What's the road perception for X5 in your city?

[samguan]

Just a friendly discussion and let's be honest here as many BMW owners are not only after the ultimate driving experience but street perception as well. I notice many owners really care when the next LCI or refresh is coming out render their rides outdated.

You know when you see a 7 series, hmmm, this guy should have some $$$ or is some executive. You see this guy in a Bentley, you feel like he is loaded.

I think in my city(Toronto) where you see a car over 100K every few minutes, X5 is almost everywhere, you see a lot of them every day. The special feeling is definitely on the low side. When I see them, I see a family with decent income, middle class.

A well equipped X5 is close to 100K dollars here after taxes and fees.

[UnhappySwede]

Here in Stockholm, there's plenty of them too aswell as other expensive cars. The vast majority of them, including my own, are company cars. If you're able to get it throught your company, it might be affordable as salex tax is deductable aswell as other car costs. On the other hand, regular employed people basically have no chance of buying them. Even if your salary is high, tax eats most of it and then the car itself is super expensive too. Some people however take another loan on their recently overvaluated home, which gives them cash that they kinda dont have to pay back.

As for myself, Im just sick of it all. I dont even work that hard but Im still very close to trading this all for a calmer life, closer to nature.

[P1]

I live in Texas, and here it's mostly women that drive X5s. My mother in law comments on my "cute little SUV" every time she sees it.

[iconoclast]

Originally Posted by samguan

What's the road perception for X5 in your city?

No idea, no concern or care.

[Doanster]

Originally Posted by iconoclast

No idea, no concern or care.

+1000
In this day and age of bad credit availability, that driver in the 7-series could be upside down across the board and fretting about making the next rent/mortgage payment. He/she looks good while tooling around town though.

Since buying our X5, I'm more concerned about HOW I drive in order to reverse the old-adage/joke: "What's the difference between a porcupine and a BMW driver?!?"

[UnhappySwede]

It's actually interesting how the richest people tend to drive other kind of cars. This is particulary true for Sweden where alot of really rich people settle with a Volvo V70 wagon or so. The CEO of my company drives a Mercedes A-class.

And while driving around in the richest parts of Stockholm, you mostly see really crappy cars outside the multi-million dollar mansions, like old Volkswagen Golfs or Toyota Prius. I did actually notice this same thing in the Hamptons, Long Island. I still dont know whether really rich people try to keep a low profile, or if there's alot of inherited wealth in these areas with the current owners having a more common cash flow of their own.

I like road tripping. I have been to pretty much every country in Europe with other cars than just this one - and there is actually a difference in how people act towards you compared to arriving in more regular cars. They are more helpful, curious and you get a different kind of acceptance. And after some conversation, there's always the comments on the car. But then again, I dont drive to Monaco and try to blend in with the elite, I'm always out exploring the most rural parts of the continent instead.

[kenny@velosdesignwerks]

Originally Posted by UnhappySwede

It's actually interesting how the richest people tend to drive other kind of cars. This is particulary true for Sweden where alot of really rich people settle with a Volvo V70 wagon or so. The CEO of my company drives a Mercedes A-class.

And while driving around in the richest parts of Stockholm, you mostly see really crappy cars outside the multi-million dollar mansions, like old Volkswagen Golfs or Toyota Prius. I did actually notice this same thing in the Hamptons, Long Island. I still dont know whether really rich people try to keep a low profile, or if there's alot of inherited wealth in these areas with the current owners having a more common cash flow of their own.

I like road tripping. I have been to pretty much every country in Europe with other cars than just this one - and there is actually a difference in how people act towards you compared to arriving in more regular cars. They are more helpful, curious and you get a different kind of acceptance. And after some conversation, there's always the comments on the car. But then again, I dont drive to Monaco and try to blend in with the elite, I'm always out exploring the most rural parts of the continent instead.

Really nice picture! Do you take the X5 off the pavement regularly?

[UnhappySwede]

Yea check my pictures in the X5 photothread...im driving it in mud, the hills, frozen lakes, the forest and through rivers. Isnt it what 4x4s are made for?

The picture above is in the gold fields of Kuttura, Northern Finland. Im literally parked on chunks of gold.

[Nkbm82]

Here in Orange County, CA x5's are very common and nothing special. I care about LCI only because I don't like the vehicle changing within my lease period.

[BXdriver]

Quite an interesting discussion this. Here, from a Norwegian perspective, I see A LOT of X5's (f.ex) every day. They are really common - which in turn - makes me a bit sad. My car is ABSOLUTELY nothing special. Here, as opposed to our neighbor country Sweden, quite few of these cars are company cars. IF you have a company car here, it will most likely be a very basic car, like a Toyota, Ford, Hyundai, or similar. Very few companies (but some probably do, of course) would "sponsor" YOUR life with a car more expensive than necessary.
If you want an X5 (again, or similar) - you better get it yourself with your own hard earned money.
Driving around her in our own, basic X5 is absolutely nothing to shout about - actually quite the opposite. I need to let most other "fast" cars pass anyway. The "rough" cars Porches, trimmed BMW's, Audi's (and lets not to forget about the show-off Skoda and VW-guys) and so on - most will want to drive past you just to show that they CAN. Yes - they CAN pass your X5 with their car and that's a victory for them. Just leave it by that, or your license might vanish very fast.
Due to the horrible low speed limits and bad/narrow roads we have here in Norway, speed is not really important here anyway. Most Norwegians have learned to live with that, and in this respect our ever so lame 25d offer more than enough power to cope with the scarce roads.
That said, the only way to be "on top" of the other guys - at least just to show it here - is to have an X5M, M5, M3, or the very least and remotely affordable here, an X5M50d.
You just cannot use it as intended over here - but you could own it, keep it, and have people look at it from behind in the traffic to be impressed.:-)
An X5 35d (or here 30d) will just not impress at all.

Good week,
Bent

[coolidge]

There are very few BMW's in my area and I have only seen a single X5 in the last 5 weeks. Audi's and MB's on the other hand are everywhere.

[UnhappySwede]

Hmm...interesting. I find the F15 less common in Oslo than in Stockholm, and expensive cars are rather rare driving the rest of Norway. I assumed this had to do with the higher car prices and absence of the Company car system.

It should however be noted that probably half of the Company car buyers are the owners of the businesses, which mostly are small. I for instance, am the only employee in my own company and the reason I bother doing all this paperwork instead of being an employee for someone else, is the ability to buy new cars.

This is also a popular benefit in all kinds of companies, as salary tax gets to 60% in Sweden after certain levels. The employer must also pay other taxes and fees up to another 50% of that salary, so the car benefit is usually better for both parts than paying a total of ~75% in tax.

There's nothing wrong with the 25d however, I've got it too and its updated to 231hp these Days. Never lacking power, runs much smoother than the 30d. Im not sure I would go with the bigger Engines even if I got it for free.

[knepsterd]

If it's leased who cares, if you own it that might be a different story. Once your lease is up you get the latest greatest

Originally Posted by scnick82

Here in Orange County, CA x5's are very common and nothing special. I care about LCI only because I don't like the vehicle changing within my lease period.

[Kzang]

NY/NJ/CT ( North east ) BMW's are a dime a dozen.. I would even say it's as common as Honda civics. I can safely say I see about 10+ X5's on any given day. I don't consider people driving X5's rich but maybe middle class.

But this is all dependent on location.

[UnhappySwede]

Originally Posted by Kzang

NY/NJ/CT ( North east ) BMW's are a dime a dozen.. I would even say it's as common as Honda civics. I can safely say I see about 10+ X5's on any given day. I don't consider people driving X5's rich but maybe middle class.

But this is all dependent on location.

The BMW 5-series is super common in Stockholm. I noticed however, after spending a few months on Manhattan, that this car was nowhere to be found over there. Instead, the 7-series was as frequent there as the 5-series is here.

Owning a newer 7-series is a big deal over here. I Think just some 20-30 of them are sold in the whole country each year.

So you guys are wealthier and have better climate. We work less, but noone retires early as hard working, sucessful New Yorkers tend to do.

A household consisting of two full-time Wal Mart employees, just immigrated from Somalia, here can, if they really want, buy a F15 as as wages in retail etc are twice that in NY. Most Young people here dont drive at all however, as they rather spend this Money on time off and traveling.

I'm 28 now and I think only about 30% of my former high school classmates from the suburbs own a car today, yet they are all high-performers.

I play basketball with guys aged 25-35 years old from various backgrounds. When the 15 of us show up for practice, only 3-4 do so with their car.

[Sharp_Cai]

Here in SF bay area where Tesla is the most common car you see on the road. BMW is kind more of average car.

[P1]

Maybe it's because of social media, or the fact that any clown can get into a lease or borrow money, but I rarely turn my head anymore when I see a new car. It's on a classic vehicle that gets my attention. Anything else is just another car on the road.

[kanvas]

In my town.

[MysticBlue]

If I was concerned with what other people thought, an SUV isn't what I would have bought. This is my winter beater, daily-drive, grocery-getter, whatever you want to call it. I don't know what to call it because I can't call it a truck. Where I live, if I called it a truck, people who drive pickups would laugh at me. So I usually go with dorkmobile.

[Terp335]

Originally Posted by kanvas

In my town.

This. ...but I knew that before I bought. I still believe it's the best all around.

[kanvas]

Originally Posted by UnhappySwede

Yea check my pictures in the X5 photothread...im driving it in mud, the hills, frozen lakes, the forest and through rivers. Isnt it what 4x4s are made for?

The picture above is in the gold fields of Kuttura, Northern Finland. Im literally parked on chunks of gold.

I love getting the X5 dirty as well. Too bad off road trails are all far from where I live.

[usual_suspect]

If you look at stats here in Sweden, the BMW X5 has 0,21 % market share. So 1 out of 500 cars is an X5. The numbers are from 2015, but still.

The most popular car in Sweden is the Volvo V70. Most popular BMW is the 3-series.