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2024 BMW X5 Plug-in Hybrid Tested: It'll Do a Little Bit of Everything

We take BMW's plug-in hybrid X5 to Vegas and back, but it ended up proving it can do much more than a long haul

2024 BMW X5 xDrive50e
  • The 2024 BMW X5 xDrive50e is a punchy plug-in hybrid SUV.
  • We put more than 1,000 miles on it and tested it at our track.
  • But it was used for much more than just the long haul from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and back.

The journey started out as normally as any other. CES was coming up, and BMW invited me to its press conference at the massive annual tech showcase. Being a resident of Los Angeles, the trip to Las Vegas on a Monday morning is an easy one, so I elected to drive. Plus, 2024 was a busy year and I was sick of planes. But as soon as I got to Vegas, my decision to drive proved to be a good one. 

BMW lent me a 2024 X5 xDrive50e for this drive. Its powertrain combines a battery pack and an electric motor together with a 3.0-liter twin-turbo inline-six cylinder engine. Total output from both the e-motor and the gas engine is a punchy 483 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque. The plug-in hybrid version of the X5 isn't the most dynamic of the many X5s you can buy, but its mix of utility, comfort, space and fuel economy might make it the pick of the litter — especially if you can regularly take advantage of its 39 miles of EV range. 

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2024 BMW X5 xDrive50e

Despite having nearly 500 hp, the X5 didn't need half as much on the way to CES. The drive to Sin City was as uneventful as long hauls get. I set off from my home in Altadena at 9 a.m., and by the time 2 p.m. rolled around, I was in my hotel room and ready for a nap. The next morning the chaos really started, and I'm not talking about the mele that is the press day at CES. While 80,000 exhibitors, media and industry professionals were hotfooting the grounds around the Las Vegas Convention Center, another fire had started — a literal one. 

LA's Palisades Fire had only just begun, but it was about to become the most destructive in Southern California history. Because I was 270 miles away I was still blissfully unaware, but as the sun started to set and social media erupted with news of a second blaze — the Eaton Fire — devouring my hometown of Altadena, I had a choice to make: Stay in Vegas and sit on my hands or book it home. In the end it was clear. My dad was alone at my childhood home and if I stayed in Las Vegas there was a chance I'd lose everything. So it was time to hoof it home, and the BMW easily made the trip rapidly, and with fuel to spare, battling wind gusts of over 50 mph all the way through California. In just under 3.5 hours, I made it back to Altadena.

2025 BMW X5 xDrive50e Tested

2024 BMW X5 xDrive50e
Edmunds test results
Base price$72,500
Price as tested$87,745
Engine3.0L turbocharged I6, plus electric motor
Transmission8-speed automatic
Power483 hp
Torque516 lb-ft
0-60 mph4.7 sec
1/4 mile @ mph13.1 sec @ 104.9 mph
Curb weight5,627 lb
Braking, 60-0 mph113 ft
Lateral acceleration (200-ft skidpad)0.89 g (avg)

Smoke and ash poured over the town like God himself had gone over my home with a thick black marker and redacted it from the map. As I stepped from the car my eyes started to water. The cold air of the winter night was poisoned with burnt debris. Time was short, so I ran inside and grabbed what I could — passports, photos my dad had missed before he evacuated, a spare suitcase with clothes and a case of water. When you're scrambling you don't have time to process what's important and what's not, so for whatever reason, my snowboard and Xbox made it into the X5, too. 

Eventually, I made it to a friend's place well away from the fires for safety, but the next few days laid bare the scope of the damage. Calling the destruction vast doesn't quite do it justice, but people now needed help. Over the course of the following week, the BMW served as my rescue vehicle. It shepherded me from place to place, helped me pack up friends' belongings, moved things to and from where they needed to go, and served as a donations delivery vehicle for families that needed supplies. After more than 1,000 miles (and with a lot of good work done), the X5 proved to be the right tool for the job. 

The X5 minds its own business and doesn't batter you with an overly stiff ride despite its too-big 21-inch wheels. The heated and cooled seats are a great place to spend time. My test car was optioned with the Premium pack, which adds front chairs that are adjustable in over a dozen ways, and considering the dozens of hours I spent behind the wheel, I was more than thankful for the flexibility the seats gave me. 

2024 BMW X5 xDrive50e steering wheel

The need to serve the role of support vehicle in the time of a genuine natural disaster is an odd way to conduct a road test of any vehicle. But the X5 handled everything I threw at it with genuine aplomb. And if an easygoing, comfortable, everyday hauler wasn't enough to satisfy, the hybrid's EPA-estimated 26 mpg meant fill-ups were fewer and farther between. 

Now two weeks after the fire first broke out, the scale of the destruction is far more clear. Though my home remained unscathed, thousands across Los Angeles need to be rebuilt and families need help. But no matter how long it takes, LA will come back — believe that.