Would be a fun beater. Hmm, maybe the lack of popularity and general consensus of ugliness can make for some nice depreciation.... (goes to look in the Classifieds.... ).
I've always likened the Flex to a Mini for the (wo)man with a family. Shame on the poor sales figure, it's quite nice. Regarding the X4, if they widened the the grille a bit, it would look better.
I will say that the X4 in there would have a though time getting off the sand. That's kind of a standard in today SUV, 4 wheel drive but a little sand and it's all over.
Depends on how smooth the sand is don't you think, I've been to many a beach in either fwd or rwd and had no problems.
From that picture, that tires, the distance from the sea, it wouldn't be a walk in a park getting out of their. Beach sand is mother soft than regular sand you found in roads.
^ Depends on the sand bro You're fully capable of driving on the hard sand near the shoreline, or when the tide is ebbing. That's what Deckhook meant
Sand is strange stuff. Put a 2WD vehicle onto a Mozambiquan beach in the height of summer and it won't get two metres. In the UK they've got cold, hard, often-wet, beaches and that's a completely different kettle of fish compared to the Kalahari, Maputaland, Namib, West Coast etc. Hot, fine sand is a very different proposition to drive on. Moreover, saturated wet sand near the high-water mark isn't guaranteed to be firm underfoot either. I've seen Land Cruiser pickups stuck up to their axles in the stuff. Sand is too variable to comment on so broadly.
Exactly, sand is like snow. There's an aweful lot of different kinds... But on a beach, with ebb, I would imagine it's not that different anywhere in the world?
I'd wager that it's very different everywhere and that the only consistency is inconsistency when it comes to sand. It's amazing, dastardly stuff.
Living in Africa i would reckon Martin knows more about sand than little old me in Blighty but I would hazard a guess and say that the wider the tyre the better the chance to spread the load instead of bogging down, of course providing the tread pattern is getting a good purchase. BTW earth can equally be as tricky when sodden wet cause when building my house the brother-in-law arrived up to the site in his LR Defender and being a smart arse he ignored the stoned path we had made for deliveries and decided to go on the unlaid garden to get around a lorry.... well he didn't get more than two lengths before she was in to both axles stuck solid. Took a soft-offroader in the shape of a Lexus to put it out.
Has i said, that looks to be very close to the shoreline. I would guess that with those tires and no central differential i would be hard getting out. Of course sooner ou later, some wood you could get yourself out.
I dunno, I guess it will end up looking good and all, but is it needed? BMW needs cars that are nimble, light and sporty. More then yet another X line car....
