It's hard to believe that 1999 was the first year of production for the X5. Introduced for model year 2020 in the United States, the X5 celebrates a quarter of a century in this part of the world in the form of a special edition based on the xDrive40i.
Enter the X5 Silver Anniversary Edition, which is limited to 1,000 units at $79,900 apiece. Of course, final pricing exceeds eighty grand because of the $1,175 destination charge. Standard goodies include the xOffroad Package and BMW Individual Lime Rock Grey metallic paint, which should be renamed to Gray because American English is a different animal from the UK's British English.
xOffroad Package is the short way of saying air suspension for both axles, four drive modes for snow, sand, gravel, and rocky terrain, as well as underbody protection. A mechanical rear diff lock is also included, along with a front camera that supports the driver at speeds no higher than 22 miles per hour (that would be 35 kilometers per hour in the metric system).
The overlanding theme continues with all-weather floor mats, a roof rack, a luggage compartment mat, and a discount on General Grabber All-Terrain rubber. Said tires can be purchased and installed at any BMW dealer in the United States of America.
xOffroad Package is currently exclusive to the X5 Silver Anniversary Edition, which further sweetens the deal with standard Carbon Fiber interior trim pieces, M Star wheels, Extended Shadowline goodies, and special badging. Blending styling details from Sport and M Sport designs, this utility vehicle foregoes the M Sport Package's rocker panels and bumpers for the aluminum-accented pieces from the Sport Design Package.
Photo: BMW
Customers are presented with four seat upholsteries, namely Cognac, Coffee, Black, or Silverstone Sensafin. Despite being an xDrive40i rather than an M60i, this fellow is loaded with tech, including BMW Maps navigation with Augmented Reality display and a full-color head-up display.
xDrive40i is the next step up from the base sDrive40i, which – as implied – is rear-wheel drive instead of all-wheel drive. Prices kick off at $65,700 and $68,000 before taxes, respectively, and both 40i models are listed with a zero-to-60 time (make that zero to 97 kph) of 5.3 seconds.
The B58 straight-six hiding underhood is a single-turbo affair with eBoost mild-hybrid assistance. It produces a very respectable 375 horsepower at 5,200 revolutions per minute and 398 pound-feet (540 Nm) of twist at 1,850 revolutions per minute, with most of those resources going to all four wheels via ZF's well-known 8HP torque-converter automatic transmission.
The X5 racked up 14,923 deliveries in the US during the first quarter of 2024, putting it behind the X3's 16,488 deliveries. On that note, BMW claims that Silver Anniversary Edition X5 will enter production at the Spartanburg assembly plant in Greer, South Carolina in August 2024.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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