“No review of this BMW X5 would be complete without a mention of my favourite features.”
“How’s the new car?” As someone who normally drives an old banger, I’ve never had so much interest from friends and family about a car before. You see, we’ve been driving the BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid for the past 3 months. As I explained in my previous blog post, we’d been searching for an eco-friendly family car for a year. So, when BMW approached me about road testing their BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid, I jumped at the chance. Because you can charge the car with 100% renewable energy, I’ve been whizzing round London on electric power all summer.
So, how did we get on with it? Did it fit a family of five, with three child car seats, into it? What about the fact it’s a hybrid, was it easy to charge? And how much does it cost to charge a Plug-in Hybrid car? Well, it goes without saying that this car drives like a dream. BMW lent us their M Sport version, so 0-60 in 5.6 seconds was pretty fun. And if you ever fancy trying it yourself, click here to book a test drive. We drove the car 600 miles down to the South of France, and also enjoyed seeing much of London in it. But all these questions, and hopefully more, I promise to answer in this BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid Review. So do keep on reading.
BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid Review
The driving experience
I’ve never driven a luxury SUV before, or an automatic, but it is a lovely experience. Why? Well, for starters, you’re a lot higher up which means that visibility of the road is so much better. The car is wide at 2 meters. But, up front, you can see the sides of the car so navigating tight spots in London isn’t an issue. Plus, the car comes with sensors and 360 degree cameras shown on the front display screen, that quickly alert you to anything you might collide with (!)
The BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid comes as an automatic, which is much more straight forward to drive than a manual. And, you can programme the car to automatically park every time you stop. So, you never have to worry about putting the handbrake on. The width of the car also makes it a very comfortable drive for all. There’s plenty of leg room in the foot wells even when travelling with extra bags.
BMW have thought of all those little things that make a journey less stressful. Things like, automatic lights and windscreen wipers, plus a steering wheel that you can move into the perfect position. My favourite feature is the front windscreen that projects both the BMW’s Navigation Map and speed limit/car speed. As soon as you exceed the speed limit, this figure turns red as a warning, so naturally you slow down. I was pleased to learn this feature works abroad, in France, and also where there are temporary speed restrictions.
Does it fit a family of five in?
Having three children is a real game changer; family tickets, holiday accommodation and multipacks generally come in fours. And many cars only fit two child car seats in the back. So, the million dollar question: does the BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid fit in three car seats?
Now, we have three children aged 6, 4 & 0. Our current configuration of car seats is as follows: Two Maxi-Cosi Rodifix (group 2/3) and one Maxi-Cosi CabrioFix (group 0+). With these car seats yes three children do fit in the back of the car. It’s a little fiddly to strap people in, but very doable. We use seat-belt secured seats and the car has two Isofix points. The BMW X5 does come in a 7 seater, which would give a third Isofix point, but not as Plug-in Hybrid version. This is because the battery pack goes where the third row would.
What about boot space?
The BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid is a very spacious car. And it does have a generous boot space of 500 litres. This is smaller than the petrol/diesel version due to the hybrid battery pack. That said, we easily fitted everything in for a family holiday to the South of France. Also, it has generous side wells for things like water bottles, sunglasses and other car gubbins (!) And the seat wells are very deep, so you could easily fit a bag or two beneath the children’s feet without making them uncomfortable.
How to charge a hybrid car?
Everyone wanted to know how to charge a hybrid car. And actually, charging the car was very simple. Each charge point is owned by a company for which you need to be a member. We joined Source London as it had the largest number of charging stations near to our house, and also provides 100% green energy. You can reserve your slot (up to 40 minutes in advance) and park and charge at the same time, which makes life so much easier. This can even be done in central London with an additional cost of 1.4p per minute in the boroughs of Camden, Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster. You park your car, and then literally plug in the cable, just like you’d plug in your mobile phone.
Was it easy to find an EV charge point space?
We live in zone three and didn’t find it difficult at all, although I’m guessing demand may change based on location. We found a charging station two streets away from us (a five-minute walk). There are three electric chargers there, so I expected to struggle to get a spot. But capacity was never an issue. We even managed to find somewhere to charge it on holiday in rural southern France, which I was amazed at. Though in France we were able to plug it in where we were staying. That said, if everyone in London switches to a Plug-in Hybrid or electric car, with the current number of chargers it could become problematic. With Sadiq Khan’s expansion of ULEZ in October 2021, councils will be under pressure to put in more charging points.
How much does it cost to charge a BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid?
Before you buy a Plug-in-Hybrid car, you need to do your research as to where you will charge your car. The cost of charging a Plug-in Hybrid car can differ considerably and naturally this will affect how expensive your car is to run. One thing to note, is that the BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid charges at a maximum rate of 3.7kw (AC). This will take 5.2 hours to charge the car battery from 0-80%. It cannot be rapidly charged. Plugging it in at home is the cheapest way to run your car, though using a 3 pin plug (3kw) will take 9 hours.
So, how much does it cost to charge a BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid? Obviously it depends on how much you pay for your electricity. So, I’ve put in a sum below so you can work it out for yourself:
- The car battery has a capacity of 24kwh
- 1kwh = 1 unit of electricity
- So if 1 unit costs 15p, a full charge costs:
24x15p = £3.60 for 54 miles of electric driving
So approx. 6.7p per mile.
How much does it cost to charge a hybrid car at a public station?
Living in a terraced house with on street parking means that we’re unable to plug the car in at home. Naturally you pay more at a commercial charging station, particularly as they often have higher wattage charge points for rapid charging. You can still charge your BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid at one of these stations, but you will pay more without the rapid charging benefit. There are various companies who provide public charging. Around London there are many including: Pod-Point, who charge 26p per kwh, ESB EV Solutions at 25p per kwh or Source London who have 7kW & 22kW chargers so are more expensive. These companies require you to have an inexpensive membership, so if you need to use a public charger regularly it is worth sorting before you buy your car.
What about MPG?
MPG for those who don’t know (like me) are miles per gallon, so what mpg does the BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid have? The official figures from BMW’s brochure are “188.3-235.4 mpg” for combined fuel/electric. That said, when driving it fully loaded, to France with bikes on the top the mpg won’t be anywhere near as good. We do a mix of long journeys where we use the petrol engine and shorter journeys on pure electric around London. We are running it currently at about 100 mpg. MPG will depend on the ratio of electric to petrol driving that you do.
My favourite features of the BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid
A BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid review wouldn’t be complete without a mention of my favourite features. Now as I’ve said before, I’m really not a car person. But there are several things about this car that just make it a pleasure to drive. Where shall I start?
The car can park itself
How about the fact that the car can park itself? Yes, there is a parking assist button that you can press and it will literally do it all for you. You just select the place and orientation that you’d like to park in. I won’t lie, it took me a while to get my head around this and feel confident I wouldn’t crash. But you can override the system at any time using the brake or steering wheel. It’s an incredibly useful tool for parallel parking in busy London with kids screaming in the background (!)
Creature comforts
Small things can make a real difference to the comfort of your journey, and this car has an abundance of little things that make me happy. Things like climate control. You can set the temperature of the car to be different on each side, so no arguing with my husband over the air con settings. Or how about the sun-roof? When driving in sunshine with music blaring through the Harman/Kardon® speakers, it made me feel about 18 again! And while we’re talking about the speakers, my husband will want me to mention that the sound quality is incredible. You can hear beats and musical notes that you didn’t know existed in a song.
Also, there are cup holders that will either cool or warm your drinks, bringing joy to my morning routine with hot tea. BMW’s Navigation Map, to ensure I never get lost. Heated seats for chilly days and that time of the month. And the My BMW app that tells you the security settings. So, when that little voice in my head says, “you haven’t locked the car”, I can have a quick look at the app on my phone and feel instantly relieved.
So, how much does the BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid cost?
I’ve been driving the BMW X5 xDrive45e M Sport, and they start at £69,915 on the road. As you can see from all I’ve written the BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid is a luxury SUV. And as they say in life you get what you pay for.
My Final Thoughts in this BMW X5 Plug-in Review
Before I drove this car, I felt that having any form of electric car in London just wasn’t workable. My concern was the infrastructure wasn’t there and living in a terraced house I was very aware that we couldn’t charge the car at home. However, getting a space to charge the car wasn’t a problem and charging just became part of our routine. So, would I buy/lease a Plug-in Hybrid car based on these past three months? Absolutely. The BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid has all the excellent qualities you expect from BMW, but the icing on the cake is the electric part. NO2 air pollution near my children’s school is above 58 ug/m3 which is the worst category from London Air. So, being able to drive past it on electric feels so good. Now I just have to twist BMW’s arm and see if they’ll let me keep it!
If there is any topic I haven’t covered in this BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid review that you’d like to know more about. Please comment below and I’ll get back to you.
And if you fancy booking that test drive, then please click here.
All prices quoted are correct at time of going to press and are subject to changes.
#AD This is a sponsored post in collaboration with BMW, but all opinions are, as always, my own.
What a brilliant article. Answering all my questions. Thank you
Author
So glad you liked it! Thanks Kirsty x
Answered all my questions. Thanks