BMW is trying to keep ahead of the curve these days, and they know that apart from offering efficient engines and ludicrously powerful cars they also need to bring their A-Game in terms of technology inside the cabin. By that we’re referring to things that make your life easier and more comfortable while onboard rather that straight up performance.
Sure, offering cars that can easily partake in a proper racing event and then be driven straight home without breaking a sweat will always be enticing. However, think of how many people buy those cars and how many of those again, are capable of squeezing that performance out. Not too many, right?
Well, the rest of us, ordinary drivers, might prefer a car with less performance but that is safe and easy to drive even in the worst conditions. That’s why we took a fully decked BMW X5 out for a spin to see what the Germans are offering in this department.
Our tester was fitted with almost everything you can tick from the configurator in terms of technology. From the Comfort Seats (that are worth every extra penny for longer trips, by the way) to the Night Vision system with pedestrian detection. Let’s take it one step at a time though.
The new iDrive system
What hits you as soon as you start up the car is the instrument panel that is no longer analog. On new models, everything is digital, and the cluster of our X5 was no different. What needs to be mentioned about this particular option is that it feels ages ahead of what the competition is offering.
The display is crystal clear, and the matte finish makes sure you’ll be able to read it even in the most powerful sun. On top of that, the colors feel just right, and the resolution is higher than on anything the competition if offering and yes, we include Audi, Porsche and especially Mercedes-Benz here.
The same can be said about the new iDrive screen that due to a new graphics processor has more fluid movements and an even better resolution. The new Professional Navigation maps now feature buildings in 3D renderings near you so you can find your way even easier.
Another interesting trick we noticed while testing the car was that when you use the split screen option, the right side of the iDrive display will show you exactly the way you need to go, with enhanced graphics and bolder signs. The same design is then transferred to your Head-Up Display that now has even better visibility all around.
BMW Parking Assistant
Our X5 was also fitted with the Surround View system that offer you a bird’s eye view of the car when in tight corners. Thanks to carefully placed cameras up front and in the back, this features makes navigating busy city streets an easy task, and we’d recommend it especially in cars with limited visibility like Coupes or Gran Coupes.
In case, parallel parking isn’t your forte, for €550 in Germany and $500 in the US you can get the BMW Parking Assistant. What this does is add a small radar to the front bumper of your car that measures the open spaces on the sides of the road as you drive past them.
When a suitable parking space for your car is found, the feature lets you know and can park your vehicle autonomously. All you need to do is keep pressing the (P) button on the center console and it’s all smooth sailing from there. As we found out, it works quite well, 90 percent of the parking jobs attempted being successful. You can check it out in the videos below. Starting this summer, BMW will also be rolling out the new parking assistant that helps you park your car transversely as well.
However, an experienced driver will never use the system simply because it takes too long to activate. For those still struggling with parallel parking, it could prove to be a life saver though.
BMW Night Vision with Pedestrian Detection
Going outside the busy city streets you usually deal with you’ll find another couple of useful technologies shine brightly. On the day of our test drive, we were ‘lucky’ enough to have a substantial, thick fog layer wrap around our city. That’s when BMW’s Night Vision system came out to play.
The new device uses an infrared camera mounted in the kidney grilles that scans the road ahead. Using thermal imaging you can spot pedestrians or cars ahead of you even if your visibility is hindered. Furthermore, the Pedestrian Detection function will shoot beams of light from the specially fitted LED fog lights, highlighting the nearby pedestrians or animals and warning you of potential dangers. You can watch it in action in the video below.
BMW Adaptive LEDs Headlights
The LED headlights with adaptive selective beam are nothing new. They have been around for quite some time, but we’re always glad to see them in action.
Using a camera mounted in the windscreen, right behind the rearview mirror, the car’s safety systems read the traffic ahead of you and from the oncoming lane. Therefore, the system automatically adjusts the LED beam accordingly, to make sure no traffic participant is ever blinded.
When approaching a car from behind, the light will be dispersed all around it, creating a cone of shadow right behind it so that visibility is at its best at all times. When there’s a car coming from the opposite lane, the same LED beams are adjusted so that you have maximum visibility on the road ahead of you but without blinding the other drivers.
Since it was foggy when we were driving this particular X5, the video below shows exactly how all of this is possible.
Automatic Cruise Control with Stop & Go and Active Driving Assistant
Using a forward facing camera and a radar, the Automatic Cruise Control function with Stop & Go is possibly the best feature of the car we tested. That’s because we found it a joy to use inside crowded cities.
While BMW has a traffic jam assistant available, that system only works on motorways and at speeds over 60 km/h (37 mph). That’s all good and helpful for highways but around town is borderline useless. That’s where ACC shines.
We found that using it inside towns can be done easily. Just set the speed you want to travel with (let’s say 50 km/h or 30 mph) and then start the ACC. The car will follow the car in front of you up to the speed you chose and brake automatically behind it. You can even choose the distance you want you vehicle to keep from the one in front.
After reaching a full stop all you need to do is gently touch the gas pedal and your car will start following the one in front again. It’s important to note that the ACC with Stop & Go doesn’t start from a standstill all on its own.
Bang & Olufsen Sound System
Priced at $4,500 in the US and €3,950 this is supposed to be the best sound system you can get for a BMW. In all honesty, it depends far too much on the car it is fitted on. Chance had us testing this BMW X5 just one day before picking up the brand new X6 M50d for a quick test, and we noticed just how much of a difference there can be between implementations.
While on the SUV the sound was crisp, offering perfect highs, mids, and lows, on the SAC things weren’t all that great. Sure, there was plenty of volume but distortions reached an unbearable level after passing 50 percent on the volume button.
Maybe the X6 had a problem (and we guess that was the case) but that should never happen when you pay that much for the B&O badge.
The system also allows you to set up the perfect sound for your preferred style of music, but we didn’t want to play around with the equalizer too much. We were satisfied with how it sounded in its standard, more or less flat setting.
As a quick word of advice, we do recommend using a USB stick or a DVD for the best quality as a Bluetooth connection doesn’t offer the best sound possible. The differences are quite noticeable.
All of this tech will also be available on future models, including the new BMW G11 7 Series that will be launched this autumn in Frankfurt. The new flagship will also bring a plethora of new tech to the mix though.
The most important highlights will be the gesture control function (that allows you to control various functions mimicking gestures), the touch-sensitive screen for iDrive, remote parking and augmented reality.
For now, we only have a small idea of how they will work but the production versions should show us how the tech on all future BMWs will look like over the next 7 years.
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