Unboxing a $4,000 BMW X5 from Alibaba only to discover the Chinese car looks nothing like the real deal

We unboxed a $4,000 Chinese BMW X5 replica from Alibaba to see how it stacked up against the real thing.

Spoiler alert, the SUV didn’t stand a chance against its ‘legit’ brother, but it still managed to redeem itself anyway.

At least in part.

And that’s because we also tested it against another fake car from Alibaba, the Lamborghini Urus.

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Why this fake BMW X5 is bad, but not terrible

When Supercar Blondie’s Nathan Bain unboxed a fake BMW X5 from Alibaba for $4,000, it looked pretty decent.

There were just a few things that gave away the fact that it was a knock-off… including the way it looked, its performance and the build quality.

But jokes aside, you can’t really expect much from a fake BMW X5 purchased from Alibaba for $4,000.

Visually, the Chinese replica looks like it was designed by somebody who’s not very good at drawing things and was trying to draw an X5 from memory.

Even the badge is a cheap reproduction of BMW’s iconic logo.

The wheels are much smaller (14 inches vs 20), as is the entire car, because the real X5 is taller, wider and longer.

This is not even in the same universe as a real BMW X5, but it’s not a horrible replica considering its low price tag.

In the end, the fake X5 did manage to redeem itself.

It was no match for the real BMW X5, so Nathan decided to put it up against another copycat vehicle – the fake Lamborghini Urus.

And the X5 did a lot better than the Urus.

We did three tests.

First, we raced each car against the clock, and the BMW X5 won that.

Then, we tested the car’s suspension, and the Urus won this particular test.

However, we did a drag race for the final test and the BMW X5 won again.

So, as it turns out, the fake BMW is a bit better and a lot faster than the fake Lambo.

Go figure.

How does this compare to other fake cars we tested?

We wouldn’t want to brag, but we’re developing some sort of expertise when it comes to fake copycats of European icons bought online.

A little over a year ago, we unboxed a fake Range Rover and compared it to the real thing.

It was appalling, but then again you get what you get for $4,000.

We did the same thing with a fake G-Wagen, which if anything was even worse.

As for this BMW X5, it probably falls somewhere in the middle.

As far as knock-off clones go, this was bad, but not terrible.