My father got this car about 3-4 months ago and so far, it’s a great truck. No problems whatsoever. As of right now.

The comfort is ok. Most of the time I sit in the back seat and and even then it’s comfortable. Although if you are going around a turn, you kind of have to hold on to stay in your seat. The cloth seats are very soft and is nice to the touch. The truck is relatively quiet. The only time it gets load is when you step on the gas but for a 5.7 liter V8, it should sound like a nice roar, in my opinion. Rides very nice and takes bumps well.

The Technology is okay I’d say. The only thing the truck has is a reverse camra and something for the towing. (I’m not sure what it is) The infotainment touch screen is easy to use and very simple and responsive.

Performance is great as it gets up and goes! Once you step on the gas, the transmission and engine is very responsive. In general, the transmission is very smooth through the gears.

Overall, it’s a great truck. You get wheat you get for the money and I don’t really think it’s overpriced. I and happy my father got this truck. It’s really nice!

As our Italian rental car, we were given a Peugeot 308. We used to own a 3008, so my hopes were not high in any regard.
Reliability is pretty bad, at least from our 3008. Unless they have improved, I have to assume its the same. Our 3008 was needing coolant service regularly, and the workshop that does it is atrociously old. The building is on prime city land, yet is rotting away and definitely hurts their brand image. At least there are many cafe's and shops to go to. Or take the train to the city.

We found that the sunroof thing had come off its rails, and collapsed when opened. However, using my ingenuity and spare time in a traffic filled tunnel, I was able to repair it.


Technology is as you would expect in an economy car. It had a touch-screen display which was by no means responsive. We were often changing channels, trying to find music that suited our needs as we hadn't quite found a good Italian station. However, we had to tap, then 2 seconds later tap again. It took ages to flick through the channels and we just gave up at some points. We also noticed that the radio seemed delayed. When driving into tunnels, it would take a few moments after entering the tunnel to cut out, and a few moments after exiting the tunnel to come back. It still requires a key, no push button start.

Comfort isn't too bad. It seems to go along just finely at high speeds...

The cabin is very small. In the front passenger seats, I had my legs crammed in and sitting in the rear was even worse. The design wasn't very comfortable to sit it, and after a long cruise (multiple hours) you will find yourself ready to get out and stretch. The materials are pretty cheap, but the design isnt too bad. It looks quite nice inside, but looks can be deceiving. The dashboard looks ugly from the drivers seat, although it is a material which feels like rubber.

The car isn't quick. It requires a lot of force to get going and when you do floor it, it looses traction on the front wheels and the whole car shakes as if they just fell off.

Exterior styling isn't terrible, the car looks pretty decent and is styled nicely. I think the French can do a nice styled car, but nothing else.

BMW has absolutely killed the competition with the new X5. The technology in this car is just insane. With a press of a button the car will keep the lane and will drive itself, provided you keep your hand on the wheel and the road markings are clear. The crisp heads-up-display shows your speed and the speed limit, and it will go orange when you go over the speed limit. This is super handy, you don't really need to watch your speed, as the orange colour will catch your eye and you can slow down. When the car is autonomously driving, a green image of the steering wheel shows the car is under control by the computer, however when it turns yellow and the steering wheel's LED's begin to flash, you must take control.

Additionally, when the navigation is set, an image of the highway appears in the gauge cluster, and it will let you know exactly which lane to be in so that you take the correct turn.
The 'Hey BMW' voice assistant is incredibly useful for getting tasks done quickly. For example, turning on the heated seats or increasing the temperature. You can change the name too, giving the assistant a personal touch. I also found that when navigating home via the personal assistant, she will charmingly say "It will be nice to be home!".

The interior materials are brilliant. The 'Vernasca' leather is very supple and simply gorgeous to feel, and the seats are incredibly plush, yet they can hold you in tight when the time comes. The door bins and the lower dashboard have a beautiful plastic, which pretty much as good as leather covering them, and the dashboard is the same, however it can be 'Nappa' leather as an option. The only scratchy plastic I could find was the rear climate control area, and the boot. That is it, I am not exaggerating.



At night, the car will blow you away. Within the software, you can configure the ambient lighting colours from lilac to green and blue to orange. These colours make for an awesome experience at night and make the car feel so modern. When walking up to the car at night, the car automatically unlocks if you have the key on you, and the ground will light up with an awesome puddle light leading you to the doors. The door handles also have small lights in them in case you can't see them.
You can also option the car with 'Laserlight LED headlights' and the car will shoot lasers to illuminate the road in the dead of night to keep you safe.
The M-Sport package gives the car an awesome aerodynamic design with big vents and black trim, inside you get nice pedals and a properly thick steering wheel.



Backing out of the driveway is as easy as it can be. Once you have the car in reverse, engage the 'Reverse Assistant' and the car will steer around the obstacles that you drove around previously. It will go back for up to 50 metres, and all you need to do is press the brake and throttle. The cameras are awesome too. How about a 3D image of your car projected onto the road as you are trying to park. It is a complete gimmick, although it is standard in Australia. You can pan around the 3D model by pinching and panning your fingers. I do think it is pretty cool to have this stuff and Corolla driving grandma couldn't help but say 'Gee whiz'.



Ok, lets drive now. The engine we have is a 3.0L Twin-Turbo Diesel. It is really quick, and wow the accelerator and transmission is so responsive, I love it. I find with some cars that you have to really press the pedal for the car to go, but not with the X5, just a small tap and it is ready to go. The car even has launch control, pretty impressive for a base engine. The paddle shifts are highly responsive, and they feel pretty solid to press.

The engine is very quiet. There is no diesel rattle at all, so it sounds good from outside. From inside, the engine is quiet, but at higher RPM it sounds a little fake, although I like the sound and I enjoy it.

The steering is very good for an SUV. It has very little body roll, and the integral active steering (rear wheel steering) is awesome. The rear wheels will steer in the opposite direction as the fronts when you are travelling under 70 km/h, but then switches to the same direction above 70 km/h to make the car more stable. It is very good for getting in an out of parking spaces, as the car will just zip around everywhere. U-turns have never been so good, and the tyres won't feel stressed at all.


The software has some pretty cool features. You can use Apple Carplay, or you can use mirror casting to watch YouTube videos in the car. I gave it a shot but it isn't great quality and sometimes it lags.


What don't I like then. Well, the news and weather widget is a bit hit and miss. Sometimes it's there, and then it isn't. I reboot the software and it comes back! Then it goes away the next day.
I also dislike the standard LED lights. BMW cut corners and removed the signature halo's unless you bought the laser lights which had a production issue and we missed out on them. I have got used to liking them, but I am very disappointed we couldn't have it. I keep seeing X3 drivers with their LED's and they have the full halo.
I also wish the paint was done a bit better. It is actually flecking off in some hidden parts, and it was like that the week we got it. It also is quite prone to swirls/scratches compared to the paint on our other car.
Somehow the adhesive gluing the tail-gate trim pieces down has kept seeping out and a lovely patch of black goo is resting on the right-rear quarter panel. It seems to have stopped now, the X5 forum believe that the robots gave us too much adhesive.
The audio when streaming from Bluetooth or mirror cast is temperamental, as the audio cuts out and then comes back which is a common issue and should be fixed in a coming software update, which can soon be done over -the-air like our phones!
It does get quite dirty. In one week the brake dust build up is insane, and the car will turn brown if you leave it long enough.


The 2019 BMW X5 is simply brilliant, and the technology is insane. I think it is better looking when compared to its rivals, yet it out performs them in the driving experience by a long run. The comfort is very well balanced and overall, we are happy with the car.

Our rental car for this week was a 2018 Holden Commodore RS. This new Commodore ends the Australian built Holden era, and moves it to the plant in Germany. To many, this is a tragedy, however the Europeans have put in their best technology to make sure it is a worthy successor.
When we went to put our luggauge in, it took a bit of time to figure out the boot. There was no button on the keyfob and no clear handle/button on the car itself. Eventually, we learned that you have to press the badge to pop the boot, then squeeze your finger in the 1 cm gap and pull it open yourself. Once it was opened, there was a pleasant amount of space inside.
Getting into the car, I was delighted to see rather plush leatherette seats with cloth parts, that seemed comfortable at first although I noticed a lack of lumbar support at least for the rear passengers over long journeys.
The safety systems are excellent. The brake warning flashes a red light onto the windshield to warn you about stopped traffic when you may need to stop. It also has a lane departure assistant and a constant reminder in the gauge cluster that you need to back off tailgating the car ahead. It also has cross traffic alert to warn you of passing cars when backing out of driveways, which we found quite useless since it only tells you when they are close.
I was also surprised to see the car had some ambient lighting, although the colours cannot be changed and it is not included on the rear doors.
Some things I disliked; while the headlights have LED indicators and daytime running lights, the low-beam and high-beam are still the old-fashioned halogen.