have good cushioning all round and, on long drives, are very comfortable. The rear seats split 40:20:20 and, for India, you can opt for the 5+3 configuration, which makes the X5 a much desired eight-seater. The split tailgate is carried over from before, with the top-half being electrically operated. 

Lots of small bits and bobs add up to give the new X5 an interior that is more plush than before but it’s not that much of an improvement to put it ahead of, say, a Porsche Cayenne. 

For the launch drive, the new BMW X5 was offered with two engines – the xDrive50i, which gets the petrol 4.4-litre V8 that produces 442bhp and the xDrive30d, which is powered by the familiar 3.0-litre straight-six diesel that puts out 254bhp.