When it finally came, that great engine was nestling in the bay of the X5. A perfect match.

Before I get into why, this month finally marks another milestone for this biturbo technology ? as you may likely have read elsewhere, BMW finally has a real top-end diesel rival ? from Jaguar of all people, who have applied a similar system to the XF Diesel S we cover up front.

Strange that ? we would have expected Audi or Merc to be first to take up the challenge, but Jaguar has shown both up ? a sign of the times, perhaps?

Back to the X5, then.

There is plenty to like about the X5sd. In my book, you need not even bother about anything else in the range if you can afford the sd ? it has it all where the rest only have bits of it?

See, in Johannesburg, sd has the advantage of biturbo boost, which enables it to match the mighty 4.8-litre, V8 in performance while dealing it a hiding in economy (and emissions). The petrol six is anaemic; and why bother about the normal d when there's this to be had?

And then there are the various X5 advantages that make this car the one to have over its rivals. Unless you are going to rescue someone who crashed his brains out on Baboons Pass on the Roof of Africa - or something - and you really need four-wheel-drive, what reason is there to go for a truck-like 4x4? And pretty much all X5?s rivals are definitely more truck than car.

Sloppy, poor handling and with relatively horrible feedback from the steering, yaw and lean, my missus reckons they all seem to be 'looking for mud' when you drive them on the tar.

X5 is very different ? it's totally road-centric and drives like a car in every respect ? it even wants to be thrown around and its Nurburgring pedigree certainly shows.

If ever a 4x4 needed to be considered for Car of the Year, this is it. The rest are mainly trucks.

And if you do venture off the beaten track, X5 is more than just capable. You're probably going to take it fly fishing or birding, so that's hardly off-roading. If you want to go big, it will go most places a low-range equipped car will and on the sand, probably even further. But you may end up scratching the paint.

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