BMW Launched an “Affordable” X5 Variant In India

The 2014 BMW X5 made its debut at the Delhi Auto Expo and was subsequently launched at Rs 70.9 lakh towards the end of May. Moving ahead, BMW has now launched a more “affordable” variant called the Expedition at Rs 64.9 Lakh i.e. gap of Rs 6 lakh. While the car still boasts of the xDrive’s abilities there are certain cut backs, like, the base variant is available only as a five-seater.

Besides the third row of seat, the X5 Expedition also misses out on a few creature comforts like the BMW Apps, handwriting recognition system, navigation system, built-in hard drive and the 16-speaker music system, which has been replaced with a 9-speaker unit. BMW has also skimped on the launch control and electric seats with lumbar support while the wood finish in the interiors has been restricted to the American Oak trim only.

Additionally, the BMW X5 Expedition gets bi-xenon headlamps instead of adaptive LED units; there are no LED fog lamps. The gearbox is a standard Steptronic 8-speed unit instead of the Steptronic Sport version used in the more expensive X5.

But open the bonnet and the X5 Expedition is as powerful as the XDrive version. It continues to house the 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder diesel engine which produces 258bhp and 560Nm of torque. The X5 is quite powerful, churning out 190 KW at 4000 rpm. It’s also equipped with a twin-power turbo, six-cylinder 3L diesel engine. Thanks to torque of 560Nm, it sprints 0-100 km/h in 6.9 seconds with a top speed of 230 km/h.

The driver can choose to drive in four modes – ECOPRO, Comfort, Sport and Sport+ and the X5 is aided by adaptive suspension. The list of safety features includes attention assist/lane departure warning, front and side airbags for all passengers, Cornering Braking Control system, Dynamic Stability and many more.

The X5 expedition, just as it is in the case of the X5 xdrive,will be locally assembled at the company’s facility in Chennai. The main focus at this time for BMW, while launching the base variant with competitive price tag, is to attempt to increase its volumes by capturing a wider range of audience and giving its competitors, the Audi Q7 and the Mercedes-Benz M-Class, a run for their money.

By Varun Mohan