[kraft.wagen]

Awesome ride Viper..Congrats.
Loved the black interiors. Awaiting for more pics and a detailed report

[VIPER_SRT]

Here are few more pics:

[prateek99]

Great car!

425 lb ft

I was surprised to read 'lb ft' unit for torque. Googled it quickly and came to know that US is one of the three countries not to have adopted SI system. Never knew that.

[VIPER_SRT]

Initial Report after 1400 Miles:

It amazes me every time I start it, drive it and park it. I love this vehicle. I was very confused whether to go for a Diesel or not since the new 2011 X5 35i performance was pretty impressive with a gain in fuel economy. But I was sure about it after a 12 miles test drive.

The Drive:
Everyone knows that BMW is known for its drive and this diesel is no exception to that. I went on a 900 miles round trip last weekend to Indianapolis. Its super smooth, quiet and responsive at any speeds. The ride is firm and doesn't excuse us from feeling the potholes; Of-course I wanted a BMW and not lexus. I didn't cross 90mph since the manual says to avoid going beyond 90mph or 3500 rpm for the first 1200 miles. The engine makes a noticeable growling sound while taking off from stand still and at every signal stop. Well I would say, increase the music volume if you dont want others in the cabin to notice that. I've seen lots of people not happy with the sound of the diesel in US because maybe they are not used to it.Though its a twin turbo I can feel the turbo lag just before it takes off and you can feel it especially since its heavy. The owners of 335D says the engine is much quiter compared to X5, though I've to see that in person. I loved the DS mode in our 2008 335i and I was eager to test it in this one and in no way it disappointed me. It has a smooth 6 speed automatic transmission and I wish it had the new 8 speed like in 2011 X5 35i and 50i.
X5's are RWD's on any regular day unless they sense some slippery surface and shift automatically to AWD. I noticed recently that the front and rear tires are different, so dumb of me Front's are 275 40R20 and the rears are 315 35R20 and they are NOT All season tires that I wish for in winter places like Iowa state and Chicago. I might burn the rubber sooner on these run flat performance tires, maybe around 35K miles. Also I'm not sure how they will behave in snow and severe winters, last season we have seen snow becoming ice and stay on roads and driveways for months.
The fuel tank capacity is 22 Gallons around 83 Litres, just regular diesel; good enough for 600 miles range. The diesel is around 10 cents more expensive than the premium gasoline per gallon.

Auto-hold function is a good option when you have heavy signals and when the traffic is horrible. Just enable that function and once you stop at a trafffic signal or in heav traffic, you take take your foot off the brake and the vehicle will not move, and when the traffic moves just press the gas pedal, brakes are automatically dis-engaged and you are on your way.

Comfort/Convenience:
This one has a comfort acesss keyless entry and I strongly recommend everyone to have it. Power tailgate, parking sensors, front and rear are great for any SUV, or SAV! thats what BMW calls their SUV's. BMW has a top view which basically combines 3 cameras, one on the tailgate and one each under the side view mirrors which gives you a top view. The view can shifted on the fly from Top view to Rear view for backing up or parking in the lane properly. The parking brake is electronic and the gear shift lever is practical like a joystick, takes some time to get used to it. The leather seats are not soft atleast for the ones I've, but the thigh support in the sports package is worth on long drives. The lumbar support, memory searts are something one uses on a daily basis but I'm not sure how many times we will use the power head rests which goes up and down. The sports steering wheel has a nice feeling of firm grip and is heated for those severe winters. The Legroom is ample in front and rear seats. I'm 6'2" and I'm more than comfortable in front and back. The optional third row seats, I suppose only kids can sit in there. I havent used them yet.

The entertainment and Navigation system which is called BMW Assist is redesigned. The old systems were too complicated and not user friendly. The system plays MP3's from CD, DVD and USB drive. Video can be played from DVD Video and VCD's, only when parked. I'm not sure how large of a USB drive can be plugged in but I'm hoping it'll take those portable drives upto 1TB. Also I'm not sure of the size of the internal Hard drive capacity which can be used to rip Audio CD's. It takes 5-10 minutes to rip/copy the entire CD onto the internal hard disk while you listen to it. I wonder how the internal hard disk survives the extreme weather conditions! I read in one of the forums that its around 80GB but I'm not sure about that. One good feature is that you can edit the album and songs title after copying. There is one more USB port in the Glove box. You can also connect to the internet and use Google search but you have to subscribe for Concierge service at an additional costs. A nice feature is sending location co-ordinates from any computer to your BMW, all you have to do is go to maps.google.com and search for anything like either a particular address or directions and press the send button and enter your Email address which is registered with BMW. You can ask your friend to just send the address from his computer to the car directly instead of taking it down manually and entering it through the navigation system.
The premium sound package option has 16 speakers with 2 sub-woofers under the front seats, 9-channel amp with DSP totalling 600 W power. I didnt feel the real punch of it yet, I'm not sure if its really that good as it says.


Suggested improvments:

Not much except the engine sound when taking off initially between 0-10mph and the rear power tailgate closing should be smooth. It closes with a harsh sound as if there's no rubber lining inside and feels like its hitting a metal.