The complete automotive resource for buyers, sellers, and owners like you.
Car, Truck and SUV Forums at Roadfly
+ Bentley Forums
+ BMW Forums
+ Cadillac Forums
+ Chevrolet Forums
+ Ferrari Forums
+ Jaguar Forums
+ Lamborghini Forums
+ Lotus Forums
+ Mercedes-Benz Forums
+ Maserati Forums
+ MINI Forums
+ Porsche Forums
+ General Discussion
+ Marketplace Forums
HDC Experience(moderatly long) (archive)
[ Follow Ups ] [ X5 Message Board ] [ Msg. Board FAQ ]
Posted by Daniel on March 04, 2001 at 18:58:57:

This weekend I went to Ebbett, Ca.. Out HWY4 to the central Seirra, near Yosemite(I made 19.9 mpg this trip). We stayed at a cabin at the 5,000 ft. level. Tons of snow.

The cabin we stayed in has a 5-6 degree downhill grade driveway that runs for 60 feet. We got there Friday night after dark and the drive was coated with 2 inches of ice, and I mean blue ice. So here I am in my 4.4 S.P. with the 19" sports tires. Got the pint of Jack Daniel's out, did a few pops, then proceded to chip away on the ice. I got about 35% of the concrete exposed before I tired myself out(2 hours later).

Now I'm thinking "Hill Descent Control". So I start at the top of the drive, engaged the button and went over the falls. It was unnerving turning control of the car over to the computer. You really hope BMW didn't contract MicroSoft.
I had my foot on the accelerater and allowed the speed to decreased to 6mph. I heard a noise I can not describe, then the HDC took over. It applied brakes and drive according the surface each seperate wheel was experiencing. My 1st instict was to hit the brakes because I thought everything was out of control. HDC seemed to be maintaining a speed higher that what I would have attempted. I had this very bad image of the system loosing it and the X5 hitting the parking pad completely out of control. When I got to the parking pad, I gently applied brakes and coasted into the garage. At this point I'm in serious need of more Jack Daniel's.

The next day I thought I'd play with it some more. I got up early and cleaned the driveway so I had alternating patches of pavement and ice for the wheels to adjust to. I made about 4 passes up and down. My buddy was outside the vehicle watching the behavior of the tires, and he also kept the Jack Daniel's handy. The tires which were on ice were given no drive, the system for some reason even applied brakes to them. The wheels in contact with pavement were given drive. In the vehicle I could feel the transition from tire to tire, drive and braking. I was really pleased with the performance. After the nerviousness went away, I felt some confidence in what the HDC was doing.

Backing uphill sucked really bad. All 5 times that I backed up the driveway resulted in tires spinning out and the car sliding sideways into the snow embankment. It was a lot of work trying to get the thing uphill in reverse. I don't think the DSC-X worked very well in this configuration. However when I did a U turn and drove forward up the driveway, there was no problem.

Do not attempt this at home. I am not a professionsal, just crazy enough to try these things. Most importantly, don't drink and drive. And of course all of the other disclaimers associated with winter time driving on the X5 4.4 SP, with 19" sports tires.

Follow Ups:


[ Follow Ups ] [ X5 Message Board ] [ Msg. Board FAQ ]
Questions, comments, or problems, please visit the Roadfly help desk.
Roadfly.com Logo © 1997 - 2009 Jump Internet Inc. All rights reserved.