Certified Benz & Beemer Compares 2016 Land Rover RANGE ROVER VS 2016 BMW X5 Near Phoenix, AZ

For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Land Rover Range Rover have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision. The BMW X5 doesn’t offer pretensioners for the rear seat belts.

For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Land Rover Range Rover are height-adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of driver and passenger heights. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages passengers to buckle up. The BMW X5 doesn’t offer height-adjustable seat belts.

Both the Range Rover and X5 have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Range Rover has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The X5’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.

To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the Range Rover. But it costs extra on the X5.

To help make backing safer, the Range Rover’s optional cross-path warning system uses wide-angle radar in the rear bumper to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side, helping the driver avoid collisions. The X5 doesn’t offer a cross-path warning system.

Both the Range Rover and the X5 have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, daytime running lights, front and rear parking sensors, available crash mitigating brakes, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems and around view monitors.

The Range Rover has more powerful engines than the X5:

The Range Rover’s 3.0 turbo V6 diesel produces 27 lbs.-ft. more torque (440 vs. 413) than the X5’s 3.0 turbo diesel.

As tested in Consumer Reports the Land Rover Range Rover S.C. V6 is faster than the X5 s/xDrive35i:

The Range Rover has 5.3 gallons more fuel capacity than the X5 (27.7 vs. 22.4 gallons), for longer range between fill-ups.

For better stopping power the Range Rover’s standard brake rotors are larger than those on the X5:

The Range Rover stops much shorter than the X5:

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the Range Rover offers optional 22-inch wheels. The X5’s largest wheels are only 20-inches.

The Range Rover offers an optional full size spare tire so your trip isn’t interrupted by a flat. A full size spare isn’t available on the X5, it requires you to depend on a temporary spare or run-flat tires, either of which has mileage and speed limitations.

The Range Rover Supercharged/Autobiography has active sway bars, which help keep it flat and controlled during cornering, but disconnect at lower speeds to smooth the ride and offer greater off-road suspension articulation. This helps keep the tires glued to the road on-road and off. The X5 doesn’t offer an active sway bar system.

The front and rear suspension of the Range Rover uses air springs for a smoother, controlled ride than the X5, which uses coil springs. Air springs maintain proper ride height and ride more smoothly.

The Range Rover’s drift compensation steering can automatically compensate for road conditions which would cause the vehicle to drift from side to side, helping the driver to keep the vehicle straight more easily. The X5 doesn’t offer drift compensation steering.

For better handling and stability, the track (width between the wheels) on the Range Rover is 1.8 inches wider in the front and 1.3 inches wider in the rear than on the X5.

For better maneuverability, the Range Rover’s turning circle is 2 feet tighter than the X5’s (39.7 feet vs. 41.7 feet). The Range Rover LWB’s turning circle is .7 feet tighter than the X5’s (41 feet vs. 41.7 feet).

For greater off-road capability the Range Rover has a 3.4 inches greater minimum ground clearance than the X5 (11.6 vs. 8.2 inches), allowing the Range Rover to travel over rougher terrain without being stopped or damaged.

The front grille of the Range Rover Diesel uses electronically controlled shutters to close off airflow and reduce drag when less engine cooling is needed. This helps improve highway fuel economy. The X5 doesn’t offer active grille shutters.

The Range Rover has a much larger cargo area with its rear seat up than the X5 with its rear seat up (32.1 vs. 22.9 cubic feet). The Range Rover has a much larger cargo area with its rear seat folded than the X5 with its rear seat folded (71.7 vs. 66 cubic feet).

The Range Rover SVAutobiography’s optional sliding cargo floor makes loading and unloading cargo easier and safer. The X5 doesn’t offer a sliding load floor.

Pressing a switch automatically lowers or raises the Range Rover’s rear seats, to make changing between cargo and passengers easier. The X5 doesn’t offer automatic folding seats.

To make loading groceries and cargo easier when your hands are full, the Range Rover’s cargo door can be opened and closed just by waving your foot, leaving your hands completely free. The X5 doesn’t offer a hands-free gesture to open its cargo door, forcing you to put cargo down if your hands are full.

The Range Rover has a standard remote vehicle starting system, so the vehicle can be started from inside the driver's house. This allows the driver to comfortably warm up the engine before going out to the vehicle. The climate system will also automatically heat or cool the interior. The X5 doesn’t offer a remote starting system.

Unlike the driver-only memory system in the X5, the Range Rover HSE/Supercharged/Autobiography offers an optional passenger memory, so that when drivers switch, the memory setting adjusts the driver’s seat, steering wheel position and outside mirror angle and the front passenger seat also adjusts to the new passenger’s preset preferences.

To better shield the driver and front passenger’s vision, the Range Rover HSE/Supercharged/Autobiography has standard dual-element sun visors that can block glare from two directions simultaneously. The X5 doesn’t offer secondary sun visors.

The Range Rover HSE/Supercharged/Autobiography has standard front air conditioned seats and offers them optionally in the rear. This keeps the passengers comfortable and takes the sting out of hot seats in Summer. The X5 doesn’t offer air conditioned seats for the second row.

The Range Rover has a standard heated steering wheel to take the chill out of steering on extremely cold Winter days before the vehicle heater warms up. A heated steering wheel costs extra on the X5.

Both the Land Rover Range Rover and BMW X5 won an award in Kiplinger’s 2015 car issue.