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The 2027 BMW X5 has landed, and it wants a fight. BMW has handed its midsize luxury SUV its boldest overhaul yet, borrowing heavily from the Vision Neue Klasse X concept. Standing in its way is the Mercedes-Benz GLE, freshly reworked in more than 3,000 places for the new model year. So which German heavyweight deserves your driveway?
Start with the sheet metal. The GLE plays it safe. It gains a chrome-rimmed grille with an illuminated star, star-flecked lights and new wheels, yet it still looks every inch a GLE. The X5 goes the other way. Its mask-like nose wears slim vertical kidney grilles, the arches turn angular, and the tail-lights sweep almost the full width of the tailgate. X-shaped headlight graphics feature, too, though you can switch them off. The Merc is the quiet one. The BMW shouts.
Inside, the split continues. Mercedes stacks three 12.3-inch screens into its MBUX Superscreen and adds a large augmented-reality head-up display. BMW takes a stranger path. There is no dial pack behind the four-spoke wheel. Instead, the driver reads a slim strip along the base of the windscreen, backed by a 17.9-inch central touchscreen and an optional passenger display. Both cabins talk back through AI. The snag for the BMW is its thin bank of physical switches, so the GLE, with proper climate buttons, is the easier cockpit to live with day to day.
Under the bonnet, Mercedes fields the broader menu today. The GLE spans a four-cylinder, a turbocharged straight-six, a plug-in hybrid six and a V8-topped flagship that cracks 0-60 mph in 4.4 seconds. BMW has so far shown only two petrol X5s, both using a revised B58 turbo straight-six good for 394 hp, plus a plug-in hybrid X5 that musters a combined 483 hp and reaches 60 mph in 4.6 seconds. A hotter M Performance model waits in the wings. Crucially, the X5 will also be sold as a full EV and even with a hydrogen powertrain, something the Merc cannot match.
On paper, the GLE looks the rounder buy. It swallows more luggage, offers more engines right now and keeps its cabin refreshingly simple. The X5 counters with sharper tech, a wider spread of powertrains to come and styling that turns heads. Pick the Mercedes if you want polish and ease. Pick the BMW if you want the future first. Either way, the midsize luxury class has rarely looked this strong.
