Only Luxury Car In Consumer Reports’ Top 10 Picks For 2024

Summary

• BMW X5 named best luxury SUV of 2024 by Consumer Reports, impressing with reliability, road performance, and owner satisfaction.
• X5 offers three distinct powertrains – V-8, hybrid, PHEV – allowing for performance and fuel economy customization.
• BMW X5 excels in road tests, comfort, efficiency, and luxury features, earning top spot for brand performance in Consumer Reports’ ratings.

Consumer Reports is a testing and reviewing site that focuses on ranking cars based on what people see as the most important factors. It’s because of this that they have earned a reputation for being one of the best sources of predicted reliability and road testing out there.

They have recently published an extensive list, ranking a ton of new cars hitting the market for 2024 and it has been filled with some surprising revelations and winners. One slightly less shocking victory was for BMW taking the best luxury SUV with the 2024 X5 and X5 PHEV. This win put the German automakers on Consumer Reports’ list of top 10 cars for 2024. This is particularly impressive given the competition in the luxury SUV category.

We take a dive into how BMW achieved this feat with their excellent new SUV and beat every other luxury automaker to the punch. We dive into some of the key metrics that brought the BMW X5 its victory, such as reliability, on-road performance, and predicted owner satisfaction.

In order to give you the most up-to-date and accurate information possible, the data used to compile this article was sourced from various manufacturer websites and other authoritative sources, including Consumer Reports and the EPA.

The BMW X5 Takes Number One And Two On The Luxury Midsize SUV List

The X5 has always been an excellent seller for BMW and has generally been a force to be reckoned with within the midsize luxury SUV category and the 2024 model year promised an exciting refresh. Hence, the hype.

The German brand managed to impress Consumer Reports and a ton of their fans with the facelift, so much so that the regular model and the PHEV model won a joint first place for the best luxury SUV of 2024.

Consumer Reports Metrics

Consumer Reports does extensive testing on all of the vehicles they review but three main metrics generally justify the overall rating of any car on their lists. These metrics are:

• Reliability
• Road testing
• Owner satisfaction

When reviewing a car that hasn’t yet hit the market, obviously owner satisfaction and reliability are predictive scores, but Consumer Reports’ rigorous testing ensures a high level of accuracy.

X5 And X5 PHEV Scores

(Source: Consumer Reports)

It’s clear that the Consumer Reports team was impressed by the BMW X5, beating out competitors like the Genesis GV80, Land Rover Range Rover Sport, and the Lexus RX. It may not be the best in any singular metric, but BMW has blended together some of the best traits of its competitors in a way that is sublime.

The Three Distinct Powertrains In the 2024 BMW X5

The BMW X5 offers you a choice of two hybrid powertrains and one plug-in hybrid powertrain, each coming with its own sets of pros and cons. Whether you’re into classic V-8 power or you fully embrace the electrified future we’re moving towards, BMW offers you plenty of choice.

Gas X5 Performance

(Source: BMW, Carbuzz)

The 3.0-liter hybrid inline-six is available in the sDrive40i and the xDrive40i trims, with the former being the rear-wheel drive model and the latter the one with all-wheel drive. Meanwhile, if you’re looking to up the ante and sport the twin-turbo hybrid V-8, you’ll find it sitting at the heart of the M60i. If you want even more performance than that, BMW does offer an M Competition version of the X5 which is one of the fastest SUVs in the world.

PHEV X5 Performance

(Source: BMW)

The PHEV X5 also sports a turbocharged hybrid inline-six, however, its electric motors help it make significantly more power than the regular model. It also manages to achieve much more electric-only range than the outgoing model, with BMW claiming 40 miles on the battery.

The Gas Powered Model Is The Much More Reliable Choice

While the future is becoming increasingly electric, both for BMW specifically and the automotive world at large, there are still some caveats to work out before they completely take over. One such issue is reliability. This is easily demonstrated in the predicted reliability scores Consumer Reports awarded the X5 and PHEV X5.

Hybrid Versus PHEV Reliability

While the X5 and the PHEV X5 are both hybrids, there are distinct differences when it comes to how they work that affects reliability. In a regular hybrid car, the battery is only utilized when the car is running at low speeds, whereas in a plug-in hybrid, the battery is the main source of power for the car. This means that the electrical systems and the batteries in a plug-in hybrid are much more complex and more prone to failure. This is a big reason why the X5 scored so much higher than the PHEV in terms of reliability.

The X5’s Road Test Results Speak For Themselves

An area where both examples of the X5 absolutely excelled is in road tests conducted by Consumer Reports. BMW’s combination of sportiness, efficiency, and comfort helped it beat out every other luxury manufacturer in the SUV category.

Whether you go with the X5 or the PHEV X5, you’re in for a plush interior stacked with only the best quality materials. Connectivity is also a huge part of the BMW ethos and this shines through in the many charging ports and the integrated wireless smartphone features. Heated massaging seats, a Bowers and Wilkins surround-sound audio system, and a myriad of other luxury features help the X5 compete with much more expensive rivals.

BMW X5 Road Test And Fuel Economy

Over the years, the X5 has shifted its focus somewhat, prioritizing comfort and interior features over sportiness. This doesn’t mean that the 2024 X5 isn’t sporty, it’s just a more refined version of its past self. Consumer Reports says that the X5 comfortably balances just about every aspect that makes a good luxury SUV. The only low point that they mention is that the controls can be somewhat difficult to master.

(Source: EPA)

BMW X5 PHEV Road Test And Fuel Economy

The PHEV model of the X5 received a number of significant changes over its previous model, with one update being to its power output. This increased power has helped the plug-in hybrid reach the heights of what we expect from a BMW SUV. That little bit of added power was enough to entice Consumer Reports to give it an even higher score over the regular hybrid model.

The EPA hasn’t published the fuel economy figures of the xDrive50e as of writing this article. However, Consumer Reports claims that one of the downsides to the PHEV is that it has worse fuel economy than the regular X5 when operating as a hybrid. This is obviously offset by the fact that it can drive an estimated 40 miles on electric power only, according to BMW.

BMW Was Also Crowned Consumer Reports’ Number One Brand

BMW has been around forever and they have always been pushing the boundaries of engineering and setting new standards in both the worlds of luxury vehicles and performance cars. The 2024 X5 is a perfect testament to this and perfectly blends agility, comfort, and efficiency in a way that very few other manufacturers have been able to.

This is key among the reasons that BMW achieved the number one spot on Consumer Reports’ list of brands. The same metrics of reliability, buyer satisfaction, and road testing were used to rate the brands. We look forward to seeing how they continue to perform, both in the known electric future and the somewhat unknown hydrogen-powered future.