[Frenetic]

One thing that was surprising to me was the amount of rear-seat legroom (or lack thereof). Coming from an S7, I assumed there would be more legroom back there, but it’s smaller than I imagined. In fact, it’s actually slightly less than my S7 based on my driver-seat position for both cars. Granted, I thought the S7 had a lot of legroom—all things considered—but I didn’t expect the X5 and S7 to be in the same company.

[hkleyman]

Originally Posted by Frenetic

One thing that was surprising to me was the amount of rear-seat legroom (or lack thereof). Coming from an S7, I assumed there would be more legroom back there, but it's smaller than I imagined. In fact, it's actually slightly less than my S7 based on my driver-seat position for both cars. Granted, I thought the S7 had a lot of legroom—all things considered—but I didn't expect the X5 and S7 to be in the same company.

Agreed. I was disappointed as well but I'm over it. I was going to get a GLE450 but couldn't find any of them. The GLE definitely had more rear spaces but the front felt tighter. I'm happy I went with the X5 from my perspective but if I have some of the guys in the backseat it can get tight. I would gladly trade 6 inches of trunk space for 6 inches of leg room.

[Paladin1]

Yep, a common observation in reviews. Coming from a Q7, I lost about 5" in OAL, although the wheelbase difference is less than an inch.

[X5 45e]

I come from a 6GT. My kids could hardly touch the front seats with their feet.

Now for my kids it is ok.

Trunk size is much smaller too

[Alan l.]

I’ve noticed the same and this is the biggest iteration of the X5. The previous f15/f85 was the same with the lack of rear leg room. Having the multi contour seats makes it worse because they are thicker. BMW could have easily fixed this by allowing the rear seats to slide further back into the trunk space just a few inches. I’m sure most would be happy with that trade off.

Maybe they purposely did this to create the need for the X7...

Alan

[MystroX5]

My kids didn't have any issue with rear leg room with the X5 but where they did was the non reclining rear. As mentioned, there is lots of room in the trunk area they could have engineered a partial rear seat recline. The 2nd row of the X7 with captain chairs feels like a completely different designer designed it there is so much room.

[Raikkonen]

Great post...

For the size of the car, the rear legroom is abysmal.

Both my wife's 2019 X3, and my recent lease return, a 2018 SQ5, have at least the same amount of legroom in a much smaller package.

To add insult to injury, my brother in law's XC90 is cavernous compared to the X5....

I did a lot of research on interior dimensions a few year's back, and it turns out there's no standardized testing format across the industry to provide interior measurements. Each manufacturer uses their own standard - i.e for rear seat legroom, where the front seat is placed, where the measurement is taken from the backseat (backrest, thigh pad, etc.).

That's why you have to compare vehicles in person, as dimensions can be deceiving...

[Jwong]

We own both the XC90 and the G05. The rear seating is night and day, not to mention the rear XC90 seats recline and can be moved even further back!

Ultimately, I feel BMW kinda messed up here. Besides QC, rear legroom dimensions are the next biggest miss for G05 IMO.

Originally Posted by Raikkonen

Great post...

For the size of the car, the rear legroom is abysmal.

Both my wife's 2019 X3, and my recent lease return, a 2018 SQ5, have at least the same amount of legroom in a much smaller package.

To add insult to injury, my brother in law's XC90 is cavernous compared to the X5....

I did a lot of research on interior dimensions a few year's back, and it turns out there's no standardized testing format across the industry to provide interior measurements. Each manufacturer uses their own standard - i.e for rear seat legroom, where the front seat is placed, where the measurement is taken from the backseat (backrest, thigh pad, etc.).

That's why you have to compare vehicles in person, as dimensions can be deceiving...

[six]

I agree, I think the rear space of the X5 is pretty low rent in terms of space and comfort for rear passengers. It's like BMW did literally nothing to make the rear cabin area special which is odd in this class of car. What's even more odd is our X1's rear seats recline and move backwards/forwards on rails individually, I definitely would have expected this in the X5 too

[rmorin1249]

I agree. Not a good ride for a long road trip with 4 adults. I'm half way through my lease and looking forward to my next ride. My mistake for not doing my homework before signing the lease. I doubt my next ride will be a BMW.

[TXSchnee]

Rear seat leg room in my 9Y0 Cayenne is much larger than the G05 (can also recline the seat). My 10 year old is thrilled with more room, she is already 5'3" and likely to be at least as tall as me within a few years (I am 5'9"). I had a G05 loaner when my G01 was in for some work, and there wasn't any difference in rear seat leg room between my G01 and the loaner G05. Not sure why BMW decided to have a smaller space, I would guess they were trying to keep a noticeable difference between the X7 and X5, but there is zero reason that the X3 and X5 should be so similar (main difference is width).

[Frenetic]

Yeah it's weird why the X5 is rather stingy in the rear legroom department. I would personally give up a few inches in the cargo area if it meant gaining that space back in the rear seat.

I also agree that the interior dimensions quoted by manufacturers is sometimes misleading because the parameters really aren't known, notably where the front seat is positioned at the time of measurement.

I sat in the rear of a new Honda Accord very recently and that thing is surprisingly cavernous back there, a lot more leg room than my X5 (and S7)...

[TXSchnee]

Originally Posted by Frenetic

Yeah it's weird why the X5 is rather stingy in the rear legroom department. I would personally give up a few inches in the cargo area if it meant gaining that space back in the rear seat.

I also agree that the interior dimensions quoted by manufacturers is sometimes misleading because the parameters really aren't known, notably where the front seat is positioned at the time of measurement.

I sat in the rear of a new Honda Accord very recently and that thing is surprisingly cavernous back there, a lot more leg room than my X5 (and S7)...

I had a '17 S6, it had an amazing amount of rear seat room. Even with a rear facing car seat there was room behind my drivers seat.

[Alan l.]

Just to be clear while rear seat leg room isn’t the greatest in the X5 it’s far from being uncomfortable for people unless they are over 6’ tall. I am 5’10” and I sit behind my own driving position fine. Width is where the X5 shines since it has that chunky wide bull dog stance

[Bimar]

Sliding seats would have solved the issue. Cayenne has more rear space But smaller trunk. X5 prioritized the trunk space over rear legroom

[Frenetic]

Here’s an excerpt from a C&D article.

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews...enz-gle-class/

Jump in their back seats, however, and it's the Mercedes that delivers with considerably more legroom and a rear bench that isn't as upright. The X5's 34 cubic feet of cargo space is one cube more than the GLE's, yet both SUVs can accommodate 11 carry-on-size boxes behind their second rows (26 boxes with their rear seats folded), and both have the same lift-over height of 31 inches. While neither of our test vehicles featured the optional third row of seats, both the X5 and GLE offer them, for $2200 and $2100, respectively.

The BMW X5 and Mercedes GLE are almost identical in overall length, but the MB offers a lot more rear-passenger legroom. However, the X5 does offer one more cubic feet of cargo room. Does that one cubic foot of space (which isn’t much) make that much of a difference or is it something else?

[James_G0540i]

For kids the rear seats are perfect. We have a 11yo and 16yo (she is almost adult size) and they love it. In fact, if there's too much room there's a temptation for kids to lift their feet and kick or mark the back of driver/front passenger seats.

The X5 is a medium SUV targeted at families. If you are going to be carting around 4-5 adults regularly, get a people mover or a large model SUV which typically have the rear seats on sliding rails.

I certainly don't bring 1-2 inches of rear seat space into my buying criteria or buying decision making. Having a tacky "iPAD looking" instrument cluster and grab handles in the center console that look like they're made for a 90 year old like the GLE would certainly be a bigger factor for me...

[84illini]

Originally Posted by James_G0530d

For kids the rear seats are perfect. We have a 11yo and 16yo (she is almost adult size) and they love it. In fact, if there's too much room there's a temptation for kids to lift their feet and kick or mark the back of driver/front passenger seats.

The X5 is a medium SUV targeted at families. If you are going to be carting around 4-5 adults regularly, get a people mover or a large model SUV which typically have the rear seats on sliding rails.

I certainly don't bring 1-2 inches of rear seat space into my buying criteria or buying decision making. Having a tacky "iPAD looking" instrument cluster and grab handles in the center console that look like they're made for a 90 year old like the GLE would certainly be a bigger factor for me...

Agree

[Unit]

Originally Posted by 84illini

Agree

Yup same. Spot on.

[ND40oz]

Originally Posted by X4guy

Sliding seats would have solved the issue. Cayenne has more rear space But smaller trunk. X5 prioritized the trunk space over rear legroom

If you option 4UB, the 3rd row, the 2nd row seats have power slide and recline, the controls appear to be the same ones that the X7 have.

[Alan l.]

Originally Posted by ND40oz

If you option 4UB, the 3rd row, the 2nd row seats have power slide and recline, the controls appear to be the same ones that the X7 have.

I was told by forum members that with this option the second row doesn’t recline anymore than the cars without. It’s mainly to give the 3rd row passengers more space not the 2nd row. Basically in it’s full all the way back position it’s the same as the non 3rd row X5s. I haven’t seen this in person to verify so i could be wrong.

Alan

[ND40oz]

Originally Posted by Alan l.

I was told by forum members that with this option the second row doesn’t recline anymore than the cars without. It’s mainly to give the 3rd row passengers more space not the 2nd row. Basically in it’s full all the way back position it’s the same as the non 3rd row X5s. I haven’t seen this in person to verify so i could be wrong.

Alan

Probably so, but if you keep the seats moved forward some and not fully reclined, it'll look like you have more room when you move them back and recline them for your taller passengers.