The mid-90s was a seminal time for BMW. They’d returned to Formula 1 in 1998 with Williams, and with their help they would win the 1999 24 hours of Le Mans. They’d purchased both Rover and Land Rover to turn BMW into a large volume car manufacturer. The new MINI and Rover 75 would revitalise that company, or so they thought, and the Freelander and new Range Rover would take Land Rover to the next level.
But the BMW brand wasn’t going to be left out. The X5 would be BMW’s first entry into the 4x4 SUV category. So how did customers react to one of the first unibody SUVs, and what’s happened in the last 20 years to get us to today’s ginormously kidney grilled X5?
Link to Frank Stephenson's video: • How I Designed...The B...
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1st gen X5 still looks the best in my opinion.
😆
Agree 100%. So did the 5 series that it was based on
That was the best era for bmw
@@thebulgarianguy8461 e32 36?? You guys
i like the 2012 model
Frank Stephenson is a great car designer, there’s a lot of thought in everything he has done. He explains the design process of the X5 (and other interesting cars also) on his KZhead channel, very interesting stuff. Despite all the success he has had, he comes across as a very down to earth guy. 👍
Exactly, Frank Stephenson is a very detailed individual, the x5 e53 is one of my favorite BMW. I just bought one last week all-black, from the interior to the exterior everything matched well designed with sharp edges side hips leather curved and well balanced on the road up to this day the e53 don’t get old, great design.
My parents got an E53 3.0 (and with LPG from Prinz!) for a quite long time and it was a good car... until dad was deciding what to do about repairs - The power steering has broken and it was “no biggie”, mom still could handle it because she got a enough strength for parking or turning from intersections thanks to chopping wood occasionally. It was fixed after 3 years - The gears on the back differential cracked and they have to be welded because we couldn’t find that part anywhere in whole Poland (because apparently nobody sane import a Petrol BMW here, get diesel or get out) - the radiator fan has broken and dad had to choose: New part for 400zł/approx 80 pounds and car will be ready in the week or wait for the used for 200zł/approx 40 pounds. Guess who’s waited 6 weeks for a part? - Computer constantly got errors because battery was pretty old and run down often. It was big, bulky and it was under wheel/lpg tank cover so charging it was a breeze (of sweat). Guess who’s brought the used battery and got an encore year later - The LPG installation was Dutch so we have to use the converter (that afterwards could act as Wunderbaum Fresh Gas Leakage”) - there were dvds on the headrests. Never used because it was a mess to get them working - there was a tv too but there was analogue switchover so also unusable - there was gps but ui wasn’t polish (and maps weren’t full coverage) Basically it was a lovely car (or Cheslea tractor) if you don’t get stingy on repairs.
Lepsze paliwo gatunkowo
Never understood the claims about BMW reliability, very fault prone expensive rubbish....
M S maintenance maintenance maintenance
@@M.S-Music well depends on how you take care of it, most of the owner is either ignorant or hypocrisy expecting to be dead reliable like toyota hilux which is impossible Owning a german car is like marrying a supermodel or celebrity, you can't threat her like a peasant and it was worth every effort when you bang her and when you threat her right she will be loyal and reliable to you
@@udontknoathing7243 Maintenance does not help when some parts of the cars are badly designed and engineered, not going to list all the faults here... BMW fans just can stand the fact that the brand is by no means very reliable.
BMW X5 4.8is will forever remain the greatest X5 EVER!! Those quad pipes sounded so beautifully👌🏿
Cracked me up with the squeezy cheezy chocolate skit!
With so many quality documentaries on this channel, I am shocked you haven't even broke the 100k subscriber mark.
Working on it!
Same problem as always: KZhead pushes daily videos, preferably even multiple a day. The more they post, the faster a channel grows. Guess its obvious that that isn't possible with such quality content.
@@LachskoenigIV no because youtube is greedy they push the bigger youtubers we need to advertise Big Car at this point
@@BigCar2 you do an excellent job thanks !
Today (5.10.24) he has, good on him😂😂😂😂
A car made for our time: looks like something it’s not, marketed to royalty but purchased by yobs, can be driven by both the pimp, the escort and the client.
Hahahha you nailed it
Adrian Turcu lol haaaaaa. Brilliant
Well said
The S Class is sort of similar as far as marketing vs who actually buys it
Perfectly spoken!
Squeezy Cheesey Chocolate. M'mmmmm!
Yeah - if I released a video on the BMW X5, containing basically all of this with a few words changed, he would quite rightly be a very pissed off content creator. I'm not sure why it's ok to do it to Paul Whitehouse.
The first gen X5 is one of my absolute favourite BMWs and this video was so interesting! Another beautifully presented and thoroughly researched video exploring the evolution of a key vehicle within the brand's history - your channel is such a gold mine for automotive info, you seriously deserve more subscribers
bmw’s grills have there own postcode
*their. It's not difficult.
Mark Fox i’m not really bothered tbh
Mark Fox the need correct grammar via KZhead comment section reflects more poorly on you than the one who made the grammar faux-pas . Just for future reference .
@@randymarsh5088 - *the need TO correct.
@@randymarsh5088 - and it was spelling not grammar I corrected.
Love the look of the 2nd generation for both the X5 and the X3. The ones that came afterwards became too large with no interior space gain and they also destroyed the dashboard look.
Wonderful video as always, very interested despite absolutely HATING SUVs and crossovers.
Here here!!
Okay, I never understood anyone who hates SUVs. What do you have against a vehicle that is roomy, more safe, and more capable than a mere car?
@@jlcii Because they actually aren't more roomy (atleast all the "SUV Coupes" we get nowadays, also most small/mid-size SUVs are based on a regular car and therefore having very similar dimensions) and aren't safer (more likely to roll over or tip over when hit in the front corners, higher window line makes it more difficult to see children and other smaller objects like curbs and poles). And how are SUVs more capable than regular cars? They usually have a higher coefficent of drag, which results in more windnoise and fuel consumption, they are heavier (reducing fuel efficiency even further and adding additional wear to most parts) and to make an SUV reasonably sporty manufacturers have to throw in big engine with massive amounts of power. If you really need so much trunk space, just get a Transit or a regular wagon/estate for less money...
@@jlcii Because most of them aren't any safer, nor anymore roomy. If you want a car that can do that, you'd just buy a Renault Espace.
@@jlcii More roomy - not really, in height maybe, but length and width no Safer - not really, harder to avoid accidents, worse braking, worse acceleration, prone to rolling over. More capable? In what? Burning more fuel? In being ugly? A kombi(or estate/wagon whatever you wanna call it) is better in every possible way. And the lifted ones (Allroad, Alltrack, XC70/V90 CC, Scout) have more ground clearamce than most suvs.
As someone who has an x5 since 2003 this is one of the best and most interesting videos I've seen on this channel
It was surprisingly hard to find information on this on the Interweb. I had to revert to a physical book! From a library! How 20th century is that?!?
Big Car 😂 oh god! But boy was it worth it
Big Car I really do believe the x5 is one of the worlds best SUVs our First one which was an e53 did 200k + miles in the nearly ten years we had it with no breakdowns
@Brian Bickle tbh not that bad our original one ran from 2003 to 2011 and the only main problem was a blown turbo, fuel economy was 36mpg normally so all in all rly good
Interesting? Gtfo It’s a 5 series.... On stilts.... That used gadgets to trick you from realizing it is crap.
I would love a 7 series video. My dad had the E23. In love with them ever since x
WOW !!! Clear as crystal. Great work sir keep it up 👍
Great video! I appreciate you making this. I have a Bright red F26 myself, But I have always loved the X5!
Genuinely waiting for a video to come out
The best thing about the BMW X5, is this amazing Big Car video. Brilliant film about a gauche car, that has everything including an Oscar Widle quote!
The ultimate "Get out of my way, I drive a BMW" BMW
So cool and educative!Thanks Big Car!
I ordered a 2002 BMW X5 3.0 with a manual. It was my first luxury vehicles and I loved it. It handled like a 5-series and with the manual is was so much fun to drive. It was very reliable. I lived in Boston when I owned this and the AWD system was not the best, I got stuck in the snow twice. More aggressive tires would have helped but it was a road going car. I still have tons of pics of my X5 and loved this vehicle.
Informative thank you!
Just come across this channel and I’m liking its content.
Being in a family who’ve owned all generations one thing that strikes me is how much the fit and finish and interior have improved from the first gen to the fourth.
I really enjoy your simple, yet brilliant videos. I've watched %90 of em. :)) With love ftom Kurdistan (Iran).
Thank you. I always love watching your videos.
Glad you like them!
I once saw an X5 completely fail at driving out a slightly icy car park on an unnoticeable gradient. It was funny as hell. They couldn’t even push it out. No problem at all for my mums 04 Clio 😂
tires means a lot for car, maybe it was on summer tires
Tires play a big role
Subscribed! Awesome doco. Cheers!
Very informative video!
love your channel brotha
Great video, and the X5 is a great car/SUV/SAV!
First time when i see a complete and long video about BMW. This channel have something good to ofer!
He has even more to offer.
Fun fact: at BMW, Rover would soon be known as "The English Patient".
😂😂😂
Where’s the “fun” in what you said?
Oh how odd we run four Range Rovers with only one warranty claim in 3 years, yet two of our 3 series company cars have suffered broken timing chains resulting in engine replacement, X3 be it 2009 models has electrical gremlins that were never resolved, and M4 caught fire on M40....
Lol
@@alanwayte432 If Cars were Vacuum Cleaners.....the Range Rover was a Henry the BMW was a Dyson...all hype and Show..but cannot age Gracefully.
Just stumbled on these videos. Really enjoying them.
Glad you like them Willy!
WOW! Really nice video. So many interesting things!
Thanks!
I have recently purchased X5 e 53 and can say I absolutely love it , I think the e53 model is such a good looking suv and the road handling is lovely on it , it looks so rugged and ready for business with all creature comforts ,, I love mine with the panoramic roof , great for feeding the animals in safari park 😂😂😂😂👍❤️🇬🇧
Great video again! I know you can never be complete, but there was also the BMW 325x 4wd. Not trying to be a smart ass, but just as extra info:)
Great series generally btw. Watched this just for fun to see, as it was the X5, if anybody remembered one of BMW's press adverts prior to this car which boasted about the handling of their cars in general. The strapline was 'We've never made an off-road car'.
Great vid big car when your done when the next car stories you have lined up would you minde dowing one for the e classe
starting with 123 maybe? :)
@@igninis yeah shure every gen would be good to like W211 w212 the older ones
Awesome video as always. Would love to see either The Dacia or the Yugo story?
I'm sure I'll get to them. Thanks for the suggestions Tom!
You make great & informative vids that I enjoy, so have subscribed. Do these bmw's come with indicators as standard or are they an optional extra like all the others? All the best.................
They're fitted, they're just not connected up. That's extra.
This is the last time I'm commenting on his videos because I always say the same thing. "Great video as always"!!
Thanks! I'll take it as read that you've said it in future videos.
Great video 👍🏻
Thanks 👍
Great review 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thank you Mario!
Timely, I’m in the market for a used BMW X series vehicle. Informative and well presented, thanks
Just get a Touring
Get a 6 cylinder nothing more nothing less. M54, N55 and B58 are reliable and excellent choice.
I love the 2010 X6M, which I own. It’s fun and flips the bird to the world, saying it is impractical yet smoking fast and Off-road capable.
Great video and your quality is outstanding , keep on going mate!
Thanks, will do!
Just seen a 21' x5 this morning on my way to work and it's freaking massive. Definitely miss seeing the first gens everywhere. First gens in my opinion we're the best looking on the outside. Would love to own a 5 series but I can't afford it...
Anything new is trash. Old is gold.
The current X3 is bigger than the original X5. It's also really good. I own a M-performance variant of the X3 and I really like it. Not perfect but a superb package overall, and doesn't have the giant grille
Another great video! Thank you. Any plans to do the Citroen Xsara?
Yes - but probably the BX first when I get to a Citroën.
I’d like a video on the Mini story (in all its incarnations)
Thx for the subtitles.👍
You’re welcome!
finally a video about a brand you don't like but much appreciated by me, thank you so much :)
Yeah, BMW's aren't my thing, but I wanted to find out the story and that's the interesting part to me.
My parents bought one new in 2000, we drove it all around Poland and even to Berlin Germany, good times.
loved the squeezy cheesy peas parody :D I used to quote that sketch and drive my folks mad with it.
I loved the Fast Show, and that mock ad!
great clip for the "ultimate X driving machine"! D/A/G
This was great, I love how they took the best bits from Land Rover and married it with BMW expertise.
Like the price & unreliability once at 100k
Sitting up higher makes people feel safer. Physics is not intuitive for many people.
LiamE69 'tis why I lowered my seat. ;)
Definitely not safer for pedestrians. I'd rather be hit by an opel corsa than swalowed into an X7's grill
@@juanordonezgalban2278 the point is to make the driver and passengers feel safer, not people around them who couldn’t afford a luxury SUV/CUV.
Especially the "uPPer" class
It's been amazing be able to see everything and know what's happening since I went from a Camry to a 4Runner. So I do feel a lot safer tbh.
I seriously love the X5. my dad has an E53 , or the 1st gen X5, and it's just stupid how it feels so much like the 5 series to drive. the automatic too is just beautiful for its age and the engines have good noise. it is just way beyond nicer than all of its competitors that I've driven, all from the same era. it's no wonder this model did so well. AWD worked well for when it's slippery and with street tires you won't obviously go mudding but all the traction issues of real life driving became non-problems. I started looking to buy my own one of these but ended up leaving the idea as they still retain their value quite well unless they are oil leaking heaps of scrap, which half of them are by now
another brilliant episode!
Thanks Philip!
Squeezy cheezy chocolate seems like a better idea than the whole BMW X range (specially the coupe SAV ones), I mean you can fill the potholes those heavy street barges make. I'm glad the great videos have some goofiness back!
I own a first gen X5. Obviously living in Europe it’s a 3 liter diesel. One major problem with the non facelift model, only on Diesel engine, it’s the GM 5 speed auto gearbox, that usually fails, due to weak components that tend to break when you don’t even expect. Great thing, for the model produced between 2004 and 2007 they upgraded the transmission with a stronger ZF 6 speed auto. Btw, great vid
I never thought I'd get over the X7's grille. But time (and the ridiculous sized grille on the new 4-Series) has softened me towards it. It actually looks ok now.
Great video! I am happily surprised on seeing a video on the X5 history, as I am on my second one.
Love the journalism in this video. Could you do a Mercedes Benz ML or GLE story. Thanks
Thanks. Maybe in the future. BMW’s and Mercs aren’t really my thing, so this was a bit of an experiment.
Big Car no worries 😉 I understand.
I enjoyed watching the Video. The X5 Is still a hugely popular SUV In the UK
My uncle just bought X5 3.0 diesel sport version, it's very good car and I the love older x5 and any other bmw like the e46 or e39 those were days when cars were great desghins and overall great cars back in 90s
Fantastic video as always! I'd love to see a video at some point about the Volkswagen Audi Group! Very interesting partnerships I must admit. Thank you very much for keeping us all entertained and educated.
That would be a monster video! Thanks for the suggestion.
Please do a vid on the jaguar xj220, more specifically the under delivery on jaguars part and legal disputes with owners being forced to complete their purchase!
Another great video, whatever you think of the x5. The BMW marketing is always spot on
As a sucker is born every minute.
This story telling way is very mesmeric. 😅 I have been watching videos of cars in which I were never interested in.
At last this guy has gotten a proper long-term sponsor. Looks like a great product, really really hope they introduce new.....things soon. Jokes aside, great video once again. Now for that NSU/ Wanderer/Horch and at kast VW that everybody (well) is craving. Again, jokes aside - maybe Mitdubishi Colt? There is a cheaky connection with Smart and Daimler, with some engines shared, something to do (I suppose) with The Netherlands and the NED Car.
I thought about doing a Mitsubishi, just so I can work our what Mitsubishi's long term plan is for car production. From the west it seems sporadic. I thought of doing the 3000GT as it's cool, but thanks for the suggestion of the Colt.
i've been driving a 2003 X5 4.6is daily for the last 7 years. the only problems i've had were normal maintenance such as replacing valve cover seals, replacing fuel injectors, and replacing the alternator. however, i will admit that i do not have a long commute so have not racked up a lot of miles. my overall impression of my car is that it would be a great hotrod SUV to drive on country roads on a sunny weekend, or to tow a couple of jet skis or small boat to the lake. but it is not a daily driver IMO. the ride is a bit stiff, the gas mileage is not great, and its not the kind of car you want to beat up with a bunch of miles
15:21 - I can't say I'd be surprised if they did exactly that. At this stage I wouldn't rule out an X version of the Z4...
A BMW version of the Nissan Murano Cabriolet would be a good bit of kit! :) /sarc
I love your "Story of" videos, how about the XJS story please.
At some point.
And today the X3 and X5 are two of their best sellers. Very popular on the road
My old X5 would get scared at wet grass. Old fiesta was better in snowy roads. Tired to fix it with BFG all terrains. Wiped out the gear box
Never..
Just loving the squeezy cheezy chocolate part. JUST LOVING IT. Spit a mouthful of water on my poor laptop’s screen.
My goal is to make as many people spill water on their laptops as possible. Mission accoplished!
Omg the thumbnail is a X5 4.8is super cool car it was like the X5M before the X5M
I have a Estoril blue 4.8is and can't even sell it. People are frightened of them going wrong and nobody will buy it.
@@Shane_Marsh :(
I drove an X5 once, was most impressed, as with all BMW cars I ever drove! Thanks for the video!
I had a first Gen lci 3.0 and it's surprising how much it drives like the e39/a proper bmw compared to modern crossovers. It had a ton of electrical issues :(
Finally a new video 😍
The original still looks good today. When it was launched it completely trumped the ML in every way and showed Mercedes how it should be done. I'd watched the Frank Stephenson video a while back and I'd highly recommend watching it and the other cars he's designed.
Thanks very well researched as always. I just could not bring myself to drive a BMW.
Me too, but to be honest researching this video changed my mind.
I love the 90 defender!
Cool Video 😎
Not a fan of German cars but the video is great. Thank you.
The e53 is why I fell in love with bmw 16 years ago
That car looked great. The newest one looks very fine too
Would love to see a Lexus Radical Crossover (RX) feature one day. 👍
Great video i learned 2 things BMW owned and bought rover Is it possible to do one on the Volvo S60
Either you're quite young or you must have lived under a rock then, because BMW's adventure with Rover and it's ending was quite high profile
I have an X50d and it’s the best car I have ever owned. Fast, comfortable and fun to drive. Love it.
Jeep produced what I think was the first unibody nonmilitary 4x4 with the XJ series Cherokee in 1984 (I don't think the term SUV had been created yet). After my experience with BMW, i.e. the car that fought every attempt to repair it, I'd rather have one of those Cherokees. The straight six those trucks had will run pretty much forever. Great video, but now that we've regurgitated more of Chris Bangle's travesties, could you do a video on the Rover P5/P5B? I saw the Wheeler Dealer guys clean up a P5B a few years back and I've wanted one ever since!
Nope, the Lada Niva was sold worldwide from the mid-1970's, and is still built today. Has unibody construction and is genuilely off-road capable. The Cherokee definitely wasn't the first.
Owain Shebbeare That’s good to know. Here in the USA we never got Ladas (nuclear armed Cold War adversaries... go figure) but a guy I know in Canada used to own one. Said the thing was tough. He said the salt finally got it. Anyway, thanks for the facts.
When I was a little kid (mid 2000s) my doctor drove an X5. Back then the word SUV wasn't even known here in the hillbilly part of Germany. Good times. I'm a sedan guy.
Another fun fact: initial experiments at BMW alledgely featured a regular 5-series sedan with a jacked-up suspension and bigger wheels. Time was short...
Haven't seen a video uploaded any earlier. when I clicked, the video was 32 seconds old!
It went out 15 minutes late actually!
I’ve just got out of my BMW. The iDrive controller is a total doddle to use. Maybe you just need to get used to it but I power through all the menus in no time at all.
I’m sure it’s possible to get used to it, but I still think a touchscreen is better.
I love the iDrive in my dad's G30
@@BigCar2 I've always hated touchscreens. The iDrive you can feel your way through; with touchscreens if you're tall like me and sit quite far back, you almost always have to lean forward to use a touchscreen and take more of your eyes off the road. Then you hit a bump and your finger jumps and hits the wrong key. Horrible! Maybe I've just used terrible touchscreens, but I love iDrive.
Another Great Video thank you. Is Squeezeie Cheesy chocolate available in white chocolate ?? that would be yummy! (:
:) Thanks!
Great video!! Personally I avoid BMW X’s because in my opinion the BMW tourings look and drive way way better. Of course over time these tall cars are getting better because of new technology but it’s just not a logic shape for a nice driving car on smooth roads. Sporty SUV’s just look funny to me
I got a BMW Gran Tourer compact MPV 220d xDrive instead. The car is smaller than a current X5 which fits in my garage and makes it more practical when trying to find parking spaces in the city. Despite that it still has the 30l larger trunk space resulting in 1905l. Its nearly half a ton lighter, due to that more fuel efficient and the Gran Tourers 20d delivers a performance close to a X5 25d. Due to the smaller required engine the cost for taxes and insurance and the car itself is lower. I look at cars from a practical point of view (as long as they don't look like a Fiat Multipla) and in that regard for my use case the Gran Tourer is by far superior (before anybody complains, I know preferences and use cases can differ, it's MY use case). It's a pity that BMW won't continue the Gran Tourer because people apparently prefer large inefficient SUVs.
Let's be honest, BMW had more than the capability to build their own SUV without LR. There were no technologies which weren't fairly easy to replicate at the time for the likes of BMW. BMW had a vision for making the ultimate big margin SUV leveraging the corporate parts bin, just look at L322, it IS a bigger version of the BMW thinking of the era & uses a lot of content directly from the period 5 & 7 series along with a monocoque body with big subframes... X5 was the natural direction for the time, they had the powertrains from other existing vehicles in the lineup as they have been selling vehicles with 4wd into the harsher weather regions. The main benefit though is that you can charge a chunk more for essentially the same hardware due to the perceived value being higher. As an aside the bit of video you showed was an L320 RRS which was actually little to do with BMW as it was post their era plus it actually had a separate chassis!