lmnsblu355

I've been towing my trailex open trailer with Gt3 with my wife's X5 3.0. Does just fine with rear air suspension and brake controller. Lease is up. Trying to decide between 3.0 gas or diesel for replacement. Any thoughts? Anyone able to compare these two variations of the x5? Wife wants another x5 so it will have to be one or the other.

DER951

Friend of mine very happy with his second X5 diesel. Gets 19 mpg towing about 4500 lbs, 951 on open steel trailer.

LuigiVampa

I have found that if you should make the transition from an open trailer to a closed trailer you need "more". My Infiniti QX56 is not exactly up to the task and it is a big SUV.

944hal

I agree with Luigi about open vs closed. My F-150 did fine with a 16' open but struggled with a 16' enclosed. I switched to a Mercedes GL diesel and no problem. I think towing with a diesel is better all around. The max torque on a diesel is just about 70-75 MPH. Right in the torque sweet spot. A friend recently bought a new X5 diesel and is getting way over 30 MPG highway. I have not driven it but I did ride in it. Very nice!

lmnsblu355

Thanks for the replys. No plans for enclosed trailer. From my research, Diesel torque will be better for towing. Will have to let the wife test drive one to make sure daily driving isn't noticably different.

audipwr1

Thinking of towing a 20 ft enclosed with a big suv - guys in the cayenne forum do it

ShakeNBake

No issues with an X5m towing an open trailer - I don't really notice it, which is the scary part.... I'd expect a closed trailer would be fine as well if you could get the tongue weight at or under 700lb and trailer under 6500.

surlynkid

For towing, it is about when you have all that torque available. With a diesel it kicks in at very low rpm and stays pretty flat. Gas or turbo gas does not give you all the low rpm grunt. My cummins gives you max torque of 610 ftlbs at 1600rpm.

Nizer

Diesel, no question. I'm on my third X5 diesel. Great vehicles and a better towing option than gas.

User 52121

For towing, even with a little SUV like the X5, diesel will certainly be nicer.

But I don't know your wife. Keep in mind diesel is harder to find - she'll have to remember that when driving it daily. Make sure she doesn't accidentally fill it with gasoline, may have to plan her fuel stops based on where she KNOWS there is diesel available, etc. Those reasons are the big reason why I didn't consider a diesel for my wife. She likes to run the car down to fumes, then start looking for a gas station. Can't do that with a diesel since it's not sold on every corner here like gasoline is.

LuigiVampa

..

Kein_Ersatz

Go for the diesel, they have come a long way in recent years, for daily driving not an issue. For towing +++.

And if you go enclosed, you will be fine too (with the right trailer).

And open trailer on the Nurburgring with "heavy" 4-door in tow seems to be fine too ;-)

himself

Go for the diesel. I had a 2012 X5d that I used to tow. It was great. Much better for towing than the gas model (which I had way back in 2004). Torque is great. I think the 2015 model is superb with the new transmission and I think they have a new engine, or maybe a revised one (compared to the 2012).

I just went through this entire process and ended up with the Q7d. I think it's a better choice, especially given the 6600 towing capacity (+10% over the X5). I drove the Q7 (not towing) for a 600 mile round trip and got 29.4 MPG. I typically go over 500 miles on a tank in normal work driving mode.

I use/d the Tekonsha wireless controller for both.

Happy to answer any Q's I can.

-td

TXE36

Which X5D are you guys referring to? E53 or E70 or both? It looks like the E70 diesel (bi-turbo) has a lot more power, but is the E53 enough, especially for an open trailer?

-Mike

Kein_Ersatz

My E53 experience is with 4.6i gas V8. Plenty of power for towing. Check out xOutpost for E53 diesel opinions, but recall it reduced tow capacity from gas V8s.

Assume OP was looking at F15 or last of the E70, since going off lease was catalyst.

400+ torque on diesel (E70 or F15) seem enough grunt to tow max load.

And then there is the Porsche Cayenne Diesel