This dates back a while, but since there isn’t a lot of test drives out there yet, it deserves attention.Back in April, 2014, certain members of the media were invited to BMW North America’s headquarters in Woodfliff Lake, New Jersey. The vehicle driven was a European test vehicle, and not legal for U.S. roads, so the test was limited to BMW’s test track.According to BMW, the x5 eDrive is designed to bridge the BMW i sub-brand with the rest of the vehicle family. Fittingly, the only hint that this test vehicle is electric is the ‘i’ brand blue highlights it has on the front and rear bumpers.Just for fun: During the test drive, BMW stated the x5 plug-in hybrid would be a production vehicle, around 1-2 years off. Now that it’s 2015 and the x5 xDrive40e is due this year, we know BMW was telling the truth!
2016
I test drove a fully optioned model xDrive40e at the local dealership…. and made me now question what packages I’ve order for my X5.
The Driver Assistance Plus ($1700 add-on) was really cool, it would tell me if there were pedestrians, warn me of close vehicles, and even display the local speed limit (which I think it scanned from the signs?)
I also loved the ‘surround view’ which gave a top-down view of the vehicle and surroundings for parking in tight spaces…