It has been a day since our last update and we have a lot of things to report. We’re just two hours away from Spartanburg, North Carolina to be more precised. We decided to stop by the Nantahala resort, a few thousand feet above the sea level.
The idea was to take the BMW X5 diesel through some windy roads and see how it handles itself. For those of you that have never been in this area – a first for us as well- then allow us to explain some of the surroundings.
Smoky Mountains are the perfect place to test the car, with many windy roads that are spread across 20 miles or more. We took the X5d through a 21 mile road that had about……60-70 corners, some of them more difficult than others.
We decided to push the SAV a little bit and we discovered that it handles as expected, corners quite well, very stable while cornering and outputs enough power even for a true enthusiast. The car has personality and the diesel engine performs up to BMW’s engine standards. We have to admit that we were a bit concern if we would enjoy the diesel engine better than the gasoline powerplant, but at this point, 1,000 miles into the trip and that feeling is gone.
The steering wheel feels considerably different from, let’s say, our 335i, but that’s normal ,we’re driving a Sports Activity Vehicle and not a sporty sedan. So we got used to it and enjoyed the softer, easier to maneuver steering.
Even my passengers are seeing now the advantage of a diesel engine and are strongly considering one in the future. It is always difficult to convince someone until you actually offer them a remarkable trip aboard an X5d.
Interior space is still our favorite, plenty for three-four people equipped with lots of gear and electronic equipment. Those of you that have a larger family, you should feel comfortable that you could have a pleasant ride in this X5 diesel.
Tonight we’re heading down to Spartanburg and tomorrow we will have more updates for you, including a special experience there. In the mean time, we will shoot more video and show you how the car handled itself on those beautiful curvy roads.
