Video: The 2024 BMW X5 xDrive50e Plug-in Hybrid: 4 Things We Like, 4 Things We Don’t

(light music) First thing we like about the new X5 is the styling. They've updated it a little bit for 2024. It's got new headlights. It's got a slightly different grill, and this one has the M Sport trim package, so you've got things like blacked out trim on the grill and on the doors, and you've got 21 inch two-tone wheels as well. Overall, especially with this Brooklyn gray paint, I think this is really one good looking SUV. Second thing I really like about the new X5 is this interior. It's been updated a little bit for 2024. You've got some new controls. You've got some new displays, but what I really like about it is the material quality in here. This thing feels like an expensive SUV because is an expensive SUV. This one is north of $80,000, but all the switches in here, the materials, the leather, the construction, all of it feels really solid, really good, and the material quality doesn't drop off when you get into the backseat either. Visibility out is also excellent. This is a tall SUV. It's not like one of those squat SUV coop things like the BMW X6, which was ridiculous. No, this thing is tall. You've got great big windows in all directions and you've got really usable cargo room and backseat passenger headroom as well. Third thing I really like about this specific X5, this is the xDrive50E. It's the plugin hybrid model. It gets about 40 miles of all electric range, which is about 10 miles more than the last one did, the xDrive45E. They've done that by giving it a larger lithium ion battery and a smaller but more powerful electric motor that's tied directly to the eight speed automatic transmission. Now it says it'll get about 40 miles of range officially, but when I had it fully charged this morning, it said I could get about 44 miles, and I know for a fact that it could probably do more. We're gonna be testing that all electric range in a little bit. Make sure you look for that at cars.com/news. And the fourth thing that I really like about this new X5 xDrive50E plugin hybrid is the ride and handling balance. BMW's done an excellent job tuning this thing. It doesn't lean in corners. I mean, it's a big heavy SUV, but it doesn't feel terribly top heavy. It still feels very responsive. The steering feel is excellent. The feedback is very good as well. To actually drive this thing that ride handling balance is not something that all automakers do very well. This one, however, BMW's done a good job with it. As for the things that we don't like about the new X5 xDrive50E, the top of my list is unfortunately the hybrid powertrain. This has to be one of the most poorly tuned hybrid powertrains I've driven in quite some time. It's the integration of the electric drive and the gas powertrain. It's not good. It's jerky, it's non-linear. It doesn't get any better if you put it in all electric mode. Yeah, it's got 40 miles of electric range. But when you have it in all electric mode, it sometimes accelerates quickly, sometimes not. It doesn't respond the same way to the pedal every time you push the pedal, and when you're driving along and you try and accelerate quickly, that transition between electric power and gas power, it's not smooth, it's not seamless, it causes a lot of head jerking with passengers in the car. That's kind of surprising because the 45E, the last model, was actually very good. I never had any complaints with the way that thing was integrated. But for 2024, they've got a smaller, more powerful electric motor and it has almost 100 horsepower more than it did from the last model. But it's not really usable because it's just not, ugh, a smooth powertrain at all. That's really annoying. The second thing I'm not too keen on in this X5 xDrive50E is the brake system. This is the more powerful M Sport brakes, but it's more to do with the one pedal driving, or lack of it, and the regenerative braking, and the lack of it. There's no adjustable regenerative braking in this thing. It's adaptive regenerative braking, which means it's using the sensors all around the car to determine how much to actually slow the thing when you lift off of the accelerator. And that means it's not gonna do the same thing every time you lift off the accelerator. Sometimes it'll brake you harder. Sometimes it doesn't brake you at all and just lets you coast. It's really annoying to the point where you just wanna shut it off, but then you're losing out on any regen. And when you actually do tap the brakes, they tend to be a bit grabby. There's nothing happens at first, and then, then they start to grab. That whole non-linear, non-progressive braking system thing, also really not good. (soft music) One aspect of this interior that is really not great are these climate controls. They are buggy and weird. It's 45 degrees outside. I have the thing set to 80 degrees. It's blowing hot air at my feet and cold air out the vents up top for some reason. It doesn't matter if you have it on automatic, or if you have it on any different setting here, it's always doing something weird, and it's really difficult to actually adjust on the fly. Now, it's not as crazy difficult to use as say the one in the BMW X7, or even the I7, or the 7 series sedans. This is a little bit easier to use, but it's still been changed to the point where it's all touch sensitive, and tiny little icons, and really not easy to use. Not happy with that. And the fourth thing I really don't like about this new X5 is a problem that BMW has fought for years and I thought they had overcome, but apparently they're sliding backwards, and that is connecting a mobile device to the iDrive system. Now you try to do it wirelessly, and it's not necessarily working all that well. I can connect the Bluetooth telephone and audio, but trying to connect Apple CarPlay, yeah, it's saying that it's not working, saying the problem is my phone. My phone is fine. I've reset it several times. It's just not working apparently. Now, I don't know if CarPlay is disabled on this test vehicle or not, but even when you try and plugging it into the USB port, it doesn't even recognize the phone at that point, so they had been doing better and getting people's mobile devices connected to their system. This is apparently backsliding. It's not the first time I've had this issue in a modern BMW and I really wish they would fix this already. So yeah, the new 2024 BMW X5 is a bit of a mixed bag, very stylish, very comfortable. Technology looks good inside, but it's got some wonky features in terms of climate control, and that powertrain, despite getting great electric range, is a bit of a hot mess to drive. If you'd like to learn more about the new 2024 BMW X5 or any of the new BMW lineup, you can look everything up at cars.com.