Got A 2020 BMW X5 M50i

[Frenetic]

I had an SQ8 on order (with a discount), but I was offered a great deal on this that I couldn't pass up. My payments are lower than my S7 lease. I know that's not saying much with Audi's poor (realistic) residuals, but I'm saving over $400 a month versus what would have been my SQ8 lease (and I put $1000 less down).

This car was on the lot and almost fully loaded. The only thing it didn't have (that I wanted) was acoustic glass, but it's a lot quieter than my S7 with acoustic glass, so I'm fine with that.

I haven't driven it much, but this thing is fast. It feels just as fast as my S7. The mid-level Harmon Kardon stereo is much better than the Bose in my S7. The technology is a bit overwhelming; there's so many menus and sub-menus and multiple ways to do that same thing that it's a bit bewildering, but I'm sure I'll get use to it. The entire hand gesture thing is a gimmick if you ask me; I'll probably never use it, but I do appreciate the I Drive dial, which Audi unfortunately ditched. I greatly appreciate the fact that I can use the touchscreen or dial. Also, I never had a car with massaging seats and it's awesome.

It's comfortable, even in Sports Mode (it has air suspension, but not the dynamic handling package). Another neat trick is that it can park itself. The dealer demonstrated this in the lot and it can find and back into a parking space without any input from me. It was a bit unnerving, but it worked.

One thing I don't like is the instrument cluster. While I haven't gone through everything yet, the way the gauges are setup just seems weird to me: it's not intuitive. Also, for it being a full digital screen, it doesn't seem as configurable or changeable as the newer Audi virtual cockpit. Also, I can't figure out how to permanently turn off the auto start/stop. Also, it doesn't remember the last mode you were in and defaults to comfort every time. I'm hoping I can change these as a OBD-adjustable item.

In any case, I'm really, really enjoying it. Even though the S7 was "roomy" (at least by my standards), this thing has way more space and is very comfortable and very fast. Maybe in three years I'll slide back into another Audi.

[Alister]

Congrats on the new car. And damn that's a big front grille!

I quite like the iDrive system. Once you get your head around it, it's quite intuitive.

[19birel]

Congrats on the X5 M50i ! I get to drive those a good bit as I work at a dealership as a BMW Genius and they are amazing cars!

Couple tips: The Harman Kardon system sounds even better if you adjust the equalizer settings and turn up the surround effect. Google "BMW Harmon Kardon equalizer settings" and you'll eventually stumble on a thread that gives a bunch of setting suggestions depending on what type of music you predominantly listen too

Voice command is your friend, it works incredibly well for nav and phone calls, if you press and hold the voice command button then you can use Siri

Auto Start/Stop cannot be permanently disabled and Comfort is the default driving mode due to emissions regulations, not sure about programming those out on your own though. Most people use CARLY for such tweaks

The "radio preset" buttons can be programmed to literally anything, nav destinations, various menus in the idrive, specific phone contacts (if you use bluetooth instead of carplay) etc. just highlight whatever you want to save with the idrive controller and then press and hold on the desire preset button until it beeps. Great feature that few actually know about it seems.

Have fun with the new car!

[Frenetic]

Nice, thanks for the tips!

Congrats on the X5 M50i ! I get to drive those a good bit as I work at a dealership as a BMW Genius and they are amazing cars!

Couple tips: The Harman Kardon system sounds even better if you adjust the equalizer settings and turn up the surround effect. Google "BMW Harmon Kardon equalizer settings" and you'll eventually stumble on a thread that gives a bunch of setting suggestions depending on what type of music you predominantly listen too

Voice command is your friend, it works incredibly well for nav and phone calls, if you press and hold the voice command button then you can use Siri

Auto Start/Stop cannot be permanently disabled and Comfort is the default driving mode due to emissions regulations, not sure about programming those out on your own though. Most people use CARLY for such tweaks

The "radio preset" buttons can be programmed to literally anything, nav destinations, various menus in the idrive, specific phone contacts (if you use bluetooth instead of carplay) etc. just highlight whatever you want to save with the idrive controller and then press and hold on the desire preset button until it beeps. Great feature that few actually know about it seems.

Have fun with the new car!

[low-profile]

You are going to love it. My wife has the pedestrian version with the straight 6, it’s a great suv. Much like you, the deals that BMW offered us were too good to pass up.


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine

[gkott78]

Beautiful ride!! I have been eyeing this exact vehicle up, as I have 2 small kids (5 year old and 20 month old). As they continue to grow, the A6 is feeling smaller and smaller. I'm keeping my A6 to mod and have fun with, but may be looking to lease an SUV. Good to know about the lease deal vs the SQ8, thank you for sharing!

[Frenetic]

Thanks.

This thing is legitimately faster than my S7. It’s crazy. Maybe because I’m sitting so high up the speed feels even more pronounced, and yeah it’s way more roomy inside. My S7 feels claustrophobic by comparison.

[Lilrckt]

You are going to love it. We are on our second diesel one. Perfect for the family, tows the boat and travel trailer.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Audizine mobile app

[Frenetic]

Another thing that’s definitely worth noting: my car insurance went down a whopping $70 per month for the same coverage vs my S7.

One thing that I found curious is that my S7 was listed as an “S7” on my policy, but my X5 M50i (M lite) is just listed as a simple, plain X5 on my policy. They don’t differentiate the M lite from the standard model unlike the Audi S vs A. I was curious if there was a difference for an X5M vs X5 and indeed there was: the quoted value went way up and was the same as my S7! The ironic thing is my X5 M50i is faster and more powerful than my S7 and the X5M is leagues faster. I wonder if the RS7 is even more expensive to insure than the S7 and X5M...