The 2024 BMW X5 xDrive50e Is A Plug-In Hybrid SUV That Is The Best Of Both Worlds
When it comes to plug-in hybrid luxury SUVs the BMW X5 has long been one of the best compromises when you can’t decide between going fully electric or sticking with a good old internal combustion engine now a couple years ago I had a chance to test out the x5x drive 45e
Which essentially offered around 30 Mi of range and offered around 390 horsepower I was impressed with that model but for 2024 BMW is giving the X5 a pretty significant refresh and what I’m standing by here is the biggest change in the lineup for 2024 this is
The X5 extra 550e and what BMW has essentially done is they’ve enlarged the battery pack given us nearly an extra 100 horsepower and increased the all electric range to nearly 40 miles today we’re actually out here in sparenberg South Carolina for the annual BMW test Fest event and the big question I went
Answered has BMW managed to make enough changes to the plug-in hybrid version of the X5 to keep this model one of the best in the segment stay tuned to find Out now before we start talking about the exterior styling changes for the X5 for 2024 let me go ahead and pop the hood and show you guys what’s powering this thing because like I said earlier the plug-in hybrid is a unique option for the X5 and for 2024 BMW gave this model
Some pretty big changes under the hood now underneath the hood you’re going to find unlike some competitors an inline 6 turbocharged engine as the gas equivalent other competitors tend to use a 4-cylinder not BMW this is the company’s lovely b58 which is a twin power single turbo 3 l inline 6 with
Direct injection delivering 308 horsepower on its own and 331 lbet of torque now it’s augmented by an electric motor that sandwiched between the engine and the 8-speed automatic the electric motor has been beefed up to produce 194 horsepower its own this year and around 280 PB feet of torque that’s an increase
Of 83 horsepower on the electric side versus the previous generation and BMW says when you add the two outputs together you get a combined figure of 483 horsepower and 516 lb feet of torque that is a pretty significant jump of 94 4 horsepower and 73 pound feet of torque
Over the prior generation BMW like I said earlier has an 8-speed automatic putting that power down with the company standard X drive all-wheel drive system it’s a mechanical all-wheel drive system with a physical connection between the engine and the rear drive shaft now it has a larger battery pack this year 25.7
Kwatt hours which is up from 17 of the previous generation which means this model is now able to go up to 39 mil on a full charge it’s up from 30 or 31 on the previous generation again the company also claims with that increase in power 0 times have dropped to 4.8
Seconds uh which is better versus the 5.6 in the previous generation has a top speed of around 130 mph and this model will still tow up to 7200 lb with towing package which is among the best in the segment and as it sits this vehicle is among the heaviest x5s uh the plug-in
Hybrid weighs in at just over 5,500 lb but let’s go ahead and close up this Hood which this particular one that I’m showing you here is in a beautiful color combination this is called uh Brooklyn gray metallic with the Silverstone sens ofin interior you can see it’s got the
The M sport package which is typically an extra 3,000 bucks if you guys want the M sport package the new front fascia of the X5 is instantly noticeable you can see the twin kidney grills have been uh changed a little bit you have kind of like this satin black finish with the M
Sport package the BMW logo gets the blue outline to kind of show that this is a hybrid and then down here you can see the front end I don’t know if I particularly like this extra black portion here below the twin kidney girls I think this would have looked better if
BMW had just kind of made this portion here body color then kept the black uh kind of straight down from the kidneys as opposed to making it go to the side but let me know in the comments section below what you guys think the headlights you can see have a new LED light
Signature you can see those are the sequential style turn signals LEDs with LED day1 running lights LED lone high beams down here no fog lights but you can see some functional air intakes uh and the front splitter you can see there’s your sensor for the adaptive
Cruise control and then you get a front camera system uh overall I think this car is still very attractive unlike some other BMWs which just have a very controversial look I love the fact that the X5 has a traditional hand handsome conservative uh design that I think will
Age extremely well now this car continues to be built on the cluster architecture and it’s a heavy refresh not a full redesign so the dimensions are pretty much the same the wheelbase is 117.1 in Long overall length is just over 194 in Long the plug-in hybrid
Essentially is the same size as all the other models I really like however these wheels these are the optional 21in wheels for like an extra 800 bucks uh that’s available with the M sport package you can see it’s riding on a 275x 40 r21 plli uh run flat uh
Allseason style Tire you can see the wheels themselves I love the kind of y-spoke design with the graphite gray finish to them with a two-spoke look you can also see the red M sport brakes that’s technically an option you can also get a blue colored caliper uh where
I believe it’s either a six or a four piston those are large 15 and 1/2 in rotors my tester here also has uh an Adaptive air suspension uh which can lower the vehicle up to 3 in you can see there’s a little badge here on the
Fender that shows that this is uh a plug-in hybrid and then the charge port door is located here on the driver’s side you can see this car still uses the j1772 plug BMW will adapt the NAC Tesla plug by 2025 it has a 7.4 KW onboard
Charger expect this to take around 3 and 1 half hours to charge on a level two which is pretty class competitive you can see the mirrors uh they’re body colored with some gloss black you have a power folding function cameras and then you have a um or u u black blackout
Portion there at the bottom with a turn signal indicators you can see the window trim has been blacked out I love the blacked out roof rails with the big Panic Sky View Lounge roof which has LED lighting in it you can see this color combination with the black accents looks
Really good Brooklyn gray is one of my favorite colors and it’s only a reasonable $ 600ish do extra if you guys want that and then looking at the rear you can see the tail lights also have been redesigned where you kind of have a sequential design element to the turn
Signal part you can see it has kind of like this x shape in the tail light design the blue accented BMW badge here is also carried over along with the Xtra i50 e bads this is your really the only way you’re going to tell from the rear
That this is a plug-in hybrid model I like the fact that BMW still includes a dual Outlet exhaust system at the back uh with these nice little rectangular finishers it just overall gives This SUV a powerful imposing and premium look to it now the sprit split tailgate that BMW
Uh X5 owners uh love is still apparent here you can see when you open this up this is a great design if you have stuff back here if you’re worried about flying out uh there’s a separate portion here where if you push that that will lower
The tailgate uh portion here and you can see cargo capacity is pretty much the same although it drops a little bit you have around 31 uh cubic feet of total storage space here with the second row up there is no more third row available on the refreshed X5 you can see
Underneath here uh there is a little bit of underfloor storage where you can find the mobile charger for the vehicle here which is nice uh remember this has no spare tire it has run flats and then fold down the second row seats that expands the cargo to a little over 71
Cubic feet that’s a reduction of about 2 to 3 cubic feet versus a gas only X5 but I think that’s a worthy exchange for the extra power and the electric only range that you get with this model so let’s go ahead and talk about the interior of the
2024 BMW X5 before we get inside let me show you guys the key fob you can see this is the newest fob that BMW has uh with an intell intelligent access key you can see it has your lock button here for the BMW logo if you push that three
Times in sequence it’ll activate the remote start you have your unlock power lift gate and panic function you can also use your phone as a key as well uh for those of you who actually own the vehicle you can see as I approach the door handle traditional door handle here
There’s a little area where I can touch that that locks the door for you the vehicle also has an auto walkway lock and unlock feature if you have that turned on touch the back of the door handle there it’ll unlock the door for you now my test car here with the
Brooklyn gray uh exterior it does have a really nice color combination this is the Silverstone sensin so this is technically a faux leather material it’s a leatherette but as you can see the leather feels really or the fake leather feels really high quality and plush I
Love the kind of quilting that they have on it the contrasting stitching these seats are also heated and ventilated and they adjust I believe in like 18 different ways you can get a massaging seats which my tester is missing for an extra thousand bucks but you can see
Here the light gray exterior with the gray interior is a great color combination I wish however BMW would offer their their red interior on the X5 sadly you can’t get the red at least not on the non-m versions of the car now looking at the door panel here you can
See it’s got this lovely uh stitched leather here with real uh stitching leather again here where you rest your elbows uh window controls feel pretty high quality they’re one touch for all floor you have power folding mirrors you have two person memory seats here only on the driver side you have aluminum
Accents for the door handles and then down down here you can see it’s also a soft touch injection molded plastic the M sport package also includes the pedals love the M badging that you find on the sill as well that’s a really great touch now getting inside the vehicle with
Around 8 and 1/2 in or 8.7 in of ground clearance you can see this has a really nice easy step in head as I get in and shut the door the door has a nice solid sounding thunk this is built on the cluster architecture if I just wanted to
Click the door it has a soft close feature that’s included when you guys go for the executive package now uh with the executive package as well you also get some nice upgrades like the glass controls which as you can see the start stop button is covered in a glass
Control or glass cover uh and if I push that button you can hear the vehicle starts right up it doesn’t have a traditional starter noise because uh this is a plug-in hybrid so it just kind of wors to life and it says ready uh in the instrument panel which again tells
You it’s ready to drive but the biggest change that you’re going to see obviously with the dash is the new iDrive 8 infotainment system so compared to the pre-re fresh model which had iDrive 7 which had two 12-in displays now we have a massive 12.3 in display in
The instram panel and a even bigger 14.9 in display here for the center stack that includes Wireless Apple carplay and Android auto this technically not the newest iDrive 8.5 which has the streaming services and like video games built into this the dash but this is still a great system it’s a big upgrade
This screen when you measure them together is nearly 28 in across so again uh a really impressive looking system for Tech and then you also get a heads up display on the dash here you have more of that genuine leather coming across the dash this really nice dark
Finish wood although it has a glossy finish there’s this new kind of LED lighting here that shows the X5 badge I’ll have to wait until I get one back home for a week to show you guys the ambient lighting at night and you can see the dashboard vents have been
Redesigned where you have this kind of joystick like controller to control the air flow you can also close it by twisting it there it looks really cool uh and it also looks a lot more modern I love the kind of uh finishes that they’re using here for some of the trim
Now you can see there is still a volume knob here but you have touch sensitive buttons BMW has removed a lot of the buttons hard buttons and put them in the screen so you can see going to the climate function it’s actually in the screen now uh going to your heated and
Seat cooled seat controls there now on the screen that takes a little bit of getting used to but once you get used to it it’s perfectly fine there’s the embedded GPS we’re over here at the BMW performance center you can see it’s pretty qu quick and snappy and
Responsive uh put the vehicle to reverse my tester has the parking assistance package so you have a full top down 360 camera parking sensor you have the backup assistance uh and you have some of the best resolution and Graphics that you’re going to find in the industry by
The way this little Crystal um toggle is what controls the 8-speed automatic there’s a sport mode here push P to go into park you can hear the engine actually woke up when I put it into sport mode which it actually has a pretty nice sound so keep that in mind other
Competitors use a four-cylinder this uses a twin or turbocharged straight six now over here you can see is’s your drive mode selector I can cycle it between uh a sport mode uh or you can also go to a sport individual there’s also a comfort a comfort mode if I go
Back to hybrid mode that goes into like your normal mode and then there’s a full electric mode if you guys want to put this vehicle into an electric mode where you want to use up all the range first um it says electric not available due to system the engine is running right now
So it’s not going to shut off the engine you have an electronic parking brake here your air suspension togg is here where you can raise and lower the vehicle I love the glass controls covering the iDrive controller here which again allows you to uh not use the
Touchcreen if you prefer not to use the touchcreen I imagine most of you are going to use the touchcreen anyways because it’s within easy reach uh this is this system here is really easy to use and I love the graphics and I love how Snappy it is you can see over here
Padded center console where I open it up up you can see USB charging port here another usba over here uh the glove compartment you can see is damped and lined with felt it’s not a bin style but it’s very very deep uh the seats like I said earlier are comfortable able and
Supportive even though this isn’t real leather you don’t really need to go and upgrade for the full leather I think this is a great option as well you have like a woven material for the headliner and then you can see the panoramic Sky View roof which this has beautiful LED
Lighting at night I’ll have to wait until I get one back home for a week to show you guys what that looks like it also has a power retractable shade you can also open this up which is great to let in some fresh air the steering wheel
I forgot to mention also has a leather wrapped airbag cover it feels really good in your hands it’s got the M badging it’s got paddles on the wheel it’s got a Power Tilt telescoping feature uh which is nice along with your usual buttons this car does have their
Highway driving assistance where it will do active Lane changes and allow you to go handsfree on the highway um which again works really well but overall you can see the interior looks and feels really high quality it feels spacious and roomy it has most of the tech that
You want and it also gives you that premium feel that you expect from a vehicle with a BMW badge but let’s go ahead and hop into the back seat area because the back seat of the X5 is also extremely uh usable uh for families especially let me
Go ahead and unlock the door for me uh opening up the door you can see the door itself could open up a little bit larger to accommodate for car seats but what you’re looking at here is a bench there’s no Captain stairs there’s no third row seat uh you’re getting around
372 in of I’m sorry 37 in of leg room the plug-in hybrid does reduce the leg room back here by about a half an inch compared to the gas only version the seats themselves they do fold down obviously to kind of expand the cargo but they don’t actually recline I was
Kind of sad to see that these seats don’t recline but once I get back here you can see this is where essentially I’d have the seat to drive there’s a pretty good amount of legro space as I shut the door you can see you have same stitching here that’s reel on the upper
Portion same thing here you can see there’s some of the ambient lighting down here it’s also soft touch injection molded plastic you have these manual rear window sun shades which is great and then with 37 in of leg room you can see this is not the biggest back seat in
The segment some competitors offer like two or three more inches of leg room but this is still very usable you have quad Zone climate control back here so each seat has their own climate you have heated rear seats but no cooled rear seats you have rear seat air vents which
Is nice you have USBS two two USB C’s and a power outlet here and then you have another USB here these are essentially mount points for an aftermarket or a dealer installed infotainment system back here uh and you can see fold this down you have an armrest with integrated cup holders and
A little bit of storage here so as a family vehicle if you only need to carry you know two full-sized adults the X5 is still one of the bests in the business uh although some competitors do offer some more rear seat leg room so here we are finally behind the wheel of the
Refreshed 20124 BMW X5 the plug-in hybrid model I’ve been anxiously waiting to drive the plug-in hybrid version of this car because I really love the compromise that you basically or The Best of Both Worlds that you basically get with this model Now with an extra 100 horsepower let’s go ahead and see
What we can get 0 to 60 wise we have it in Sport Plus it almost has a full charge we’ll brake torque it wow this thing is fast all right we got 4.7 seconds 0 to 60 wise which is interesting because that time is pretty much the same almost
The same as what I got 2 years ago in an X Drive 45 5e so I’m going to eventually get one back home to test for a week uh where I can hopefully do a range test hopefully do a a 0 to 60 test an updated
0 to 60 test but I have to say the sound of this powertrain is fabulous I love the fact that BMW pairs this up with an electric or with an inline 6 turbo engine as opposed to some competitors which use a raspy 4cylinder which just doesn’t sound good this
Inline six delivers around 308 horsepower on its own which is fantastic uh but again I think for the majority people you’re going to just enjoy the electric only portion but put my foot down here it just without brake torquing it this thing feels so quick the 8-speed
Auto also is really smooth okay I got a better time there without brake torquing it but that is slightly more downhill we got 0 60 in 4.45 seconds 4.5 seconds which BMW claims 4.8 seconds for this model which is again plenty fast I think for the majority of people you know I
Just tested the X5 m60i yesterday which has the 4.4 L V8 that did it in around 4. 2 seconds which is right on with what BMW says again these are this is all very brief first drive so I’ll have to wait until I get one for a full week to
Test it out but overall the sound of this engine the feel the smoothness the transition that you get I mean the fact that I’m driving around a plug-in hybrid it doesn’t feel like a plug-in hybrid it feels like I’m driving a traditional gas car because the transition between EV and gas is so
Seamless the 8-speed ZF automatic is very smooth as well it just puts the engine in the me of the power band and it also sounds damn good I love BMW used turbo in line 6 it’s one of the best internal combustion engines ever that you’re going to find it’s just because
Of how balanced it is just an incredibly torque Rich engine that loves to rev that makes a really good sound and It just fits the character of this X5 almost perfectly but uh let’s go ahead and switch the drive mode here I’m going to actually put it into the electric
Mode so let’s get it out of the let’s get it out of sport we’ll put it into the balance setting here uh and we’ll actually switch over here putting into the electric mode I have to CCH I have to pull the transmission out of sport mode there
Because that actually puts it in EV mode so in this mode here uh we’re essentially driving around in in pure electric power the electric motor aspect only delivers around 194 horsepower on its own which is actually an 83 horsepower bump versus the prior generation the 2023 model so this is
Still pretty pretty good power and you can see here in this mode it actually you can feel the shifting from the 8-speed Auto it’s a weird sensation but because it is kind of sandwiched together with that 8-speed Auto you’re going to feel shifting but it’s also creating like a fake sound
It’s not quite the Han Zimmerman iconic sounds that you hear from other fully electric BMWs but it certainly feels or it it adds to the drama of the uh entire driving you know experience of this car I think most customers are going to just drive it in this mode because you want
To use this car in pure EV mode that’s that’s where you’re essentially going to get the savings by going with this um by driving it as a pure EV you don’t have to go to a gas station or whatnot and uh at a full tank or on a full charge this
Car was showing around 39 miles right on the dot of range now again I’m going to have to wait until I get one back home for a week to test to see what we actually can get in the real world for real world testing but I think for most
People this range figure is going to be pretty impressive I think that for the majority of consumers 39 mil is going to be enough range to kind of get you around on your daily commute uh to get you you know where you need to go let’s
Go ahead and try the 0 to 60 time here in just pure EV mode now there’s a click point at the end of the accelerator pedal I don’t want to go past that because it will wake the gas engine on so I’m all the way to the floor without going past that
Click point but I just got 8.6 seconds there in pure EV mode now that is with it going downhill slightly uh versus um earlier when I did the test when I was going slightly uphill but this is still not bad 8.6 I’ll try it again up ahead
There and see if we can get a more accurate time without going slightly downhill but I have to say it feels pretty quick off the line it has that instantaneous electric motor surge that you expect from a vehicle like this uh and let’s try it here again one more
Time this is more level here it’s weird cuz I hear a sound like an engine revving but it’s not an engine it’s just the electric motor the electric motor sounds the authentic electric motor sounds okay there we go 0 to 60 in 9 seconds there so that’s
Actually pretty good on the EV side that pretty much matches what you’re going to find in other competitive plug-in hybrid EVS like the Lexus rx450h uh that should also do that in a similar time although the Lexus is not as fast as this car when you have it in
The gas and hybrid mode the hybrid mode is going to deliver a 0 to 60 time that’s almost a second and a half quicker versus the Lexus but again you don’t typically buy a vehicle like this for you know drag racing whatnot but I’m pretty impressed in the EV only side
Nearly 200 horsepower is enough for most people to kind of do your daily commuting drive this vehicle around town it even still has enough power on the highway to get up to highway speeds which is very impressive so Bravo BMW you essentially just made the X Drive
40e 45e even better I mean obviously that was the whole point an extra 94 horsepower an extra 9 M of range is going to do that the rest of the driving characteristics of this car smooth ride sporty handling quiet really quiet interior really comfortable seats although I wish I had the massaging seat
Feature uh but overall I’m just I’m really impressed visibility is also good I’m going to have to wait until I get one back home again for a week where I can test out the driver assistance Tech and this truck really needs to stay in their own lane but overall um visibility
Is excellent out of this car it is literally the ultimate daily driver and that’s probably the reason why BMW sells so many x5s is because they really do you know blur that line they are the best of both worlds where you need a premium luxury SUV you don’t need the
Bulkiness of an X7 but you want something a little bit more comfortable a little bit smoother versus an X3 this model here this powertrain I’m really hoping BMW kind of uh plug in hybrids all the things with this engine because for me this engine is probably around
The Benchmark although I haven’t had a chance to sample the GLE uh 450e the plugin hybrid Mercedes Audi does not do a plug-in hybrid version of the Q8 at this time but overall super impressed this car really does feel like the best engine combination in the X5 and that’s
Saying something considering the fact that I got out of the V8 powered model uh just yesterday so after spending some time with the fully updated plug-in hybrid version of the BMW X5 I have to say I really loved the xDrive 45e when I tested it a couple of years ago I love
The fact that BMW gave it enough electric only range but also gave it enough performance to make this vehicle fun so after driving the more powerful version I have to say they’ve essentially taken the old model and made it better because now we have nearly 10 more miles of electrical range the extra
100 horsepower has significantly improved the performance uh I think this model here is probably the sweet spot if you guys are considering like the X5 m60i with the twin turbo V8 you should probably put this one at the top of your list because the two cars while this one
Is a little bit slower is still ridiculously fast and the fact that you get around almost 40 M Electric only range makes this car kind of the best of both Both Worlds if you’re apprehensive about going fully electric this is again going to split the difference because
It’ll do around 450 miles of total range when you factor in the EV and the gas only portion I love the updates that BMW has made to the interior iDrive 8 is one of the best Infamous systems in the business once you get used to the fact
That there are lack of buttons you have to kind of go into the screen that’s something that I imagine oders are going to get used to I Love The Ride quality of this vehicle the driving Dynamics it’s still one of the sportiest driving cars and even though it’s not the most
Flashiest looking SUV I think this design is very cohesive it’s going to age well and I much pref for this versus the Audi and Mercedes And even Volvo equivalent so for those of you who are looking for the ultimate midsize luxury SUV with a plug you should definitely
Put this one at the very top of your list the downside is this new all this new technology is going to increase the price tag because the new X5 starts at around $65,000 around 67 with xDrive all-wheel drive the plug-in hybrid version is going to start much higher at
Around 72,500 that’s plus a 9.95 destination charge now because the X5 is built in sparenberg South Carolina this is built in North America it’s assembled in North North America technically this model does qualify for the $7,500 federal tax credit uh because the fact that it is built in North America
However remember there is a cap on the pricing at around $80,000 so this model here with all the options that it has like the premium package the M sport professional package the driver assistance package the M sport package again the shadow line package the upgraded Wheels uh this model here comes
In at around 87,7 45 so it’s around $88,000 too expensive over the $8,000 price cap but if that doesn’t matter to you A lot of people also lease these vehicles if you do lease the car it will go around that kind of uh price cap at $80,000 and you
Should still be able to qualify for the $7500 tax credit but really if you guys are looking for an X5 and you’re wanting to kind of dip your toes into electric space but you want something that’s the best of both worlds I can confidently say that you should definitely put the
New plug-in hybrid version of the X5 at the top of your list but with all that said hope you guys have enjoyed my full overview on the brand new 2024 BMW x5x drive 50e if you’re also looking to see latest cars I’m testing be sure to follow me on Instagram at Redline _
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When you can’t decide between a fully electric or gas powered vehicle, the plug-in hybrid is often the best compromise for most drivers and for 2024, BMW is making that choice easier with the latest version of the #BMWX5 with a upgraded #X5xDrive50e powertrain as the sweet spot in the lineup. The #BMWX5xDrive50e pairs a turbo I-6 gas engine with a powerful electric motor and a nearly 30 kWh battery pack to make nearly 500 HP and go almost 40 miles on a full charge. This latest #X5 also benefits from updated styling and the latest version of BMW’s excellent iDrive 8 infotainment system.
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