2007 BMW X5

March 14, 2007 - Despite the fact that every automaker under the sun is attaching the hot new "crossover" tag to as many vehicles as it can, BMW is content to keep on calling its X5 a "SAV" - or "Sports Activity Vehicle". We never liked this "SAV" tag to begin with, so we're kind of disappointed that BMW is carrying it over to its brand new generation of X5. The 2007 X5 is definitely high on "sport" and "vehicle", but we're not too sure where the "activity" comes into play. This latest X5 is fun to drive, but is it practical? Styling The new X5 certainly looks practical - to 95-percent of Orange County-based housewives at least. Unless you're a die-hard BMW fanatic, you would be hard-pressed to distinguish the new X5 from the old one. Apparently that's what BMW was going for - an evolution rather than revolution in design. The 2007 X5 is instantly recognizable as an X5; though a closer look will reveal that the new car is larger than the last generation.
This latest SAV is larger because it rides on a brand new chassis, meaning that the X5's sheetmetal is all new as well. Yeah, new sheetmetal - we couldn't tell, either. Even when we look at the two generations of X5 side by side, we can kind of tell that the new car's design has changed... we just can't say exactly how it's different. We can see that the new X5 gets a little more flamed surfacing, but that's about it. It's gonna be hard for new X5 owners to "wow" their friends at South Coast Plaza when the new-for-'07 Bimmer looks like the X5 from 1999.