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BMW to release refreshed X5
February 09, 2010
Photos from the BMW media site
As the current BMW X5 celebrated its third year in production in November 2008, the German carmaker has decided to give it more than just a facelift as it winds down the crossover's shelf life in the next three years.
The refreshed BMW X5 is visually distinct with restyled headlights and taillights, and two LED light banks that are quickly becoming BMW's night-time styling for the rear end.
The BMW X5 also sports new bumpers, with the front being inspired by the X5 M as seen in the larger side air intakes. The rear was reshaped down to the tailpipe surrounds. Both bumpers also get more of their surfaces painted with the vehicle's body color to serve as a "point to an increase in engine output and emphasize the vehicle's orientation to the road."
Compare the current (left) and soon-to-be-launched BMW X5 below:
It's under the bonnet, however, that the X5 has seen a lot of changes. First, the entry-level xDrive30i has been dropped in favor of the xDrive35i which has a 306 horsepower, inline-six engine thanks to its single-scroll TwinPower Turbo. Its range-topping stablemate, the xDrive50i, also had its V8 engine tweaked with the same single-scroll TwinPower Turbo--boosting its output to 407 horsepower, 52 horses more than its xDrive48i predecessor.
For the inline-six diesel-variants, the xDrive30d's engine was fine tuned so it now produces 245hp; while the xDrive40d's all-aluminum, CRDI and TwinPower Turbo-equipped engine's torque has been upped to produce 600Nm while still delivering the same horsepower output at 286. The new engines are all environment-friendly as they are all Euro 5 compliant.
Topping off the latest change for the refreshed X5 is that all models will now get an eight-speed automatic transmission as standard.
The new BMW X5 will have its North American debut at the New York International Auto Show in April. No schedule has been made so far for a Philippine launch, said Asian Carmaker Corp., the exclusive distributor of BMW vehicles in the country.
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