Extremely long post ahead. Ive got an x45e on order, waiting on allocation.
My wife and I are coming from a minivan. Our kids are older so we don't need that much space anymore. We wanted a two-row SUV but were OK with a three-row if it ticked the rest of the boxes and the third row was actually usable.
This is mainly going to be a road trip vehicle. We have an EV for around town and trips shorter than about 250 miles round trip. I work from home half time; when I drive my commute is around 40 miles round trip and I have access to L2 EV chargers at work. My wife bicycles to work. An X5 is overkill for our needs most of the time.
Our main criteria were:
- Towing capacity of at least 5,000 pounds (we have a small trailer/carvan)
- Fuel economy
- Interior noise (road noise gets oppressive on long trips)
- Day-to-day storage, including a place to put both a reusable coffee cup and a big Klean Kanteen/Hydroflask water bottle in the front row and preferably a place to put a purse
On the last item, its amazing how many family SUVs here in the US fail on that criteria. These are road trip cars and family haulers. Give us more practical storage. In my minivan I can fit two 1L/32oz water bottles in each front door, plus four more good-sized bottles in the front row alone. And that doesn't even take up half of the front door storage. Many SUVs cant even fit a regular-sized reusable water bottle anywhere, let alone a big one. Im looking at you, Kia/Hyundai and Toyota. Sheesh. The Kia salesperson was pretty astonished that this was actually a deal-breaker. It would annoy me every single time I got in the car.
Given how few vehicles have a purse-storage zone, my wife let that one go. Kudos to Buick and Nissan/Infiniti for getting this one right.
I looked at lots of vehicles throughout late 2021 and into 2022. At least, the ones that could be found on dealer lots to try out. I did not start out in luxury territory. We looked at GM, Ford, Nissan/Infiniti, Kia/Hyundai, Jeep, Toyota, Acura/Honda, Volvo, Audi Im probably forgetting some.
Eventually the search narrowed down to the new 2-row Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Buick Enclave.
We were really close to ordering a new Grand Cherokee. The redesign is pretty nice, and the tow ratings are 7,200 for the gas engine and 6,000 for the PHEV. Three things put us off. The powertrain is aged and the engine noise under load was pretty darn loud. The Grand Cherokee 4xe was very interesting but ultimately I didn't want to tow with a 4 cylinder, even though I know there are quite a few four-cylinders rated at 5,000 or more pounds of towing capacity. And in both cases it's a brand new year for the design and the 4xe is still not available to try out despite the original winter 2022 launch date.
The Buick was pretty nice. Not sporty, but quiet, powerful, and pretty composed. Factory tow package tows 5,000 pounds. It fits big water bottles and has a nice pass-through under the center console where my wife could put her purse. I don't need three rows, but the ones in the Enclave are usable and the second-row captain's chairs are nice (and what my family expects since we've had those in the minivan for 15 years).
But the Enclave interior noise levels varied a lot from vehicle to vehicle as we drove a few. The other thing that was off-putting is the sales model is very much a "buy it off the dealer lot" approach. Yet no dealers had what we wanted on the lot and were pretty unwilling to order one.
We looked at the X5 x45e initially just to get an idea of what spending about $10K more (factoring in the hybrid tax credit) from the Buick would do. On paper it was a pretty good fit. 6,000 pounds of towing in the hybrid, quiet, and fuel economy that could be pretty good depending on how hard I drive it and how often I can charge.
The more we looked at it, the more it seemed like a really good value. The I-6 coupled with the electric should be a good tow vehicle for when I need it, and more practical around town when I dont. The driving assistance tech is worlds beyond anything a non-luxury brand is offering. And, lack of acoustic glass notwithstanding, its quiet. (And Im willing to add the acoustic glass later if needs be.)
The cost to insure it is $4/year less than the Buick. Surprisingly the Jeep was substantially less to insure, despite all the marketing about those vehicles going off-road.
I am very curious to see what kind of road trip fuel economy the X5 delivers. I have read a lot of threads and while the combined electric/gas mileage is hard to compute, Im hoping to see ~25 miles per US gallon or more. I'm defining a road trip as a trip over a few hundred miles where chances to recharge are few and far between.
What dont I like?
I dearly wish it had a bigger on-board charger. I have an EV with a 7.2kW charger and it adds about 25 miles/hour on 240V/L2 charging. It would be really nice if the 45e could be recharged in 2 hours. Id like a bit more electric range but its the charging rate thats really the problem. I plug my EV into the L2 charger outside the market/Target all the time, and by the time I come back out Ive added anywhere from 6 to 25 miles. That would be really meaningful on the 45e. But alas.
(Edit: given my desire for quietude, the one option Im really missing is acoustic glass. There are others like dynamic handling and four wheel steering that I would have considered, too. But Id be building with the glass for sure.)
It's unfortunate how many of the driver assistance features don't work when towing or with a hitch-mounted bike rack. I am looking forward to better understanding the limitations when I have the vehicle. I don't expect traffic jam assist to work while towing, but the blind spot indicatorsat least for vehicles directly to the sideshould. Correct me if I'm wrong on this.
I wish it didnt require premium fuel. Many of the vehicles I looked at didn't.
And while it fits big water bottles in the door, theres no purse storage zone. Door storage is lacking overall, and the center console is pretty small, especially if there's a phone charging in there.
It needs more 12V power points or USB ports in the front. The new Nissan Pathfinder has a great phone shelf above the glove compartment. More vehicles should steal that idea. A 110V inverter is available in many of the competing vehicles. USB-C has made that less important, but there are many things that either don't run on DC power or where the adapter is cost-prohibitive. Stick an AC outlet in the back of the center console like many other manufacturers do.
I wish the off-road package were still available or the PHEV could be built with regular tires. I am not a rock crawler, but do a few fire roads every year with the minivan, and would like to do some rougher roads. I fully expect the X5 to be able to do anything "off-road" that the Honda Odyssey could. I'll be disappointed if it can't.
For what its worth, I loved our minivan. I know they don't get a lot of respect on car forums, but they are incredibly practicalwe towed with it, road-tripped, and even moved an upright piano inside of itand the sliding doors are amazing. Plus they drive like a regular (Accord, Camry) sedan. If there was a luxury-ish minivan that could tow more, I'd seriously have considered it, even if we don't need that kind of space anymore.
