2017 X5M – Performance Center Delivery

[IndyM]

I’m happy to report that I (finally) took delivery of my 2017 X5M at the Performance Center last Tuesday. I had ordered the car in June, and it had been completed since August 1st but release was delayed due to EPA emissions approval.

I’ve posted specs previously, but here they are again:

> Donington Grey w/ Mugello Red> CF trim
> Executive Pkg
> Driver Assistance Plus
> Apple CarPlay
> B&O

The car is amazing… everything I hoped it would be. I was really anxious about the red interior having never seen it in person before placing my order, but I love it. It is balanced really well with the amount of black in the cabin and it looks striking with the DG exterior.

The new iDrive is very impressive. It’s much faster and mapped out better than that last iteration. The touch screen is a nice addition. Although I’ve hardly used it, it is very convenient for various settings (for example, the equalizer on the B&O). CarPlay functionality is great and it seems to integrate flawlessly with the iDrive. There is a bit of redundancy with maps/nav, but it seems to work very well and I’m glad I ordered it.

The Xpel went on Friday, and this morning went in for window tint (20% nano-ceramic film). Opti-Coat Pro plus Gloss and Glass is being done tomorrow. At the 1200 mile break in service, I’ll have Dinan Stage 1 and exhaust installed along with the gloss black Performance kidney and fender grilles.

After 700 miles (in less than a week), I love this car. I’ve had several M cars but need the utility of the X5 for dad duties. This makes me feel like I’m not giving up anything in terms of performance, it’s a perfect compromise.

Overall, a great delivery experience and a fantastic road trip. My wife was more excited about 4 days away from out 4 little kids, but either way, everyone was happy! I’ll give a brief overview of the Performance Center Delivery and our trip back, for anyone interested…

My wife and I flew to South Carolina on Monday and spent Monday night at the Marriott in Greenville, courtesy of BMW. Headed to the Performance Center bright and early on Tuesday morning. Our first 2 hours of the day were spent on the track. We actually drove an X5M (same color combo, conveniently) for the braking exercises and slalom course, which together took up most of the 2 hours. It was a great opportunity to see how the car handled on the track as well as in some real life accident avoidance type maneuvers. I was really impressed. The last bit of time was spent on the skid pad in a 340… first DSC off, then on. This was a very impressive exercise to show the abilities of the DSC. The session concluded with a “hot lap” ride in an M5 with an instructor, including two full circles drifting around the skid pad. It was awesome… even my wife liked it.

Photo of our car for the track time (notice 340 on skid pad in the background):



After the track session we finally got to see my new X5M. Each car being delivered is in a separate bay that is completely closed off. Very impressive presentation. We spent about 2.5 hours going over everything in the car with the BMW Genius. I was wondering how we were going to fill that amount of time, assuming I knew everything I needed to know after owning 7 BMWs. But there was quite a bit of new technology to cover with iDrive 5, Apple CarPlay, etc. It was a very informative session.

A few photos in the delivery bay:





And one with the bay doors open before pulling out:



Parked in front of the Performance Center:



After that, we headed to lunch (accompanied by our Genius to address any additional questions). Lunch was followed by the offroad course in an X5 (35… not M). The offroad driving lasted about an hour and did a great job to highlight the capabilities of the X5 as an SUV. (no photos, unfortunately)

Unfortunately, the factory and the Zentrum Museum were closed for tours due to remodeling so our day was officially concluded after the offroad driving. After spending some time (and too much money) in the gift shop, we took off. We made quick stop at the Zentrum just to check it out before heading out of town.



After leaving Spartanburg, we drove to Asheville, NC and spent two nights at the Biltmore. Amazing place… highly recommended.



We headed home on Thursday morning. I planned our route so we could spend as much time on the Blue Ridge Parkway as possible. It was amazing… just a really fun drive with some beautiful scenery (elevations over 5,000 ft). It added a couple of hours to the trip, but totally worth it.





I planned to install have Xpel installed as soon as we got home, so had the same concern over protecting the paint for the 550 mile drive from Asheville to Indianapolis. After we got of the Parkway, we stopped at the first major exit and picked up a roll of blue painters tape (3M). It took about 10 minutes to cover the bumper, partial hood, mirrors, and rockers behind all four tires. My wife thought I was nuts, but she did help me! The tape held up well, for the most part, with 80-90 MPH speeds most of the drive home. Overall, very effective... made it home with no rock chips that I was able to find.



No clicking from the wheel bearings yet, but I’ll be listening! Fingers crossed…

(I hope the writeup and photos are not overkill... I'm excited so I figured I'd post everything!)

[dkhm3]

congrats! love the combo, enjoy in good health! Nice painters tape job

[Alberta]

Wow ! Great write up !


Congratulations for your new beast !

[IndyM]

Originally Posted by dkhm3

congrats! love the combo, enjoy in good health! Nice painters tape job

Haha, thanks! It did the trick, made it home with no rock chips before Xpel went on. Got some really funny looks on the highway, though... almost caused one guy to rear end the guy in front of him because he was trying to look at my car!

[tastelid]

your car shall forever be known as the blueberry

congrats!

[rSquare20]

congrats. mine just hit production. any pics of the I drive and apple car play?

[IndyM]

Originally Posted by tastelid

your car shall forever be known as the blueberry

congrats!

Ha, nice! It was almost enough blue to make me wish I'd ordered LBB!

[IndyM]

Originally Posted by rSquare20

congrats. mine just hit production. any pics of the I drive and apple car play?

No... I will try to take some tonight.

[hoosierx5m]

Love it. Thanks for the photos and write up. Who is doing your X-Pel for you? Not having any luck in Ft.Wayne. Thanks !!

[Luca42]

Originally Posted by tastelid

your car shall forever be known as the blueberry

congrats!

Confirmed. He is officially Blueberry from Indy.

Awesome write-up! Makes me recall my PC delivery.

Key question -- did you let the wife drive at all on the way home? Sounds like you hit all the key spots on the way home.

Enjoy!! Welcome to the club.

[IndyM]

Originally Posted by hoosierx5m

Love it. Thanks for the photos and write up. Who is doing your X-Pel for you? Not having any luck in Ft.Wayne. Thanks !!

Thanks! I had Clear Bra Indy (www.clearbraindy) do the Xpel. Does SweetCars not do it? Did front bumper, full hood, partial fenders, door cups, door edges, and top of rear bumper. I think they did a great job. They book 3-4 weeks out, so if you know when you're getting you're car I would go ahead and book it. He was competitive on pricing, too... feel free to PM me if you want pricing info.

[IndyM]

Originally Posted by Luca42

Confirmed. He is officially Blueberry from Indy.

Awesome write-up! Makes me recall my PC delivery.

Key question -- did you let the wife drive at all on the way home? Sounds like you hit all the key spots on the way home.

Enjoy!! Welcome to the club.

Thanks, Luca! And yes, I did let my wife drive for about an hour or so... I had to send a few emails, so let her take the wheel for a bit.

[Luca42]

Originally Posted by IndyM

Thanks, Luca! And yes, I did let my wife drive for about an hour or so... I had to send a few emails, so let her take the wheel for a bit.

What was her reaction? That's what we want to know!

Did she drive the test X5 M at the Performance Center?

[Yoyoniner]

When you say the new idrive is faster, what do you mean? MY2016 idrive clicks are instant.

Thanks for the writeup.

[IndyM]

Originally Posted by Yoyoniner

When you say the new idrive is faster, what do you mean? MY2016 idrive clicks are instant.

Thanks for the writeup.

I'm coming from a 2013 X5... so two iDrive systems ago. This is a HUUUUGE improvement.

[IndyM]

Originally Posted by Luca42

What was her reaction? That's what we want to know!

Did she drive the test X5 M at the Performance Center?

She loved it... both the highway driving and the time on the track at the PCD. She actually did a great job driving the test car... really got in to it more than I expected her to. She's a great driver... really used to get after it in my past M3s and can drive a stick really well (I mention that only because I know very few women who can).

She did have to get out of the car after two laps with me on the slalom course... said she couldn't take it. And the skid pad was a little much for her (two full rotations after losing control was one too many).

But, overall, she did a great job... glad she was there to experience it with me.

[gizmo958]

congrats bro , the car looks amazing. also very impressed with the right up , not over kill at all .

[1230vani]

Car looks great, looking forward to a couple of idrive photos .

[IndyM]

Ok, for those who requested... here are a few photos of iDrive and CarPlay. Unfortunately, I found out that you can't use the iPhone camera while using CarPlay Music.

iDrive menu screen. One cool thing to note... the Media icon shows whatever album cover is currently playing from CarPlay (and I think from sat radio, as well). The small icon in the lower left of the screen is the CarPlay icon... You flip from the main menu to CarPlay by tapping that on the touch screen (or can navigate to CarPlay via iDrive through Media).



iDrive Navigation (notice you can have split screen between CarPlay and any iDrive function you want... Nav shown here):



CarPlay Home Screen:

[gizmo958]

looks good . what other apps can you use through car play?
youtube?

[carlos@velosdesignwerks]

Congrats! Car looks great.

[rSquare20]

impressed. How does the actual idrive controller look. same as previous?