[noopster]

Saw this Bimmer being flatbedded this morning on Pashan Road and thought of this thread.

Scary thing is that it isn’t exactly a “flat” bed and the poor car looked in danger of sliding off. Wifey took the pics and then told me she was worried about being in the wake of the BMW should disaster happen so I quickly overtook and moved on!

[Dhruv29]

Saw this hydrolocked BMW X5 in Gurgaon. Even top of the line BMW SUV is susceptible to Hydrolock. Probably it was the fault of the owner, maybe he rushed into the water, but the level not that high for it to get stuck.

[GrandTourer]

It's such a bummer when it happens.


This was some time ago actually.

[boniver]

Originally Posted by Dhruv29

Saw this hydrolocked BMW X5 in Gurgaon. Even top of the line BMW SUV is susceptible to Hydrolock. Probably it was the fault of the owner, maybe he rushed into the water, but the level not that high for it to get stuck.

Maybe the BMW owner should just buy a Santro to tide over tough times like these!

[NAVREVV]

Wish I could have taken and posted picture of my Vento being towed away because of Mechatronics failure.

[giri1.8]

Originally Posted by Dhruv29

Saw this hydrolocked BMW X5 in Gurgaon. Even top of the line BMW SUV is susceptible to Hydrolock. Probably it was the fault of the owner, maybe he rushed into the water, but the level not that high for it to get stuck.

I am big fan of BMW, but X range seems to be the least versatile product from them, I mean for which Sports can I Utilize their Vehicle Low profile tyres, doesn't handle as well as sedans, can't go offroad, can't withstand few mm of monsoon rain! What were they thinking.

[jmktm]

Originally Posted by Dhruv29

Saw this hydrolocked BMW X5 in Gurgaon. Even top of the line BMW SUV is susceptible to Hydrolock.

I think we all should give maximum publicity to such photo s ( after making sure that this is indeed Hydrolock).


Imagine a 'lowly' Santro wading in waters a mighty X5 cannot. Begs the question, what is point of having all the fancy electronic systems, if the same cannot handle driving in levels that a Santro can.



(Okay, to be fair maybe the X5 in pic had been subjected to unusual levels of immersion just before the photo.) But I suppose this is a regular scene during the monsoon months.

A sedan breaking down similarly could be forgiven but an X 5 ?

[self_driven]

Before bashing the X5, let us wait for the OP to share more details. I suspect an electrical component malfunction/failure in this case rather than engine hydrolock.

Hydrolock in less than 1 ft deep water, that too in an X5, no way!

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by Dhruv29

Saw this hydrolocked BMW X5 in Gurgaon. Even top of the line BMW SUV is susceptible to Hydrolock. Probably it was the fault of the owner, maybe he rushed into the water, but the level not that high for it to get stuck.

Originally Posted by jmktm

I think we all should give maximum publicity to such photo s ( after making sure that this is indeed Hydrolock).
....
....
A sedan breaking down similarly could be forgiven but an X 5 ?

This picture tells nothing about the failure really, unless the unfortunate driver told what caused the situation.
It might well be simplest of things like running out of fuel also. Its surprisingly common on Indian roads for people to misjudge fuel & run out of it.
Can be a lot of things that can render a car immovable. Just because its a German costly car doesn't suddenly make it immune to failures. Of course paying more money we expect it to be indestructible no doubt.

Originally Posted by self_driven

Before bashing the X5, let us wait for the OP to share more details. I suspect an electrical component malfunction/failure in this case rather than engine hydrolock.

Hydrolock in less than 1 ft deep water, that too in an X5, no way!

+1.



What is more alarming than the stalled X5
Have you noticed the industrial heavy lift crane right in front of the car? Is that what they have got to tow it away??

[Dhruv29]

Originally Posted by jmktm

(Okay, to be fair maybe the X5 in pic had been subjected to unusual levels of immersion just before the photo.) But I suppose this is a regular scene during the monsoon months.

Well, i can't confirm that the car was hydrolocked or not, but when i was wading past the X5 i heard the driver (probably a chauffeur) say "paani mai ruk gyi" (Stopped in water).

I can post few images of the area through which we can judge the water level. But to be honest, sedans are susceptible to hyrdolocks, especially the "German Trio", and we should never attempt to wade through more than 6" of standing water in a sedan.

But countless time in NCR, i've been stuck (Not able to turn back) with really high level of water (around fog light level) and my low slung Sonata was able to wade through it. And if i bought an X5, i would at least expect it to cross the threshold set by a sedan.

This was one of the main criteria which was forcing me to buy an SUV as my next vehicle, before being stuck with an even lower ES..

[Aroy]

Both Fortuner and Endeavor have much better "Wading Depth" > 600mm. So for traversing waterlogged areas these are much better than the German SUV.

[Reinhard]

We might also have to zoom out a bit in our perception & complain more about the drainage, infrastructure rather than bashing the BMW. The X series are urban SUVs and nowhere are they supposed to be used like a Thar. So in all fairness, its currently in a place where it isn't exactly supposed to be. We don't get those situations in Germany.

The car isn't at fault here I'd say. But then - the car isn't worthy of being on our roads as long as our infrastructure is in its current state either.

[Dhruv29]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

We might also have to zoom out a bit in our perception & complain more about the drainage, infrastructure rather than bashing the BMW. The X series are urban SUVs and nowhere are they supposed to be used like a Thar. So in all fairness, its currently in a place where it isn't exactly supposed to be. We don't get those situations in Germany.

The car isn't at fault here I'd say. But then - the car isn't worthy of being on our roads as long as our infrastructure is in its current state either.

True that. The kind of taxes we pay for our cars, we at least deserve a road which is motorable. Potholes can be managed but flooding is something else. But I don’t think this situation will ever improve in the foreseeable future. For years and years politicians raised the issue of drainage but nothing has been done. Ultimately the citizens are adapting to the conditions around them and it shows in the recent trends too, where we can see that people are buying SUVs instead of sedans so that we can at least have the surety of reaching our destination and not be worried about potholes, humongous speed humps, and water logging.

[jezza]

The F15 X5 shown here has a maximum wading depth of 500mm. It is difficult to believe that it would break down here without any other factors.

Being an X5 and X3 owner, I have driven my cars through higher levels of water than what is shown here during monsoons. Until it is absolutely certain that this is because of hydro locking, let’s refrain from bashing X SUVs (and other German SUVs).

[VineetG]

Last year, In Gurgaon, i went through a waterlogged road in my Civic, which is a car susceptible to water ingestion. However, it went through without an issue. I saw only 3 cars stranded there in the water, and all 3 were BMW's (Sedans). The drivers were standing in the water with their pants rolled up.

So there is something wrong with these cars when it comes to going through water.

It makes me very worried as i have a 320d.

And regarding that X5, whether it was a hydrolock or an electrical fault, it should not have happened.

Rgds