Conspicuous consumption with aconscience: is it really possible? It’s time to find out

❝ Short trips garner cooing from the family, longer ones gently rock them to sleep ❞

X5 deftly blends sportiness with luxury and comfort

FIRST REPORT

WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT

To find out if this plug-in hybrid luxury SUV can offer the best of both worlds

Whileplenty of people have already embraced the electric vehicle revolution, for others it remains a technology that’s hard to trust, let alone fall in love with. And that seems to be particularly true at the higher end of the market, where internal combustion remains – for now – the preferred choice for travelling long distances in great opulence.

The easiest way to convert those buyers of traditionally powered, big, luxurious SUVs to the electric future – which is already here, of course, in the shape of the BMW iX and its rivals – is a ‘gateway’ model, like this BMW X5 xDrive50e plug-in hybrid. On shorter trips, it offers all of the benefits of an EV in terms of its instant torque and efficiency, but it also has the reassurance of a traditional (and BMW signature) 3.0-litre straight-six petrol engine mustering 309bhp (up 26bhp on the pre-facelift xDrive45e) for longer journeys.