What it lacks in off-road practicality, it more than makes up for in its presentation of Alpine's ultimate mobile listening experience
At January's Consumer Electronics Show, Alpine took the wraps off of what could be the wildest SUV ever conceived: this extensively modified BMW X5. What it lacks in off-road practicality, it more than makes up for in its presentation of Alpine's ultimate mobile listening experience, so much so that the company has dubbed the half-million-dollar creation "The Ultimate Listening Machine" (ULM), a play on BMW's longtime advertising tagline.
Alpine, a full-line mobile-electronics manufacturer serving OEMs (DaimlerChrysler, Honda, BMW) and the aftermarket, produces high-performance mobile audio, video, and navigation systems, and is using the X5 as a showcase for its advanced technologies, wrapping them in a package that uses a great deal of installation creativity.
The genesis of the X5 project started more than 18 months ago when Steve Brown, Alpine's Application R&D Engineer Supervisor, was working on the previous year's creation, a Mini speedster in which he relocated the steering system to the center of the instrument panel to position the driver in the best listening position. For 2005, Steve is working with new partner Mike Vu. Where the New Mini could seat just one occupant, the X5 ULM features a tandem seating arrangement. On each side, the doors are welded together and motorized outward, with the driver-side door positioned for easy entry into the cabin, while the passenger-side door allows access to the rear seating position. After climbing in, a press on a specially programmed security system signals the doors to seal the interior cockpit.
It's About Sound, It's About Music
"The idea for two center seats evolved from the Mini," says Vu. "Steve and I figured that once we'd done the center drive thing, we couldn't go back--if one seat's good, two would be even better. What a lot of people don't realize is that we had so many ideas that didn't make it on the Mini, we had enough to last us one or two more cars. And as time goes by, more ideas come up, so you can see in our minds the Mini was already topped before it was even done."
In reality, as cutting-edge mobile-electronics systems go, the overall architecture of this system is somewhat simple, if measured by the sheer number of components utilized. (Some demo systems feature more than a dozen LCD monitors. This one uses just two, mounted in a panel above where the sunvisors might be found on a conventional X5.) The system is built around Alpine's flagship F#1 Status DVI-9990 DVD-Audio/CD tuner, which not only brings true high-resolution multichannel sound into the mobile environment, but because of the need to move and process vast amounts of data, features Alpine's DVD-Audio Link (IEEE 1394-Audio) optical connection. The head unit is mounted in the center of the steering system, a fully functional pod-like device with handles that looks more at home in a jet fighter than any vehicle we've driven.