I bet the percentage for BMW X5 buyers will be much smaller.

Not at all. 30% of M-Class owners, according to this Mercedes-Benz conducted market research, do take their M-Class unto real offroad courses or the wilderness for example. I myself was quite surprised to read about this.

However, this market research data applies to Germany only, not the rest of Europe or North America.

BMW market research has indicated that 100% of X5 owners will drive it on the track.

X5 is good for some off-roading, its not Land Rover, but then MB is not Land Rover either.
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Heheh, yeah I know man.
I've even done some pretty serious off-roading with the X5 myself. Hill Decent Control is awesome

what i think on the other hand, is that big SUVs are there mostly to impress, rather than go off-road.

Myself, i like to categorize the SUVs in two categories.
1. those who are meant to go off-road. Land-Rover, Land-Cruisers, and even the Suzuki Jimney. (i have taken one off-road and it's hell fun)
2. those who act like any other luxury vehicle, but they are just huge. No matter if they drive good or not, they are there to impress. This category has cars like ML, X5, Q7, etc, SUVs that 99% are never taken off-road. More like road-SUVs

From that list, I'd say the Q7 and ML are better offroad than the X5. I know that the newest M-Class can do some pretty impressive offroading. I need to scan the pictures from the Mercedes Offroad magazine I have at home. They show awesome pictures of the M-Class offroad and the review is very detailed as well.

Just because it is a luxury SUV doesn't mean it can't do serious offroading. The Lexus LX470 is based on a Toyota Landcruiser and that truck is pretty good offroad too. The M-Class and Q7 perform well off-the-road as well.

Not sure about the X5. It needs a proper road test first before we can say anything about it.

Wimmer you know exactly how the Q7 is better off road than the X5?

Have you read any tests between their of road capabilities already in Germany? I haven't yet, and I'd love to read a few.

Maybe the Q7 is better off road than the E53, but better than the E70??
As for the ML....I can imagine it is better off road. It simply looks better for off road somehow. More compact or something.

I don't know if the Q7 is better offroad. But based on the previous X5's offroading qualities and Audi's Rally / Quattro image, I expect the Q7 to be better offroad. BMW's philosophy is to make cars for the road, not offroad. So even though the X5 is an SUV, I think we can safely say it was designed more for the road than offroad (the article I read supports this).

Notice I never said that the Q7 IS better offroad.

In the Netherlands?