4000km round trip to the Cape and back brings out the very best of brilliant X5sd

A couple of weeks ago we needed to travel to the Cape with the family and were a bit peeved when we couldn?t get a flight for under R20 000 for the four of us.

What the hell, I thought, why not drive down ? I hadn't driven that road in ten years or so, so we booked accomodation at Graaf Reniet on the way back and were up and on the road at 4am Sunday morning.

We arrived at Franschhoek just past 2pm after stopping for breakfast at Bloem, refuelling there and at Beaufort West (and a short while later again for a R200 visitor's certificate) and we spent about ten minutes in waiting at the well-managed Karoo road works stop-and-gos.

The X5 was awesome ? cruising brilliantly, overtaking like a supercar when asked and sipping just 12.6 litres per hundred for the round trip in spite of consistent 100-mile-an-hour-plus averages all day long.

That biturbo six is seamless in its delivery and even more impressive in the thick Cape air. But in any conditions ? even at the 1800m peak we got to on the way back, its throttle response impressed most ? immediate, reliable and peerless from just about any speed upward. That also means that the cruise control is super effective ? flick it on at the right speed and forget about it.

Another huge plus is comfort ? the kids were perfectly happy in the back, reading, playing I-spy or on their gameboy, while in front the missus caught up on some well earned sleep. I emerged quite fresh at the end of the trip despite a hell of a tiring week leading up, including a family wedding the day before where the X5 was the proud bridesmaid bearer.

The trip back was even better ? starting off more relaxed, I got home fresh and eager despite heavier than expected traffic from Bloemfontein in. We drove back as mentioned via Graaf Reniet and I have to report a superb afternoon driving through the glorious Karoo in a car that made the drive all that much more awe inspiring.

I say car deliberately ? X5 may be what they call a truck in the US, except for that command driving position, but not once did I feel I was driving a truck. Nobody complained about the swift manner in which I tackled the various passes en route ? even when the guy in the OPC was shocked rigid by what a 'truck' can do ? because quite simply, it?s a car and not a truck.

It was a brilliant week away ? made all that much better by the glorious manner in which we got there and back and travelled around the Cape ? the X5 made skipping flying all that much more worth it.

Before I forget, we promised we'd get back on the problem with the front row adjustment. I ended up fixing it myself after running out of time to get to a dealer ? the cross bar joining the seat release levers had come adrift and just pushed back in ? all it needed was a bit of extreme (for me, anyway) contortion to get to it all.

Seems the carwash vacuum fellow dislodged it while cleaning in there.

Long-term logbook

BMW X5 3.0sd aka xDrive 3.5d

Test commenced: May 2008

List Price New: R652 500

List Price Now: R687 000

Odo on Arrival 2750km

Odo Now: 19 330km

We Like: Great performance, good dynamics, cool cabin, decent economy

We Don't: iDrive shortcomings, parking bays

Summary: The best of all worlds

CiA Rating: 9

Test Fuel Consumption: 12.6/100km

Fuel capacity: 85 litres