Flower Power! BMW X5 M50i Is a Phenomenal Landscape Rover
Testing BMW’s lofty X5 M50i proves the perfect answer for an unforgettable trip to a literal heaven on earth
BMW’s X5 M50i web page teases you. It promises the car will make your life a little bigger. That this latest, more powerful and better-equipped Sports Activity Vehicle is poised to dominate any terrain. It seems a phenomenal machine, no?
Another school of thought tells us that a good destination is nothing without an even better journey to get there. So what better way to behold a phenomenon than doing so by phenomenal means? As it happened, the stars so aligned when we had an X5 M50i on hand at the ideal time to witness what some consider to be a wonder of the world.
An Incredible Feat of Nature
They call it The Flowers. An amazing annual marvel at the end of every winter that’s close enough to the Cape of Good Hope to make for a convenient day trip of it. And the best place to behold this incredible feat of nature, is at the Postberg National Flower Reserve in Langebaan, which only opens for a few weeks in August and September every year.
The wet winter past also promised the most spectacular flowers for many a year. Never mind that the roads to drive there and back are among the finest in Africa. The trick however, is to go on a sunny weekday and be there early. To avoid the crowd. And to see the flowers at their midday best.
So, armed with our royal blue X5 M50i, we set off before dawn. This is a complex car — you basically need a PHD to figure its key. While it still has charge that is! Do you know you have to charge it like your mobile phone?
Anyway, The route from our Winelands home through the wheat fields up to the West Coast is pretty straightforward. So the missus had to endure my little detour over Helshoogte. That literally means Hell’s Heights — a splendid col across the Drakenstein. Or Dragon’s Stone!
It’s the perfect pass to wake oneself over. Our BMW’s xDrive all-wheel-drive with M Sport Differential endows the big V8 SAV with a positive feel. It hardly leans through the bends and inspires the driver with a perhaps unnecessary confidence.
X5 M50i Mountain Prowess
Its double wishbone front and lightweight multi-link integral rear Adaptive M Suspension enjoys being selected to Sport+. X5 M50d’s electronically controlled dampers and servotronic power steering contribute to its mountain prowess. That 8-speed Sport automatic quickly susses your aggression to keep it on the ideal cog. You don’t even need those paddle shifters on the well-weighted steering.
Stopping power is supreme. Big-diameter ventilated-disc Cornering Brake Control ABS brakes take care of retardation. And if that’s not all enough, this Sport Activity BMW gets dynamic stability, traction and cruise controls, dynamic brakes and dampers and hill descent control too.