Gareth Foley:
Hey, what's going everybody? Gareth here, FCP Euro. Welcome back to another buyer's guide. Today we're going to be talking about BMW's
third generation X5, also known as the F15 or the F85 if it's an X5M Gareth Foley:
All right. So F15, what does that mean exactly? Well, it's just BMW's Chas and development
code. In this case, BMW decided to use F15 and this
is the third generation of X5, but BMW's third generation of X5s ran production from model
year 2014 until model year 2018. In this video, we're going to be talking about
a lot of various topics about this generation of BMW. Specifically, we're going to be talking about
the drive train variances. So the engines, the transmissions, xDrive,
or rear wheel drive since that is an option. We'll also be talking about other things like
the equipment inside the vehicle and just the general overall ownership experience. Gareth Foley:
In terms of price point on this generation of X5. Brand new these cars ranged in price from
anywhere around $60,000, upwards of $90,000, even close to $100,000, depending on how they're
optioned out, depending on which model you bought. Since production has ended on these and the
newest of those cars is now three years old, a lot of these have come off lease. Even 2014 is the earliest production. You're now looking at a car that is about
seven years old. So you could see your entry level X5 models,
which would be an xDrive35i or sDrive35i with high mileage being available for under $20,000. Or you can have your high end models such
as the X5M still being upwards of $50,000 in value, depending of course on the mileage,
how it's optioned cetera. Gareth Foley:
So when it comes to the competitive landscape on the third generation X5 here, there is
absolutely no shortage of midsize SUVs available in the marketplace. So at least on the German side of things,
Audi has their Q5 and Q7. Mercedes has the GLE. We also have Porsche with the Cayenne, and
I think you can also potentially argue the McCann might fall into there as well as a
potential alternative option. Really, the pick is up to you. If you're have a favorite for a vehicle brand,
then that's probably what you're going to go with. If you're just simply looking for a midsize
SUV, it is very wide and I would even say for BMW's case, the F25X3 competes against
the X5 in terms of general sizing and options and interior equipment. Gareth Foley:
And then of course you also have the BMW X6, which is a hatchback, four door thing. A lot of people like those as well, but it's
generally the same size of vehicle, a lot of the same parts. So even the X6 competes against the X5. So just within the BMW family, you have two
other options that in my opinion, directly compete against depending on what you're looking
for. Gareth Foley:
We're going to be only talking about the US market in terms of the options that are available
in terms of models. But within the US market alone, you have your
xDrive35i and sDrive35i. Basically, one's an xDrive all-wheel drive
model, and one's a rear wheel drive model. You have the xDrive40e, which is a plug-in
hybrid electric vehicle. So it has an internal combustion engine and
a battery pack and an electric motor. The xDrive35d, which is the diesel variant. So BMW six-cylinder diesel. We'll talk about that engine in a little bit. The xDrive50i, which is a twin turbo V8. And then you have, of course, the F85X5M which
at least in terms of model designation, its own thing, but shares the same general platform. Gareth Foley:
And we're going to touch base on that today as well. Because that is an option that you might be
looking at, particularly in terms of the performance SUV segment, the biggest differentiator. I think most of you are going to notice on
any F15 X5 is going to be just the outward appearance of the car. Most people who are buying cars, that's the
number one thing that they're looking for. Just how's the car appeal to them. And we have three really good distinct examples
of what you would find within this range of vehicles. Gareth Foley:
So all the way to my right, we have what would just be a standard F15 X5 appearance. So standard front bumper cover, standard arch
extensions, standard size skirts. That is going to be probably the most common
X5 that you're going to find in the market. All the way to my left, you have what be like
an M sport package. So a hybrid of what the X5M would be in terms
of the front bumper cover, but it has the arch extensions, different wheels, different
rear bumper, completely different trim on the car. So from an appearance, it honestly looks like
an entirely different car. So again, if that's something that you're
considering, you want the upgraded option on the vehicle, you're going to have to go
ahead and look for those cars. They're not as common as you might think,
but obviously those little trim pieces and accents do make a completely different appearance
to the car. Gareth Foley:
And then you have the X5M which by default, it comes the way that it comes and it's going
to be the most aggressively styled car out of all of them. Some of it purposeful, for example, the oil
cooler that's located in the lower right corner of the car. You can see that visibly. A lot of the other things like the arch extensions,
those are going to be pretty standard, quad tip exhaust in the rear. That's bespoke to the X5M but I am happy to
say that hypothetically, if you got a really good deal on a basic appearance package car,
you could technically exchange all these parts out down the road to upgrade to an M appearance
package car. So that is an option. Gareth Foley:
Another thing that's worth mentioning is you have factory grills, which are going to be
your gray center section with the chrome outside. BMW has some optional grills that they also
install, which would be the black Chrome, all blacked out. The X5M grills also differ in the way that
the center slats are doubled up. But technically all those are interchangeable,
assuming that you have the correct front bumper cover. An X5M grill is not going to fit your standard
bumper cover just because of the shape. But if you did put on the M performance or
M sport front bumper cover, you could technically install the double sided grill if you really
wanted to. Even something as simple as the colors of
the grill also do change the way that the vehicle looks from the front. Gareth Foley:
When it comes to the inside of the car, this is also another deciding factor as well. Realistically speaking, these cars pretty
much come fully loaded from the factory. So leather seats, panoramic sunroof, you're
not going to find a huge variation of the interior equipment. I will say that there is an optional audio
system for these cars. So for example, a [inaudible] system that
would be the high end audio system is available. But even the factory audio system is really
good. They all come with the 10.2 inch iDrive screen,
which is also a touch screen, which is pretty cool. That's going to also be where a lot of the
information in the vehicle is displayed. I will say, though, in the X5M, that's going
to have its own bespoke seats a little bit more side bolstering. Also if you look at the instrument cluster
in the iDrive, those displays are also a little bit different from an F15 to an F85. Gareth Foley:
Obviously it's going to have more of the M badging on the X5M as you would typically
expect on any M vehicle. So generally speaking, if you look at any
of these cars, they're all equipped relatively the same. Only the X5M is going to have a drastic difference
in terms of the interior appointment. Gareth Foley:
The way that BMW does their model designation, the X5 or actually any of the SUVs along with
a couple other cars, the meeting of basically what that car has and the equipment in it
is basically in the second part of the badge. So it's just an X5 generically, and then you
have something like xDrive35i, and that'll tell you it has xDrive. And if it's a 35i, at least in this generation's
case, you know that it has the N55 six-cylinder engine. Just like if it's an xDrive50i, that's going
to have the N63 twin turbo V8. If it's an sDrive35i, that means it's an N55
rear wheel drive. Gareth Foley:
But now that we're talking about some of the engines, let's go ahead and talk about the
power train on these cars. So we're going to start off all of the engines
here with our xDrive35i and sDrive35i model. Aside from one being rear wheel drive and
all-wheel drive, they both share the same N55 engine. We've talked about the N55 engine a lot. It is the successor to the N54 engine, which
if you've been researching BMWs, you might know that the N54 is not unreliable, but it
could be expensive to maintain. We're happy to say that the N55 engine was
a huge step up in terms of reliability. Gareth Foley:
It has a twin squirrel turbo. So basically two separate ports on the hot
side, which is a much more efficient setup. So instead of two turbos, it only has one. So in terms of the power output of this engine,
makes 302 horsepower in 295 pound feet of torque and BMW claims a 24 mile per gallon
average, although realistically in day to day life, you're probably going to see somewhere
between high 19 and low 21 ish miles per gallon. Gareth Foley:
So next up, we're going to talk about the xDrive40e. This is a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. That means it has an internal combustion engine,
battery pack and electric motor. The electric motor obviously boosts the output
of the engine that's in it. But in this case, let's talk about the engine
specifically. This engine is the N24 cylinder engine. It could potentially be a liability long term. There's no nice way to say that. It really hasn't deemed to be the most reliable
engine that BMW's ever built. Predominantly you have a lot of timing component
issues, oil pump drive module problems, oil pump issues, a whole slew of problems that
are ultimately very expensive to fix. And it's enough of a common problem that BMW,
at least in the US market has had a class action settlement in regards to replacing
this components past the warranty or paying for repairs that were done past the warranty
period, retroactively. Gareth Foley:
The plug-in hybrid electric vehicle drive train on here with the N20 and the electric
motor, looking at 308 horsepower in 332 pound feet of torque. The engine itself doesn't produce that. That's also including the power from the electric
motor and the battery pack. This hybrid only gets around 27 miles per
gallon, which is not really that great considering let's say the xDrive35i averages around 21
miles per gallon to get 6 more miles per gallon with all of that additional stuff, I don't
know. Gareth Foley:
We have a really in depth diagnostic guide on the N20 engine. So we're going to go ahead and drop a card
up here. You can go ahead and click on that. That talks about the engine specifically,
things to look out for, things to be aware of. I don't want to get into a huge tangent on
that, but it talks about everything that you need to know. Gareth Foley:
So next up, we're going to move to the xDrive35d. This is the only diesel variant of the F15X5
sold in the US market. It has the N57 six-cylinder single turbo diesel
engine. The N57 diesel makes 255 horsepower in 413
pound feet of torque. Estimates suggests that the xDrive35d averages
37 miles per gallon. That of course is going to vary drastically
depending on how you use it. But we can say one thing about all the modern
diesels, actually just diesels in general, huge amount of torque down low, which really
that's what you're going to be primarily using for towing, driving around the town. So really in our opinion, the xDrive35d, if
fuel economy is something you're considerate about, that might be an option for you. Gareth Foley:
Now, we're moving from the diesel variant to our xDrive50i. This is going to be the N63 TU engine, which
is the technical update. In the case of the N63 TU, which is in the
F15X5, it's been updated in almost every way that's measurable. Basically on the N63 TU, direct injection
hot V, twin turbo V8. Hot V basically means the turbos sit in the
valley of the engine up on top, as opposed to being on the outside. So you're exhaust intake flow are completely
reversed from any other V8 engine you would've seen. This engine makes 444 horsepower and 479 pound
feet of torque. So a lot of power, lot of torque. So again, if you're looking for a vehicle
that can tow or you're simply looking for power, obviously this engine is going to be
an option. Gareth Foley:
So now we're going to be moving up to the F85X5M. The BMW internally designates this engine
as an S63R, but it's the S63 TU 2 basically. In terms of power, it makes 567 horsepower
and 553 pound feet of torque, which is a ton. It's a lot of power. And the way that BMW achieve this is, and
I think it's worth noting here, is that there really isn't a huge difference between N63
or the S63. It's still basically the same engine. So hot V, direct injection, a lot of the parts
are interchangeable. Gareth Foley:
The only things that BMW really changed on this engine is on the S63 TU they use cross
flow exhaust manifolds for the turbos. So basically when you look at these, you have
two ports that pull from one cylinder bank, two that pull from another cylinder bank and
they cross over. And the point of this is so that every 180
degrees of rotation, a pulse is sent to the turbo, each turbo. And so it constantly keeps the turbos moving. There's no interruption in the exhaust flow. So that's a very unique design feature specifically
on the S63 engine. Gareth Foley:
So that said, we've talked about the engines. Let's talk about the transmission options
or really lack thereof. Every single one of these cars uses a variant
of ZF's 8HP automatic transmission. We have a diagnostic guide specifically about
the 8HP transmission. And honestly, I can't really say enough positive
things about it. Really the only difference you're going to
see between the different variants of these cars is the torque rating of the transmission. So for example, on your xDrive35i it's going
to have the 8HP 45, which is the lower torque capable transmission. And then on something like your X5M it's going
to have the 8HP 70, which is the higher torque handling transmission. But generally internally it's the same transmission. Just its ability to handle torque, there's
obviously some internal differences there, but it's the same transmission at its core. Gareth Foley:
All the cars actually use the same front diff with, of course, the exception being the sDrive35i
being rear wheel drive. So it doesn't have a front differential, but
they all use the same front diffs. The only variance that you start to see is
when you look at the rear differential, most of your F15X5s are going to have your pretty
typical standard rear differential. So the oddball differential in the F15X5 would
be if you have the adaptive dynamic suspension or option S2VPA, you would have a torque vectoring
rear differential, which is a very looking different animal than your traditional open
rear differential that would typically be on an F15X5. Gareth Foley:
But the torque vectoring differential is standard on the F85X5M. And I think what's really worth noting about
that is the Q and V differential, which is the torque vectoring differential, actually
uses two different types of fluid. Now we have a specific service on our website
to deal with these specific differentials, but basically there's three different chambers. You have your left chamber, your center chamber,
and your right chamber. The outer chambers use a very specific type
of gear oil. You cannot use anything else in it, except
for what BMW recommends, because there is a friction modifier in that fluid that is
required for the torque vectoring to work properly. And then you have your center chamber, which
is where your ring and pinion are that uses a traditional 75 90 gear oil. So, very important to know that if you're
servicing that specific differential, you need to be aware of the fluids and the products
that you're buying to service it, because it is not traditional product with the exception
just that center chamber. But it's the outer differentials that you
really want to make sure you're putting the correct fluid in. Gareth Foley:
So now we talked about the mechanics of the F15X5 and the F85X5M, let's talk about basically
the chassis. And so I think one thing that's worth noting
is the F15X5, or this generation of X5 in general is almost like a facelift model for
the previous generation E70X5. Basically what BMW did is the rear design
of the car, if you compared an E70 to an F15, they almost look identical from the rear. The biggest change is going to be to the front,
which basically they carried over the F30 design architecture. So for example, how the headlights meet up
with the grills. But from a chassis standpoint, there's really
not much that they changed from the second generation X5. It's a double wishbone front suspension. So you have an upper control arm, two lower,
and a huge aluminum knuckle that comes all the way down the front. Gareth Foley:
That particular suspension, we do have a diagnostic video that talks about that along with DIY
videos that show you how to replace those components, but the one major problem with
that style front suspension, at least how BMW uses it, there is no camber adjustment
unless you buy the camber correction control arms, which are very expensive. However, I'm glad to say that we do offer
an alternative option from Miley HD, which does have a slotted ball joint that you can
move in and out and correct the camera that way. That is the one limitation that is on the
front suspension of these cars. Gareth Foley:
Rear suspension is an integral link rear suspension. It's been around since '95 with the E387 series. Every single BMW that's used an integral link
rear suspension, they all look basically the same. It's been very effective, really good at maintaining
suspension geometry through suspension travel, which is why BMW uses it. BMW did enlarge in the F15 over the E70. So the third row option is a little bit more
of a common option. All the third row cars use a self level rear
suspension. So AKA air suspension. In terms of a long term maintenance thing,
that might be something you want to avoid. If the vehicle doesn't have third row seating,
it's most likely going to have coil springs in the rear. Gareth Foley:
And so I think the last thing we really got to talk about here is brakes and also the
tire situation. We'll talk about brakes first. Brakes on these cars, honestly not a huge
difference, at least with the standard brakes between any other BMW you'd ever seen. But whether it's an xDrive50i or whether it
is a xDrive35i or sDrive35i, your standard brakes are going to be pretty much run of
the mill BMW stuff that you've come to see if you've ever owned one before. With that said, if you buy an X5M for example,
that's going to be a little bit of a different setup. That's going to be a multi piston front caliber
or radio mounted caliber, big semi floating rotors. So that's a little bit of a different situation. Gareth Foley:
And I think one thing that's interesting to note on the F15X5, BMW carried over the parts
bin from the E70X5M, and you can retrofit the E70X5M brakes onto any F15X5 if you want
to do it. And I think it's worth noting too, at least
on the F15X5, mention tires. Tires are pretty much going to be run flats
from the factory. Could definitely say run flat tires definitely
degrade the ride quality of the car. That's just by the very nature. Run flats are extremely expensive. So when it comes to servicing these vehicles
those long term, you may choose not to use a run flat tire. It's not a requirement from BMW that you use
a run flat tire. Transitioning from run flats to non run flats,
the ride quality of the car increases dramatically. So just something to keep in the back of your
mind. Outside of them being extremely expensive,
they also degrade the ride quality of the car significantly. Gareth Foley:
But anyway, we hope that you learned a lot in this video. And we certainly hope that we answered any
questions that you might have had about BMW's third generation X5. If you have any personal experience with this
car yourself, go to leave in the comment box below, or if you have any questions also leave
in the comment box below. We'd be happy to get you back and answer those
questions. Hit that like button if you like this video
and hit subscribe. Like we said, we have a lot more videos coming
out on the F15X5. And as always, we'll see you for the next
one. Thanks for watching.
