BMW X5 VS MERCEDES - BENZ GLE 

                     the sort of car you might aspire to own

I sort of do myself I am in the base

spec x5 which sounds like a weird thing

to say about an x5 comes in at about 1.2

million it's called the X Drive 30d X

line automatic you get all the details

on our app or on our website and it has

a straight-6 turbocharged diesel engine

and what's quite interesting between the

two engines is that the Merc completely

odd performs this BMW way more power

quite a lot more talk I feel like BMW

could have got a bit more out of this

engine but this car is a bit lighter and

it does feel a lot more nimble if you

drive both cars back-to-back you can

feel the power difference in the Merc

but if you just drove the x5 you would

not describe it as slow or underpowered

there's more than enough and be your

right foot yet it's got this lovely wave

of torque which you just sort of ride

when the turbos on song who but 0 to

100 6.5 in here 5.7 in the Merc which is

incredible because it is about the size

of a house quite a big difference

between these two engines is how low in

the rev range the manufacturers have

been able to get the peak torque figure

to become available so in the Beemer

peak talks available between two

thousand and two and a half thousand rpm

whereas in the Merc peak torque is

available from an extremely low twelve

rpm so I think this is just about the

perfect time to jump into the

Mercedes-Benz and talk about that car

while I'm driving it revolutionary I

know I don't know how I come up with all

these ideas into the McKay D's bins and

you can immediately feel that this is a

larger car there's just more room in

here that's just that's more space for

activities and it really does show in

the weight as well this car is 215

kilograms heavier than the x5 it's a bit

of a barge this thing but when it comes

down to this engine and how it motivates

this car you wouldn't really know can't

really feel that weight cuz you've just

got 700 Newton meters of torque in here

and all of it as I said when I was

driving the x5 is available from as low

as 1200 rpm this thing absolutely shunts

and its mates or two milks new 9-speed

gearbox and this has got to be one of

the best drive trains available right

now on the modern car market it's really

really good but what's letting the team

down a little bit here is the suspension

system it just doesn't seem to be happy

it's not a happy suspension system it's

not sure of itself doesn't know its

identity who am I what am I am i a

suspension system am i a jumping castle

at a 7 year old birthday party it's

sort of wobbly

let's talk about the boot space and

practicality issues between these two

cars now of course you're interested in

an SUV because you want to throw many

things into the back and good news both

cars are pretty damn massive when it

comes to load area both cars also have

electric tailgates although you have to

pay extra for your tailgate in the Merc

which I think's a bit cheeky it's really

quite an expensive car the difference

you'll notice immediately is that the

Beamer has a split tailgate which I

quite like because oh I was a very good

noise because it gives you so much

assets you know so I'm going to lean

against on paper

BMW says their boots is a little larger

with the seats in place however Mercedes

says their area is larger when the seats

are flat but when I'm looking at both of

them it looks pretty much the same I

don't think you're any going to notice

what you will notice though is that the

seats in the Beemer are manual I will

now demonstrate how to make them flat

one handle over there one handle over

there no drama no fuss pretty damn quick

- if we go over to the Merc I will now

demonstrate in real time how long it

takes to drop the seats because they are

electric

and we're done that's that's that's our

day's work

this is the rear seat of the BMW as you

can see it's very beige in here very

creamy I feel like I'm inside a vanilla

Stare Stamp but I wanted to illustrate

to you the difference in size between

the backseat so I am 6 foot 6 and I'm

joking I'm not I'm 5 foot 9 and as you

can see if I sit behind myself I mean

I've got enough space I don't not have

enough space but when I jump into the

Merc you'll see the difference between

the two cars got my own automatic

climate control back here USB C port so

I can charge my things which is good and

this is actually the mount for the TV if

you go for that option but overall I am

pretty comfortable back here I don't

have many complaints I can even shut out

all the peasants with my blind that's

nice ok to the Merc

as you can tell by the stark difference

in leather color I am now in the

Mercedes pens look at the comical amount

of knee room I have this is like ab let

my lounge at the home isn't as big as

this I actually crossed my legs look at

that space I will say though that it

doesn't feel as luxurious back here as

it does in the BMW the BMWs rear seats

have more of a sense of occasion about

them but playing back here also don't

have my own climate control but what I

can control individually is my seat with

these buttons over here on the door

that's kind of cool so if I'm in the

back seats and I want to take a nap just

adjust my backrest nice nice work

Mercedes-Benz ok to the front seats the

driver's seat of the BMW is quite a nice

place to be BMW have stuck with this

design philosophy of having it all kind

of surrounding the driver so the dash is

a bit angled towards the driver it is

quite different in the Mercedes-Benz

another key difference is BMW have stuck

with age

wiil down here a couple of buttons

around it shortcut keys so for instance

to your media or your navigation but

this is also a touchscreen so if you

feel like it you can reach out and

interact with your screen with your

fingers in front of me is another

digital instrument display it took the

MW a little bit long to come to the

party on this but I do like what they've

done with it it is effective nice and

clear and easy to read one of the areas

where the Merc outshines the beam and

I'll show you when I jump into the murk

in a second is the controls on the

steering wheel Mercedes have done

something quite clever

with that but I must give you a top tip

do not go for beige leather this car

only has 21,000 K's on the clock and

already the beige leather looks like 

                                               

just dirty and fading and your jeans

stain the seat I don't know why you'd

ever go for this spec overall though and

I remember this so fondly when I drove

the first ever x5 about 15 years ago

BMW manages to make this big SUV sort of

shrink around you almost gives you a

little bit of a sports car feeling and

it's very very different in the

Mercedes-Benz while the rear seats of

the BMW have a bit more of a sense of

occasion to them than the rear seats of

the Mercedes-Benz I must be honest when

I jump into the front seat of the

Mercedes-Benz this feels a bit more

interesting but more exciting a bit more

premium than the BMW and I don't think

it's really down to the materials both

the materials in both cars actually

don't feel as fancy as they should I

just really like this design it's kind

of got this theater aspect to it and

these big screens this big skateboard

dominating the dash the screen quality

just looks a little bit better than it

does in the BMW it reminds me of the

Retina display on my MacBook actually

and the way you interact with these

screens is quite different to that in

the BMW the side controls this screen

this side controls this screen but down

here instead of a jog wheel we've got

this very fancy touchpad setup and you

can push on it like a button it also has

haptic feedback

when you swipe takes a little bit of

getting used to I must be honest but it

does feel very futuristic I quite like

it and here are the fancy touch

controllers on the steering wheel that I

mentioned it's just a really nice

intuitive way of interacting with the

screens in front of you I really like

that overall I just think this is a

slightly nicer place to be and as I

mentioned when I was driving the cars it

is a lot roomier Mercedes haven't gone

for that sort of sports car feel they

want you to feel like you're in

something big and luxurious and

comfortable and I think they've actually

nailed it

when you drive these cars back-to-back

you really get a feeling for the

difference in philosophy that BMW and

Mercedes have when it comes to building

cars the BMW does feel a bit more like a

sports car kind of car you might enjoy

hustling around a little bit

Mercedes-Benz does not feel like that

but if you have a lot of distance to

cover if you've got some cruising to do

I think I'd rather be in this car it

feels a bit better sit up for that this

particular jelly is 160 thousand round

more than the x5 that we have and I have

a feeling expect to quite a lot higher

than the BMW is obviously with German

cars you can absolutely go to town on

the options list but if you are looking

to spend 1.2 1.3 million ran on a car I

think they just want to be satisfied and

I think both these cars will satisfy you

but they are designed almost to satisfy

different needs and once so keep that in

mind when you're looking at these two

cars

it's important to keep in mind that

there is a fair price difference here

160 km I am for this particular Merc

against this particular BMW but I think

the one thing I have learned from

driving these cars back-to-back is that

even though they're in the same segment

there are flea the same size sort of the

same price they're actually quite

different products with quite different

approaches to what a luxury SUV should

be in summary if you're looking for

something a bit more fun to drive a

little bit easier to park as well.