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The X5 is a breeze to park (and the arm test) (archive)
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Posted by Skip on March 19, 2001 at 09:24:22:

In Reply to: Maybe its because of the sightlines, its hard to posted by Al on March 19, 2001 at 06:51:31:

It's eash to park compared to a big SUV! It's not that long, there is plenty of glass (see the arm test below), and it's clear where the front and rear limits are. Try parking something that's 10-20 inches longer and you'll never consider the X5 hard to park again. The worst SUV designs are the ones where the hood slopes away so radically that you can't see the front end properly. Minivan-like SUVs (those that have a front-drive ancestry) often suffer from this.

What is the "arm test"? It's how I measure the size of the windows in a vehicle. I sit in the driver's seat and put my elbow on the window sill, with my arm extended to the side. The height of the window relative to my forearm and hand is the indicator. I've found that if I can't extend my fingers fully then there is not enough glass area for me to be comfortable. On most big SUVs my fingertips do not touch the top of the window, but on most small SUVs I have to curl my fingers to fit. The X5 passes the test while a similarly sized vehicle like the Durango fails miserably. Weird, maybe, but it lets me write-off certain vehicles without having to waste any more time with them.

Cheers,

Skip

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