[speedy]

Originally Posted by Sahil

The X5 opened up the super premium SUV market in India a couple of years back and then the Cayanne ate up its market followed by the Q7.
New X5 is not much different, if anything its gotten uglier... i doubt BMW will be able to beat the Porsche with its new launch UNLESS the X5 is produced in India.

sahil the X5 did open the SUV market in india a couplke of years ago followed by the landcruiser which upto this date still has its loyalists and it demand. the cayanne and the q7 followed much later and now the latest craze seems to be the hummer H3.
the new X5 would not be able to beat the cayanne unless it is stratergicaly priced and offers something different. you cant even rule out the vw tourang.

[vikram18]

Just my 2 bits...but that's one UGLY car! If the VW Touareg is not sold here detuned and is priced well, I can't see any premium SUV coming even close. It might only suffer at the hands of "brand conscious" buyers, but then such people seldom tend to be "drivers".

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by speedy

sahil the X5 did open the SUV market in india a couplke of years ago followed by the landcruiser which upto this date still has its loyalists and it demand. the cayanne and the q7 followed much later and now the latest craze seems to be the hummer H3.
the new X5 would not be able to beat the cayanne unless it is stratergicaly priced and offers something different. you cant even rule out the vw tourang.

How could i forget the loyal LX470! It not only opened the premium SUV market, it ruled it for a while!
I dont think the hummer H3 really can be compared with these other SUV because it has barely sold in India, likewise the Tourag.

[hanmust]

Originally Posted by speedzak

Really cannot keep quiet about the X5.
It is the latest from the ugly stable of BMW. Are they still getting more and more bangled as days pass by?

Hanmust was a freelance journalist from some time. Lately, he has some commitments with FastTrack magazine it seems. His enthusiasm has been always an inspiration for us lazyboys.

Thanq Zak for ur kind words...

ya hes right..i'm a freelance auto-journalist for past few years...I couldn't contribute much time as I'm also actively involved in our company...but now as Fast-track as became monthly (earlier bi-monthly)...and they required me as an official test-driver for the high-end cars, eventhough I became the test-driver, I'm still freelancer...

[doctorque]

great job.
i agree with gordon too... bangles designs definately take some time to become eye pleasing... but with passing time it will surely catch attention...
well i first saw the new X5 at our training in chennai more than a month back, and its not dissapointing at all, atleast not to me.

[SRK]

The new design is good but doesn't look that mean as it used to with the earlier version.

This one looks more like a Luxury Family Vehicle. The earlier had some sporty feel to it

[speedy]

Originally Posted by Sahil

How could i forget the loyal LX470! It not only opened the premium SUV market, it ruled it for a while!
I dont think the hummer H3 really can be compared with these other SUV because it has barely sold in India, likewise the Tourag.

i agree you cant compare the HUMMER H2 and H3 to the other brands but it is fast growing. there are quite a few of them already and they do land foot in the premium SUV segment. when the landcruisers first entered the indian market they too had a slow start. delhi already has 7 hummer H3's. for the other parts of india i do not have a fixed count.
the touareg also is just warming its feet with quite a few already sold. the person at the dealership here told me they had already sold 75 cars in delhi and bombay alone. the car takes 2 months to arrive and that is why you dont see many on the road yet. the car is priced at 50 lacs this is for the base entry model.

[AMATMO]

well i feel the germans have really hit japanese since 2005

launch of cayene,toureg and the Q7 have really shook toyota's position in that segment
in dubai people now prefer cayene over land cruiser(ofcource i know that toyota land cruiser is not same as Lx470)
but germans(all of them)
have a wider range of choice of cars and hence they have been able to threat japanese and americans in luxury car segment(Hummer being an exception)
but then again americans have their own set of weapons
i feel in the present case

1>germans
2>american
3>japanese

[speedy]

Originally Posted by AMATMO

well i feel the germans have really hit japanese since 2005

launch of cayene,toureg and the Q7 have really shook toyota's position in that segment
in dubai people now prefer cayene over land cruiser(ofcource i know that toyota land cruiser is not same as Lx470)
but germans(all of them)
have a wider range of choice of cars and hence they have been able to threat japanese and americans in luxury car segment(Hummer being an exception)
but then again americans have their own set of weapons
i feel in the present case

1>germans
2>american
3>japanese

with you completely. the german companies are hitting back with full vengence. the Q7, cayenne, touareg all come with a variety of engines to choose from unlike the lx470 . the lx470 has not changed much in the last so many years and it is now a very common sight. the germans and the americans have been constantly changeing the looks of their cars and introduceing new models faster.
if you see in dubai there are alot of porsche cayenne's, hummer's, caddilac escalade, Q7, toyota fortuner etc. the point here being that the german and american cars have started dominateing the japanese SUV makers

[CaliforniaKnight]

well i guess the clienst going in for a LC, Safari etc etc prefers them because of the known fact it can tackle the desert for sure, but the SAV crop of cars are preffered for their sporty drive appeal which was started by BMW!

[speedy]

Originally Posted by CaliforniaKnight

well i guess the clienst going in for a LC, Safari etc etc prefers them because of the known fact it can tackle the desert for sure, but the SAV crop of cars are preffered for their sporty drive appeal which was started by BMW!

the trend for the sporty cars was started by the BMW X5 and not to forget that the landcruisers also came as multi purpose sporty and also could tackle the deserts. but today there are a handful of people who would take their cars to the desert. the likes of the landcruiser and the safari have been taken over by the cayanne and touareg for their sporty looks. the actual grandmaster of the desert HUMMER H1 has also lost its position. you dont see H2 and H3'S being taken.

[CaliforniaKnight]

Hey speedy, just to mention that atleast in dxb to the best of my knowledge the Landcruisers + safari still rule the desert + the westerners preferring the Jeep wranglers and the Grand Cherokees...but these two cars are untouched by the tour operators, prob due to the higher maintenance costs...H3's personally atleast the 5 cylinders do no good, its all about hype but yes H2 do their job pretty decent.
The cayenne and the touaregs do have great big engines + great torque in the offering but some how for some reasons they are not competent with the others.

[speedy]

Originally Posted by CaliforniaKnight

Hey speedy, just to mention that atleast in dxb to the best of my knowledge the Landcruisers + safari still rule the desert + the westerners preferring the Jeep wranglers and the Grand Cherokees...but these two cars are untouched by the tour operators, prob due to the higher maintenance costs...H3's personally atleast the 5 cylinders do no good, its all about hype but yes H2 do their job pretty decent.
The cayenne and the touaregs do have great big engines + great torque in the offering but some how for some reasons they are not competent with the others.

i never did deny the fact that the landcruisers and the safari's rule the deserts even today the tour operators prefer theses cars and the hummer H1. the other SUV's are meant for the roads and not the deserts.

[v10]

[speedy]

v10 the next time you post a picture please reduce the size. thanks

you should have taken interior pictures of the car as well. which model do they have standing at the showroom.