Well, no, not exactly. BMW calls its new concoction a Sports Activity Vehicle. The company notes that in the luxury class, fewer than 4 percent of owners EVER get off-road, so it has designed its new X5 for the other 96 percent who are more interested in the traditional BMW core value of Freude am Fahren, the sheer joy of driving. Think of it as a tall sports sedan. At 67.2 inches, the X5 is nearly a foot taller than your average sedan, although the climb up into the driver's seat is less daunting than in many SUVs.
Confidence builds quickly, however, and so does speed.
True to its pedigree, the X5 feasts on curvilinear surfaces. Once you get past the sense of tippiness, which is more a function of height than any serious amount of roll, thanks to the hefty sway bars, you can pour on the power in curves just as you would with a far smaller mount, with near impunity. Part of the reason for this is that the X5 is all-wheel drive. A transfer case with planetary differential sends a constant 38 percent of the available torque forward, the rest aft. The offset is that it's more fun for an involved driver to toss around.