BMW seems to be riding out some of its current model lineups, giving them mildly warmed over refreshes to keep sales from declining as the brand transitions to electrification. The BMW X5, for example, is already a good looking car and needs little updating to stay attractive, so why spend big bucks on an LCI refresh when BMW could use that money to instead prepare a future version, which will also get an all-electric variant? So the BMW X5 you see in these spy photos only has very mild updates. (We don’t own the spy photos but they can be seen here)
As per usual with mild BMW LCIs, the 2023 X5 will get new headlights and new taillights and that’s about it for the exterior. That’s been par for the course with recent BMW LCI treatments, though, so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the X5 LCI looks basically the same as the car it replaces. However, that’s not to say it isn’t mildly improved. The headlights look slimmer, sportier, and a bit more modern than before. They’re also more in keeping with the rest of BMW’s new lineup.
As for the taillights, they seem to be similarly shaped but feature more 3D geometry, much like those found on the X3 LCI. That’s good to see, though, as the X3’s Halo sword-like taillights look cool now.
Where the BMW X5 will be updated quite a bit is inside. Replacing the dated iDrive 7 will be BMW’s new iDrive 8, which brings a lot of good, and some bad, to the X5’s already handsome cabin. As you probably already know, iDrive 8 is a more touchscreen-heavy infotainment system that replaces all of the physical climate controls with digital, screen-based ones. While most of iDrive 8 is excellent—its graphics and most of UI are great—the touch-based climate controls are awful. However, the new digital gauge screen is far better than before, which is nice.
The BMW X5 is already a great car, one of BMW’s all-around best cars, so making it slightly more modern and high-tech will only make it better (mostly), as BMW rides this generation out. The next-gen BMW X5 will still be based on the current CLAR platform but it will also get an electric version, the BMW iX5. So you can imagine that’s where BMW’s focus is, not updating this car.
[Source: Autoblog] [Top Image: instagram.com/wilcoblok]
