BMW X Models News

It has confirmed early details of its new X6 and believes it will create a new path as 4WDs move deeper into the crossover world between existing car classes. BMW is convinced there are plenty of potential customers for a vehicle that will look and drive like a prestige car but still sit high in traffic and move away from the existing family wagon styling. “The X6 is a new concept. This is the most refined coupe SUV you will find in the world,” BMW Australia managing director Guenther Seemann says. “This is a real coupe. It will be coming at the beginning of next year.” The man who heads the X6 program, former BMW motorsport engineer Albert Biermann, has been in Australia for the introduction of the X5 and confirms Seemann's glowing praise. “This is something very different ... but still an X car,” he says. BMW is expected to preview the X6 late this year or early next year, most likely at the Detroit motor show in January, once it has fired its new M3 V8 super coupe into action. The X6 will be built at the BMW factory in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where the success-story X5 is also built. “I believe it will not compete with the X5 because it is a four-door, four-seater,” Seeman says. “Some 6 Series and Porsche 911 customers may want to drive a different car and this could be the X6. “Porsche Cayenne and Range Rover Sport are the kind of cars that will compete.” Seemann says BMW will renew its vehicle line-up by 2011, hinting at new premium models beyond the X6.

HOLDENThe focus at the GM-owned stand willbe the concept of the next generation of America's iconic muscle car, the Chevrolet Camaro. The partly Australian-designed sports coupe concept will make its debut here.Holden will be evaluating public response to determine if the Camaro will be a viable option for the local market.The new model has been confirmed for production in North America at the beginning of 2009. It is expected to be identical to the concept model, a modern interpretation of its original 1969 form.Part of the Camaro's engineering and design work is done in Melbourne.Holden is also unveiling a diesel version of its Captiva family all-wheel-drive plus the new Epica mid-size sedan. FORDThe hottest new baby car for Australia is the Fiesta XR4 (pictured on today's cover) which Ford will start selling here mid-year.The European-built car will complement its big brother the Focus XR5 Turbo.The XR4 will be powered by a 2.0-litre Duratec 16 valve engine. Falcon Cobra-style stripes will enhance its racy looks.Also following the Cobra style is a limited-edition run of 200 FPV GTs to commemorate 40 years since the first Falcon V8, the XR GT, was built in 1967.The distinctive black with gold stripes machine will sell for $65,110 from next month. TOYOTAThe company will reveal its latest prestige performance vehicles. The locally designed Toyotas make their world debut in Melbourne.The TRD range features a supercharged 3.5-litre, V6 Aurion sports sedan and the supercharged 4.0-litre, V6 HiLux sports utility.The Aurion will go on sale in the middle of the year and the Hilux will be launched towards the end of the year. AUDI The surprise of the show could be Audi's new S5 and A5 models, which make their world debut at the Geneva show next week.The A5 will be available in both four-cylinder and six-cylinder petrol and diesel engines, with the 3.2-litre, 195kW V6 petrol topping the range.The S5 has an eight-cylinder 260kW engine, producing 440Nm of torque. It sprints from nought to 100km/h in 5.9 seconds.The coupes will be available to order from March, with deliveries starting in June. JEEPThe Chrysler brand will preview three of its new production models in Melbourne.The all-new Jeep Wrangler and Wrangler Unlimited will be the main attraction to the stand, along with the first compact SUV for Jeep, the Compass.The Wrangler has been redesigned, and has a new diesel engine added to the range.The Unlimited is a four-door model, with five seats and extended wheelbase.The new Compass will be available in both petrol and diesel engines when it goes on sale this month and the company believes it will appeal to a younger audience. NISSANNissan will unveil three new models, including the much-talked-about Qashqai, which has been renamed Dualis for the Australian market. The Dualis will be launched in Australia towards the end of this year and will slot into the small segment.Nissan will also display the new Micra, a 1.4-litre small car which will also go on sale towards the end of the year and the revised 350Z. With a new 3.5-litre, V6 engine, the 350Z will go on sale in April. It also features changed interior and exterior designs. HONDAHonda's latest offering in fuel-cell technology, the new FCX concept, is making its Australian debut in Melbourne.The low-riding, sporty sedan runs on hydrogen and has more power, while still offeringa a full-sized cabin. Honda is currently working on a retail version of the prototype for the US and Japan. EDAGThe engineering and design company will exhibit its EDAG SUV, a one-of-kind model based on the Porsche Cayenne. The modified SUV has been lowered and reshaped and the roofline dropped by 70mm.It has a 447kW turbo engine, with large air inlets on the front bumper for the intercoolers. Wedge-shaped side skirts and muscular fenderflares give the EDAG SUV even more character. It sits on 23-inch wheels with ultra-low profile tyres.Inside, four sports seats are separated by a full-length centre console, which features a DVD player and Sony PS2 game console. BMWWe'll see the debut of the new X5 in Australia at the motor show.The revised SUV will go on sale in April with a 3.0-litre diesel and a 4.8-litre, V8 petrol engine. A 3.0-litre petrol will be available from June. Prices will start at $80,000.BMW will also show the 3 Series convertible as well as the the updated 5 Series and 1 Series. MAZDAMazda will feature the Australian preview of its new large SUV, the CX-9. The seven-seater will be the third SUV for Mazda when it goes on sale in Australia in January.It is expected to cost $55,000-$60,000.Mazda will have both a cut model with the roof taken off, as well as a left-hand drive, North American production model on display.

Building on the world-wide reputation for on-road excellence of the original X5, launched in 1999, the second generation car’s larger and more spacious body sits on an entirely revised suspension package and features a pair of refined new engines.The X5 will arrive in Australia in April with the option of a 4.8-litre V8 petrol or a lightweight straight six 3.0-litre diesel, both coupled to a six-speed shift-by-wire automatic gearbox.They will be joined by a straight six 3.0-litre petrol option late next year.The free-revving V8 offers 261kW peaking at 6300rpm and 475Nm of torque at a useable 3400-3800rpm giving the petrol X5 every opportunity to show off its superb road dynamics.The diesel, with 173kW peaking near redline at 4000rpm, is not as free-spirited but loses nothing in the all-important mid-range application with 510Nm of urge waiting to be called on from 2000-2750rpm.The car will also be offered for the first time as a seven-seater with the third row tucked away under the rear cargo floor until required.BMW Australia says no decision has been made on pricing or standard inclusions for the new cars but if the marketing follows typical BMW procedure there will be a raft of opportunities to personalise your purchase with options.Among the range of options being offered in Europe are Adaptive Drive - electronically controlled active damping and rollbar control; Active Steer - along with active drive, available for the first time on an all-wheel drive model; Heads-Up display which displays a range of information from navigation to speed on the windscreen in the driver’s eyeline.This has flowed through from the 7 Series and 5 Series models.The X5’s bi-Xenon headlights will also have an active capability to follow steering direction (possibly optional).The controversial iDrive control centre has again been slightly modified with the option of storing regular destinations, phone numbers or settings on the radio buttons.The Daily Telegraph CARSguide liftout on November 18 will feature a full report on the BMW X5.

Theoretically, you could launch just about any motorised vehicle in Germany - a Korean sports car, a Yank tank, a hulky bulky SUV, you name it - and it would end up feeling fabulous.The joy of driving the country’s speed-limitless freeways and its smoothly surfaced and spectacularly twisty back roads is such that it rubs off a feeling of wellbeing onto whatever you happen to be piloting.Even catching a bus can be invigorating, when the bus is doing the sort of speeds you could be hung, drawn and quartered for in some countries.So, it’s possible that I was more impressed by BMW’s revised and refreshed X3 than I would have been if it had been unveiled in, say, Victoria (which is pretty much the philosophical polar opposite of Germany).But it’s also fair to say that the baby soft-roader had a hell of a lot of ground to make up, because the original was a stinker.The former X3 was a product that didn’t match its label, like putting Grange in a cask, or attaching a Tiffany diamond to a beer-can ring pull.BMW’s badge cache is such that it can get away with quite a bit, but feeling cheap is one thing we won’t forgive.While the big brother X5 is an impressive bit of engineering and has the quality feel you expect from the Bavarians, the X3 looked and felt like a bargain-bin Beemer.The black-plastic nappy treatment around the rear was a poor styling decision, even for a company that let Chris Bangle bugger the 7 Series, but the biggest failing was the interior.A plethora of plastics more commonly found in disposable razors or kids’ toys meant that the pseudo SUV felt like a pseudo BMW.The men from Munich don’t stuff up very often and when they do, they tend to fix the problem quick smart (with the exception of iDrive, which the X3 is truly fortunate to miss out on - oh, and run-flat tyres).And so we have the tweaked and tricked-up X3, one of the quickest, and biggest, facelifts the company has ever performed.BMW folk counter that the update to a model only launched here in 2004 was timely because so many competitors in this segment are about to be launched and they wanted to get in first.Park the new X3 next to the old one and it’s like looking at Paul Vautin the footy player and Fatty Vautin the suit-wearing star.The flat-black bumpers are replaced by colour-coded panels, the double kidney grille on the nose is bigger and bolder and the rear-light cluster, which used to look like a cross-eyed robot, has been tidied up with some LED liveliness.Inside, the plastics are polished and there’s a lot more ersatz wood grain splashed about.Best of all, it’s actually got door bins and map pockets now, something you’d think might have been an obvious inclusion on the original, but you’d be wrong.And, to the delight of our American colleagues, there’s even an extra cup holder.The overall effect is a lift in class, so that you now actually feel like you’re sitting in a smaller but no less pleasant X5, which was surely the idea of this car in the first place.And it really is a car, or a rough and tough looking people mover perhaps, rather than an SUV.It handles, rides and gingerly goes off-road like a car, with a commendable lack of bodyroll, surprisingly good steering and, in the case of the 3.0-litre versions we drove, a raspy, rorty sports car sound.Honestly, is there anything BMW’s straight six-cylinder can’t do? If the Germans ever decide to go to the moon, their rockets will no doubt be powered by this masterfully engineered engine.This new and yet again improved 3.0si version offers 200kW (up 30kW from the old one) and 315Nm.Acceleration is pretty impressive for a big, tall car that’s pushing a bow-wave of air, with a 0 to 100km/h time of 7.2 seconds (an improvement of 0.6 of a second). The mid-range punch also makes it a great freeway car.BMW claims an excellent 10.1 litres per 100km economy figure with this engine, but we saw between 15 and 17.7 litres per 100km, although our driving did include some detailed testing, and proving, of the car’s top speed of 232km/h.As far as off-road credibility goes, the X3 can boast Hill Descent Control, which works pretty well, and DTC (Dynamic Traction Control).This system, which has previously been employed to allow the tail of the Z4 to flick and flout, is cleverly adapted here to allow you the wheel slip necessary to tackle sand, sludge and mud (sadly our drive program didn’t include any of these things, but it sounds workable in theory).The permanent all-wheel-drive system, xDrive, is also mightily clever. In general use it has a 40:60 torque split, but if necessary up to 100 per cent of torque can be sent to one end, all within milliseconds.Frankly, though, all this equipment is bar-boasting stuff. Realistically, who would take a car this botoxed and beautified off-road and risk getting it scratched?The X3 will also be offered with a 160kW 2.5-litre engine, priced at $65,900 for the manual and $68,500 for the auto, while the auto-only 3.0si will be $73,900 – price rises of $1500 and $1000 respectively over the old models.More than 50 per cent of X3 buyers in Australia, however, choose the 3.0-litre diesel (which, sadly, we didn’t get to drive because we were sharing our launch drive with Americans, who think "deeesell" is the devil’s work).The volume model rises in price by just $500 to $75,900, and also gets equipment upgrades, including a Bluetooth kit.We probably shouldn’t even tell you this, because it’s cruel, but in Europe the X3 is also being offered with a superb new super diesel, the 3.0sd, which uses Variable Twin Turbo technology to produce 210kW and 580Nm of torque.It’s so impressive, in fact, that it blows the 3.0-litre petrol version into the weeds, with a 0 to 100km/h sprint of 6.6 seconds and a top speed of 240km/h.We might not be getting it yet, but we’re betting this engine will find its way into some kind of BMW offering here eventually, and that it will be worth the wait.Stephen Corby is a senior roadtester for the CARSguide team whose work also appears in the Sunday Telegraph. A version of this review plus more news and analysis can be read in the Sunday Telegraph.

SUPERCARS and people-movers are off the menu at BMW. It says it is more focused on Formula One than creating a road-going supercar. And family vans are not part of its core business.Even so, expect changes as the German carmaker works hard to take the attack to its main rival, Mercedes-Benz.BMW board member and product chief Burkhard Goschel says the company will be doing some product tweaking for showrooms."We have talked about a so-called room-functional concept, which is not a people-mover but a car with a lot of viability and space," Goschel says."The new X5, which is going on to the market soon, will have an optional seven seats, but a people-mover is not our business."Though the X5 is getting additions to its arsenal for a battle with the Mercedes-Benz ML, GL and R-Class wagons, BMW is opting out of the supercar war, focusing instead on its F1 campaign to promote the brand.BMW will maintain its M-car efforts, but it will not produce high-end supercars such as the Mercedes McLaren SLR and Bugatti Veyron.The company is not ruling out a replacement for the limited-edition Z8 roadster, which starred as a James Bond car, but Goschel says the supercar market had been over-estimated and (tongue in cheek) says the company already has a supercar."We have a very good sports car. It is becoming successful and it has only one seat. We are spending a lot of money for three drivers," he says."There are a lot of high-end sports cars and in our opinion there are too many."They are losing money. It's not a profitable business."We feel very comfortable with going F1 racing and with the other sports cars we are building."He admits BMW might have a different attitude if it were not in Formula One."You don't see a supercar every day but you see the F1 cars every two weeks," he says.The company's engineers are also being put to the test in the environmental area, and they are aiming to introduce brake energy recovery technology next year.Goschel believes hydrogen-fuel cell cars, including the hydrogen-petrol internal combustion engine, are the right way to go, but he says the issue of hydrogen storage remains critical."It's difficult. It takes time to change the system. We are working strongly on hydrogen-fuel cells. It will grow up, but how fast I don't know."The issue is storing hydrogen. You need about 10kg for a good range. It should be in liquid form but some issues over storage in cars has to be solved," he says.

1. What is the state of the Australia luxury-car market at the moment?"It is stable on a high level, but it's a competitive market. "We expect to be traveling on the same level as last year on a full- year basis, and we are confident we can grow the BMW Group business.2. How does BMW rate globally?"On a worldwide scale, if you take away South Africa where there a very special regulations and BMW is an assembler, we have the highest market share in the world."We have 29.2 per cent of the luxury sector in Australia, and in Germany the figure is 27.4 per cent and the worldwide number is 19.9 per cent."3. Why is BMW doing so well in Australia?"Australians like our products and we have a very strong brand here. "We have other things which are particularly appealing to potential owners, like guaranteed future values for our cars. We are the only manufacturer to do that across the range. It shows the confidence we have because we know the situation with BMW residuall values."Others will follow us, because they do, but we are the first. That is especially appealing to luxury users, as they have the option to hand the car back at the end of their lease term."This program is fitted to the Australian market, but we have other things and there is also a good demand here for the BMW four-wheel drives with the X5 and X3."4. How has BMW been tracking in Australia over recent years?"Since 1999 we have grown by 79 per cent and, although we usually don't talk about our competitors, that is more than anyone else and gives us a lead of 20 per cent over the same time last year. "That includes the 4x4s but not the commercial vehicles sold by one of our competitors. It's passenger cars and four-wheel drives."If you look at other manufacturers there is one other brand which is doing well but coming from a low base, yet we outsold them 3:1 in 1999 and now we outsold them 3.3:1 in 2005."5. Looking forward, what can we expect in 2006 and 2007?"We are now expanding our range on the diesel front, and we will have the 120d and 320d in the second quarter of this year. There will also be the 323i Touring in the second quarter, and later in the year a new 3 Series coupe. Also the 323i sedan."We have now the revised Z4 including the M Roadster, and of course we have the Z4 coupe coming in the secnd half of the year and the M coupe version which will be very exciting."2007 is still quite a way down the track, so we will have a few renewals."In the 1 Series we are far away from having exploited the market potential and we will have a few very nice things that will fit perfectly in Australia. But that will be 2007."Also, a little bit down the track we will have . . . a sporty version of the X5. It is in the design stage and, from what we have seen, it will be a stunning success."6. You are also responsible for Mini as part of the BMW Group. How far away is the replacement car?"The new model Mini will be in the market in Australia next year. "In that life cycle it will also have several more variants that will also come to Australia and they will help to substantially grow Mini in the market. It was originally a one-model vehicle but will grow to a full product family."

If you mention the words diesel and engine to most people they trigger memories of noisy trucks and buses that crawl down the road and belch black smoke from their tails. Or they think of an overweight four-wheel-drive heading into the outback. But times are changing - and fast - in the diesel world.A new generation of high-tech, clean-burning diesel engines is coming on fast in everything from compact cars to luxury limousines and new-age four-wheel-drives. And eventually there will also be diesel-electric hybrid vehicles in Australia.Take a walk around the motor show and you will see almost all themajor brands have a high-profile and high-tech diesel engine.They are coming thanks to cleaner fuels with a lower sulphur content, as well as developments on what are called common-rail and direct-injection diesels - which deliver fuel at higher pressures and with better control to boost combustion.Turbos also get huge gains from low-pressure turbocharging, so most of the hero motors are turbodiesels. The old days of glow plugs, which took ages to warm then fire the engine, are also gone.Carmakers are also attracted to the massive torque available from diesel engines, which means strong acceleration at low revs, and the fuel economy benefits, which have become more important as petrol prices have risen.Diesel power has become so impressive that Audi, which is looking to stretch its domination of the classic Le Mans 24-Hour race, has fitted a turbocharged diesel engine to the R10 racer it will use in France in June. The motor show will highlight the arrival of several leading-edge diesels.BMW has its first diesel sedan for Australia, the 530d. It is a genuineluxury car and comes with impressive performance of 160kW and 480Nm of torque, aswell as fuel consumption of just 7.5 litres per 100km. But BMW is also pushing harder and will have its X5 and X3 all-wheel-drive diesels as well as a 320d - a huge hit in Europe and potentially BMW's biggest-selling diesel car - along with a 120d for a preview at the show.The Volkswagen group is big on diesel and Audi has just introduced a fresh 2-litre diesel A4 and even plans tointroduce a high-performance 3-litre diesel in the A4 later this year, as well asconsidering a diesel version of its A8 limo.Not surprisingly, Audi's turbodiesel hero at the show is the giant new Q7 all-wheel-drive wagon, which will be availablein October with a diesel.Volkswagen will have its diesel twins, the latest Polo and Golf, along for the party at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre and intends to put diesel power into its upcoming Jetta and the new Beetle before the end of 2006.There is also a chance that Honda could preview the Accord Euro diesel it has developed for Europe.Even Jaguar has jumped on the diesel bandwagon, fitting a high-tech dieselengine to its luxurious S-Type sedan.The $101,950 S-Type diesel runs a 2.7-litre diesel with twin-turbochargers, whichbump power to 153kW, and has 435Nm of torque.Jaguar does not expect to sell too many but says that some customers will enjoythe new engine. "We know other luxury brands are doingthis but we are yet to see diesel onpeople's radar when they are shopping for a luxury brand above $50,000," says Jaguar spokesman Todd Hallenbeck.Still, the biggest problem for any car company is getting customers to take a taste test. The task for carmakers is to get customers to test drive the new dieselmodels."We know that anyone who drives one (an S-Type diesel) will want it," Hallenbeck says."We are not just talking about people with fuel economy in mind. We are talking about a $100,000 car here; these people can afford to buy any type of fuel they want."This diesel offers great performance, very, veryclean emissions and, by the way, it also returns fuel economy of 8 litresper 100km."Diesel power will also be coming from two of the pioneers in Australia, Peugeot and Mercedes-Benz, with the French company even doing a turbodiesel for the sleek 407 Coupe, which is its stand star.The two-door model is available with a 3-litre V6 petrol or the dieselengine.Mercedes-Benz has four new diesels this year in the latest R-Class, the compact B-Class, the mid-range E-Class wagon and its four-wheel-drive hero, the upcoming GL.

But, most of all, they always drive fast. Really fast.Driving at the speed limit will incur the wrath of fellow road users, who see road signs more as decoration than anything else. But they will help you see the error of your ways by sitting on your tail and flashing their lights as you dawdle along the open road at the prescribed 120km/h.So it was a pleasure to enter the Kruger National Park in the country's north-east, where the speed limit of 40km/h for most of its 3000km of roads is strictly adhered to for one important reason; go any faster, and your chances of spotting wild animals are just about nil.We entered the park at Malelane Gate, the closest to our departure point of Johannesburg – or, more commonly, Jo'burg, Joeys or Jozi – 400km away.We had picked up the four-wheel-drive X5 3.0d after a warning not to swan around too much in the Beemer, because it made us a higher carjacking risk – and we were left to discover its joys for ourselves.From front seats that are completely adjustable and remember each driver's settings to self-locking doors, the wagon lacked nothing bar the satellite tracking transponder mandatory in private Jo'burg cars if you want any chance of getting car insurance.I ALSO opened the bonnet to have a look at the car's straight-six diesel engine, didn't recognise anything, and closed it fairly quickly.So, having loaded the relatively small cargo space with as many clothes and groceries as it could carry, we put ourselves in the capable hands of the GPS and let it take us to the open road past block after block of high walls topped with electric fencing bearing "armed response" plates.The N4 national highway to the Kruger is excellent – as are most major roads here – but soon the desire to try the X5 on something other than a tarred highway was gnawing at me, so we turned off to tackle the 1:8 Wonderkloof Pass.The trip to the 1234m summit included some deep pits of red sand left by roadworks, but the BMW made them fun rather than dangerous.There are 12 main camps, six satellite camps, five bushveld camps and a scattering of privately operated concession lodges in the Kruger, and all vary vastly in terms of size, standard and price.Not all camps have all amenities, but most have a shop of some description and offer a choice of self-contained units or cheaper huts and the use of a communal kitchen.We booked our three-night trip five months before leaving Australia, and the park was so booked up we were given the choice of two nights atBerg-en-Dal and a night at Biyamiti, or looking at one of the horrifically expensive resorts that border the park.How expensive? Our family of four's three nights' accommodation cost about $450 all-up -- that's what it costs a person, a night at neighbouring Mala Mala.Though the river was dry, there was a waterhole towards the admin/shop part of the camp and we could see the occasional parched buck walking past.On our second night, my wife and eldest daughter went on a night game drive with a ranger. Our four-year-old daughter was too little, so we were having a little braai of our own when we spotted a white rhino ambling through the scrub on the bank.It was magnificent.We hit the roads again as soon as the gates opened at sunrise.The X5 was powerful and fast cruising on the open bitumen, but it performed even better crawling along dirt roads.It was comfortable, had excellent visibility, was whisper-quiet (very important if you don't want to scare the game) and the airconditioning took no time to cool us down when the heat became too oppressive.But, best of all, the sun-roof opened very wide and very long. It was perfect for up to three people to stand up in to take photographs.Our seven-year-old discovered she could kneel on the between-seats console and travel with her head and shoulders sticking out, while holding on to the roof-bars. It was perfectly safe when we were crawling along.We spent our first day exploring, and saw giraffe, buffalo, wildebeest, warthog and impala buck. We started out a little late on the second day, after the lads manning the petrol bowsers demanded a half-hour initiation into the wonders of the X5.They loved it, but couldn't conceive of a car costing 600,000 grand ($130,000 & it costs $81,700 here).We needed to transfer to Biyamiti Bushveld Camp, but realised we'd be travelling the same roads that had been devoid of much game the day before. So we left the park, hit the high-speed N4 to Komatipoort and entered the park again in the east.The Crocodile Bridge camp, where we re-entered, is reminiscent of darkest Africa, and scattered with rondavels – one-roomed round huts with conical, thatched roofs.It's in acacia and mopane bush savanna country, very near the Mozambique border. The only people in the park who aren't wildlife lovers are Mozambican refugees trying to run the gauntlet of predators to the relative safety and wealth of crime-ridden South Africa as quickly as possible.These refugees have been blamed for making the park a much more dangerous place because the big cats have discovered humans are much easier to catch than, say, antelope.THE game along these eastern roads was plentiful. We managed to spot kudu, zebra, buffalo, more impala and a pair of cheetah, which is incredibly rare.We decided to make the most of our last day, travelling farther north than we had thus far and leaving via the Numbi Gate near Pretoriuskop camp, where we finally saw our only elephants of the trip. Had Rach not been standing with her head through the sunroof, we wouldn't have seen them above the scrub.The moment we left the park the GPS started working again, so we programmed a course for the big smoke and inched the needle up to 120km/h again.The trip back was uneventful, bar one unnerving incident.I'd hit a cruising speed of 140km/h when some blokes in a BMW 3-Series sedan decided to tail-gate. I slowed down to 100 and pulled into the slow lane; they did the same. I sped up to 170 in the fast lane; they did the same.I started to get a bit worried, but slowly it dawned on me that they were slipstreaming – a perfectly innocuous but stupid and dangerous practice.As I said: South Africans have some strange driving habits.

The only glitch is with the satellite navigation. It has thrown in the towel, given up because it does not understand the route, Brisbane to Perth through the middle of the country? Give us a break.Perth's CBD is back the other way, along the big highways to the south. This business of trying to run east-west with a lack of bitumen and serious highways does not compute. The Outback Highway, through Winton, west to Alice, southwest to Laverton and on to Perth, has a decent amount of dirt and gravel and no place on BMW's list of places to navigate.It is a hard road in places and offers adventure in others. This 5000km run across the continent is the ideal way to see how a fancy-dancy, luxo-Euro, soft-road machine can cope, without a white-gloved, lab-coated BMW technician within cooee.We push on. Dodge late evening kangaroos, early morning carcasses. Shift over for the road trains, round up the trundling caravans. In the pre-dawn light on a straight piece of bitumen, a roo shooter heading home in the loaded LandCruiser ute flicks up one little gibber, just the one, which explodes on the screen and leaves a bullet-sized hole on the outside. Bugger.Later, that same day, a slow-rising pigeon collides with the German wagon's grille, leaving small creeks of blood and a handful of feathers. None of this fusses this diesel BMW X5. Down the track it runs hard and strong, proud nose (now with nostrils tinged with dark red) pointed west and sun filling the mirrors, a little hint of turbocharger whistle as the engine swings into stride.Up the bitumen the trip computer is showing 2100rpm in sixth for 110km/h and 9.2 litres per 100km. More kilometres and a steadying cruise control and the consumption drops again. At 130km/h it is running at 10 litres per 100km, take it up to 200km/h on an unrestricted Northern Territory road and there is a little more diesel running down the lines.This is a sweet, sweet engine. Over a long, long trip it becomes a genuine mate.It is not just the consumption, and the range (maybe 900km plus on an easy run). It is also the power and the torque and the seamless delivery of both through a six-speed automatic transmission. Out here there are few needs for hurried changes. I slip to sport and manual mode and flick down to third or fourth for a sprint past a road train; I indulge in a little ratio-flicking when running down sandy bush tracks and I remember to turn off the parking distance control, which registers each and every blade of spinifex.For the rest of the ride, tar and dirt, the full automatic mode is just as easy, especially now this 3.0-litre engine produces 150kW and a tonne of torque, 480Nm from 2000rpm.Two blokes, two swags, two bags of clothes and cameras, computer, camping gear and spare wheel. It all fits with ease, even while rear vision is restricted to the side mirrors.Most of the BMW's cabin is familiar territory. This is the revised edition, four years after the X5 arrived to critical and consumer acclaim. There have been some minor cosmetic changes outside but the big news has been the new xDrive system, which BMW says splits the torque and drive to the four wheels ¿almost clairvoyantly¿ as it predicts vehicle behaviour and acts early to enhance traction.This reworked diesel engine is quiet and efficient from town to country."Flash car that one, hey," says the man with the big hat, black face and full, grey beard in Docker River.Packing the wagon highlights a couple of niggles. The six-disc CD stacker is tucked away in the side of the boot and this means unpacking and repacking luggage to change the music on a long haul; six discs do not go far when radio reception is gone and there's ground to cover. On the plus side, the player never skipped a beat, even over some of the best of the country's corrugations.And where's the 12-volt socket up front? There is a handy pair in the luggage compartment, a plugged-up cigarette lighter up front.The trip computer is a boon, calculating fuel consumption and range and average speeds. The fuel gauge is almost redundant.At the end of nine days and some 5000km later, the computer reckons the X5 has averaged 91.7km/h and 9.8 litres per 100km. That is a good deal for the work that's been done, from running hard in a two-tonne machine down red desert highways to sticky-beaking around Alice Springs."It's done well for a little car," says the woman jumping into the loaded LandCruiser wagon at Tjukayirla Roadhouse, some 1400km northeast of Perth on the Great Central Road, once part of the famed Gunbarrel Highway. It is tamer these days but there remain enough patches of rock, sharp-edged cattle grids and rough and rumbling corrugations. The BMW sailed through, dusty and muddy and proud.Seats up front were good for a 1000km day, the stereo kept on and most minor controls became intuitive after a day in the cabin.Some scuff plates on the bottom inside of the front doors would be appreciated, as dusty boots invariably leave marks as driver or passenger swings out.And maybe there were a couple of times where a little more suspension travel would have been appreciated, once or twice bigger jumps and bumps set the BMW yumping although it never bottomed out. And that xDrive comes into its own once the traffic is left behind and the wattle is flashing past.With a central, electronically controlled, clutch and Dynamic Stability Control combining to deliver power to wheels with best traction, xDrive is less dramatic than earlier systems; it keeps the wagon sure-footed with seamless predictions and reactions to iron out understeer and oversteer.Where the diesel X5's steering feels a tad heavy dodging through Alice Springs roundabouts, it is a different yarn out on the road.The BMW sits flat and unflustered on bitumen racing through the grass plains of western Queensland. The speed takes away that heaviness. And then there are the unsealed sections, 1700km of the 2700km Outback Highway. So from Boulia to the Alice, from Uluru and west across the border, skirting the Gibson and Great Victoria Deserts, the BMW proves its ability to soak up the worst of Australian roads, dancing down the dirt in a German four-step.The wagon's road manners were forever impeccable in an environment too few BMWs will ever see.

Snow had fallen the night before and lay thickly across the road, with a fresh fall starting as we pushed BMW's shiny new X3 softroader through the icy mountain landscape above Launceston in northern Tasmania. It was an almost surreal scene as the white carpeted road chased telegraph poles into the distance, snow swirling across the invisible surface with only the guide posts to mark our way. The outside temperature display of our car read zero degrees Celsius, readouts in other cars actually dipped below freezing. As the road began a series of short sharp, climbing turns the high-priced Pirellis of some cars scrambled for traction. Other less fortunate motorists had slewed off the road while one unlucky camper van sat with its nose pushed into an embankment. At no time however did BMW Australia consider calling off the jaunt that took us in a large 200km plus loop around the Great Lake before heading back to warmer climes of Launceston. The much anticipated X3 joins larger brother the X5 that has been a "tear away" success for the company since its launch a couple of years back. Like other manufacturers BMW has discovered there is a huge demand for off-road and soft-road style vehicles, particularly in the luxury segment. BMW describes the vehicle not as a traditional 4WD, not in the current idiom SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle) but as an SAV (Sports Activity Vehicle), with even more car-like dynamics, claiming it creates an entirely new segment. "The X3 will form a substantial pillar in our growth beyond the core brands that we have," spokesman John Kananghinis said. The X3 does not look that much smaller than X5 until you venture inside where the accommodation is more in keeping with that offered by a 3 Series model. But there is still a substantial amount of rear legroom and the useable luggage area is almost as large. There are three different models, a manual and automatic 2.5-litre straight six and a 3.0-litre straight six – the latter the same engine that powers the base model X5. Prices for the X3 start at $65,300 for the 2.5 six- speed manual, climbing to $67,900 for the 2.5 auto and toping out at $74,600 for the 3.0-litre six auto. We were able to sample both the 2.5-litre and 3.0-litre five-speed, tipshift autos and can report that both deliver plenty of punch. There's nothing disappointing about the smaller engine, certainly at the price. And there's not much to differentiate the cars, which all have the same tailpipe arrangement unlike the X5. The 2.5-litre straight six is good for 141kW of power and 245Nm of torque and in manual form can sprint from 0-100km/h in 8.9 seconds (auto 9.8secs) with a top speed of 208km/h.. The larger 3.0-litre engine produces 170kW and 300Nm and is good for 8.1 seconds, with a top speed of 210km/h (221km/h with the sport pack fitted). Drive is transmitted to all four wheels through BMW's XDrive system, with torque split variably and infinitely between front and rear wheels. Ground clearance is rated at 201mm. BMW claims the xDrive neutralises understeer or oversteer in fast cornering, but we discovered the vehicle still had a tendency to oversteer on the wet, slippery bitumen hairpins that we encountered. Overall, however, the X3 remained supremely confident in a range of conditions. Backing up xDrive is stability control, ABS brakes, Hill Descent Control and Cornering Brake Control. Standard equipment includes 10 airbags, multi- function leather-wrapped steering wheel with cruise control, 17-inch alloy wheels, roof rails, rain sensor and automatic headlight control, fog lights, climate control airconditioning, trip computer, and CD sound system. The quality is typical BMW with excellent fit and finish, but we disliked the overuse of grey, lower body protective cladding on lower spec cars, particularly those with lighter contrasting paintwork. Meanwhile, the rear seats seemed rather firm and the vehicle packs only a space saver spare wheel. The 3.0-litre diesel engine from the X5 is also under consideration for the car, but as yet is not available in right-hand drive – and if we get it will not arrive until later in the vehicle's life cycle.