Among the many luxury brands, the BMW brand has a different meaning to us media practitioners. Because the logo of blue sky and white clouds not only represents high-end product positioning, it also represents a kind of persistence in sports. From the entry-level 1 Series to the flagship 7 Series, it's nothing more than the same.

For the BMW X5, luxury and sport are essential brand genes. But in this BMW Southern District’s "Exploring the Secret Realm·Yueyunyou" themed event, Zhixingjun and X5 experienced more excellent product genes of BMW X5 in the rainforest of Xishuangbanna, such as off-road, digitalization, and intelligent construction. ...

A different rainforest crossing

Xishuangbanna, full of tropical scenery, has very rich landforms, plant and animal resources. On the first day of the trip, we Driving the X5 fleet from Jinghong City, passing through the West View Line, Kunmo Expressway, Lanmo Line, complex road sections with beautiful scenery and dangerous roads, and finally headed to the primeval forest "Oriental Amazon" with countless towering trees, Mengyuan Wonderland .

After the convoy left the urban area of ??Jinghong City, we turned directly to the national highway and headed to the virgin rainforest deep in the Nuoji Mountains. There are no traffic signs, no passers-by or other vehicles, and even the "roads" are temporarily opened up in the dense forest. The most authentic appearance of nature is preserved here.

How difficult is the road here? First of all, the width of the road opened in the dense forest is only about 2 meters, which can only allow one car to pass. Secondly, the perennially humid rainforest makes the ground full of shell craters, slippery mud, irregular unevenness, and even the outside of the car. Many unknown plants and insects are potential threats, eliminating the possibility of opening windows and getting closer to nature.

Therefore, traveling through such dense tropical forests requires vehicles with strong off-road capabilities. In terms of positioning, the BMW X5 is an urban SUV, but its rich configurations give it good off-road capabilities.

First of all, BMW’s xDrive intelligent all-wheel drive system is equipped with four off-road modes: sand, rock, gravel, and ice. The central locking mechanism can even lock the slipping tires when the vehicle slips. , transmitting power to the side with adhesion; secondly, the adaptive two-axis air suspension can bring up to 80mm of chassis height adjustment space. In off-road mode, a higher chassis means better passability.

So driving a BMW X5 through the tropical rainforest can be said to be a leisurely stroll, and we can even share part of the experience to appreciate the distance. But when we walked down a slope several hundred meters long, the radio in the car came with the instruction "Release the accelerator/brake and let the computer control the vehicle going downhill."

In a dense forest full of unknowns and no end in sight, facing such an order, Zhixing-Jun found it difficult to trust him at first. However, with the coach's insistence, I still chose to believe in the coach and the BMW X5. Press the steep slope descent function and the initial speed will be limited to 3km/h. After entering the slope, release your right foot and let the vehicle completely control the speed.

During this process, you can clearly feel that the computer is constantly adjusting the speed according to the road conditions, and the HUD interface always maintains this 3km/h. The body gradually tightens, the hands gripping the steering wheel and the The vigilant right foot was relieved, and the forward momentum was left to the computer to control with greater confidence. The reason for such an attempt is not only trust in the computer, but also trust in the thousands of engineers behind this technology and trust in BMW's century-old technology.

Comfortable and fun-filled mountain road driving

After completing the dense forest crossing in Jinuo Mountain, the team headed to Mengyuan Wonderland. The road to Mengyuan was not complicated, but in the team While moving forward, Zhixingjun discovered something very interesting.

The rear suspension of the BMW X5 at the front of the team will adjust the air suspension in real time according to the road undulations and steering angle, always keeping the body on a horizontal line.

Therefore, from the perspective of the rear, the BMW X5 is always swaying its uneasy buttocks to show off its sexiness, but the actual counterparts sitting in the back row are always walking on flat ground, and even take out their computers to work on the mountain road.

This is the charm of air suspension. The on-board computer will intelligently adjust the height of the vehicle body in real time according to the vehicle's operating conditions. When driving on high-speed roads, the air suspension will further lower the height to achieve a more stable driving performance with a closer to the ground attitude.

The mountain road driving on the first day was not challenging, but on the winding mountain road in Pu'er on the second day, it was time for the BMW X5 to show its talents. The 40i version we tested is equipped with BMW's B58 series inline 6-cylinder twin-turbocharged engine. This engine can output 340 horsepower and 450 Nm of torque, so it can provide Abundant power requirements.

The mountain road in Pu'er is no less difficult and dangerous than the tropical jungle on the first day. There are continuous high-speed curves, hairpin curves and other complex roads. It can be regarded as a miniature version of the track, but there is no buffer zone and the road is not empty, but this is the perfect scene for BMW to display its sports genes.

In sports mode, the chassis of the BMW X5 can be adjusted to the lowest position, creating a "ground-hugging feel" similar to that of a car, allowing the driver to feel more connected in corners. As a brand with excellent sports genes, the BMW X5 inherits these genes and has an excellent experience in terms of steering feel, gearbox matching, brake adjustment, etc.

There is no need to use manual mode, the 8AT gearbox can understand the driver's intention of every step of the accelerator, whether it is time to increase the speed or to shift up. These are all left to the gearbox to think about. All we need to do is hold the steering wheel tightly, follow the changing road section with our eyes immediately, and cut into the turning point at the most suitable place.

The powerful 6-piston caliper can always brake at the first moment and steadily control the vehicle at the optimal speed before the apex of the bend. Then turn, enter the corner, and apply the oil to exit the corner. This series of actions is completed in one go. At this time, the colleagues in the back row were still working on their computers and were not aware of all this.

Digital upgrade of Digitalization naturally means a smarter and more connected BMW.

In fact, it was not just when Zhixingjun handed over the accelerator to the computer during the rainforest crossing on the first day. On the high-speed round trip between Jinghong and Mengyuan, and the high-speed section between Jinghong and Pu'er, we basically used 60 The driving time is left to the computer. The intelligent driving assistance functions equipped on the X5 can realize adaptive cruise, road keeping, departure warning, active braking, road traffic recognition, fatigue reminder and other functions.

In addition to the above functions, it also allows you to completely release your hands in a short period of time (about 5 seconds). In the actual test, after turning on the driving assistance function at a speed of 120km/h, the vehicle can also press Follow the traffic signs to complete turns and other actions. During the entire process, the vehicle remains in the middle of the lane and the computer intervention is so gentle and silent.

When passing the checkpoint, the system becomes more intelligent. The car-following mode can basically realize automatic driving at low speeds. At this time, the vehicle will automatically follow the dynamics of the vehicle in front. Control the accelerator, brake and even steering wheel. If the car in front turns, it will automatically follow the turn. From this point of view, the future BMW will no longer be just a driving BMW. We have already seen the prototype of intelligent technology BMW.

In addition to digitization in driving, there are many smart operations in the car, such as voice control and car networking functions that keep pace with the times. Of course, the gesture control exclusively developed by BMW is indispensable. Through different gestures, the driver can easily control the volume of the multimedia in the car and the function of switching songs. All of this is exactly like the scene in a science fiction movie.

Zhixing has something to say

If it weren’t for this experience event, Zhixing would still think that the Functional mid-to-large flagship.

We have always firmly believed that "BMWs are for driving", and we take it for granted that the driver should participate in all aspects of driving a BMW.

But through this experience, we know how powerful the digital BMW X5 is today. Not only does it not lose the sportiness that BMW is proud of, it also greatly lowers the threshold for this kind of driving pleasure. No matter what kind of working conditions it is under, it can handle it in the corresponding way with ease. It always brings surprises to us. This must be why we like BMW.

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.