Go! Drive & Camp – September 2019

TOW TEST

86 |September 2019 go!Drive& Camp

120 km/h in the eighth gear

and 1 500 rpm with a 1,1 tonne

road caravan on the towbar,

the X5 uses about half of its Nm

reserve, as the meter hovers in

the middle. The kW graph hardly

reaches its quarter mark (about

50 kW).

At this speed, the computer

shows fuel consumption is

10,8 ℓ/100 km – a reasonable

figure for the size of the towing

combination and the speed

you maintain.

It compares well to the

average consumption of

12,2 ℓ/100 km, which is what

we got over the total distance

of 2 900 km.

A third eye on the road signs

With the Head-up Display you

not only see how fast you’re

going on the windscreen; the

computer also “reads” the speed

limit on that specific section of

the road. (It therefore doesn’t

rely solely on a GPS map.)

As soon as you drive past

a traffic sign showing the speed

limit, the computer repeats

it on the windscreen. If you

drive faster than this, the speed

readout flashes in red to get

your attention.

So, if you didn’t notice the

last speed sign, you can rely on

the computer. The tin brain isn’t

all-knowing though: for example,

1 000m

1 500m

1 957m

500 m

0 m

0

Elevation

273 km 546 km 819 km 1 092km 1 365km 1 638km 1 911 km

TOWINGPROFILE Johannesburg Ermelo

CathkinPeak

Johannesburg

Pretoria

Harrismith

Distance 2 863 km | Average speed 56,8 km/h (highways, back roads, built-up areas and dirt and sand roads) | Driving time 2 days 3 hours 54 minutes.

SPEED READER The X5’s head-up display will usually show your velocity in white

numbers, but if you exceed the speed limit the numbers flash in red so you know

you’re in the wrong. The ECU uses a forward-facing camera to cleverly read the

roadside signs and promptly informs you what the maximum allowed speed is.