What should I get?

[Josh (PA)]

Congrats.

We're having pretty serious buyers remorse on our X5. Logically, its perfect, especially for the price we got it for. The kids like the back seat, everything fits, it has been reliable, and the features/tech are impressive. It was absolutely 'the right' choice at the right time.

Emotionally, there is no bond at all. It drives like a pogo stick, the transmission takes forever to hook up, there are a few rattles in the trunk, it is very loud (especially under acceleration) and huge and feels every ounce of how heavy it is. My wife hates driving it.

I expect we'll keep it through the spring and turn it in on an e wagon, maybe sooner depending on how things go.

[wdc330i]

That's too bad, Josh. My spouse drove the E wagon and didn't like it at all (this was coming from the E70 with adaptive suspension, and test drives in both the Cayenne and the F15 5.0.) And she LOVED her E61 wagon...

I rode in an F31 recently and was reminded of the 5 wagon. It's gotten that big. Not sure how the turbo 4 drives, but it might be worth adding to your test drive list.

[Josh (PA)]

We haven't actually spent seat time in the E wagon yet, so we might have the same reaction. It just looks so perfect on paper. The 3 wagon is on the list, but my experience with my parents f30s w/ the turbo four don't have me excited. I agree the size of the 3 wagon is decent.

The good thing is we don't have to rush into anything this time. We jumped on the e70 because the e61 was going to need $$$ in maintenance and we wanted to avoid that.

With both girls off to school, she's been driving the e46 wagon daily and loving it. She keeps telling me to sell the truck and she'll just use that forever.

[wdc330i]

Originally Posted by Josh (PA)

We haven't actually spent seat time in the E wagon yet, so we might have the same reaction. It just looks so perfect on paper. The 3 wagon is on the list, but my experience with my parents f30s w/ the turbo four don't have me excited. I agree the size of the 3 wagon is decent.

The good thing is we don't have to rush into anything this time. We jumped on the e70 because the e61 was going to need $$$ in maintenance and we wanted to avoid that.

With both girls off to school, she's been driving the e46 wagon daily and loving it. She keeps telling me to sell the truck and she'll just use that forever.

The E46 is a ton of fun to drive, even with sub-200 HP. I just built an F31 and it approaches the cost of our 5 wagon way back when. Yikes!

Does your parents' wagon have the Track Handling Package? I suspect that would transform the feel.

If you can deal with the smaller form factor, I loved my 328 E91 wagon with sport suspension. Not sure how the AWD version would be, though, and I imagine you need/want that where you are.

[zach]

Originally Posted by wdc330i

The sport setting heavies up the steering, but doesn't make it any more responsive.

One of my pet peeves is how touchy the accelerator is. Much more herky-jerky than my M240 with the 8-speed trans.

And you're right, the comfort seats aren't as great as the ones we had in your dad's wagon. BTW, we got the comfort seats for the rear this time as well, because we got used to the adjustable rear seats when we had the E70 with the third row. The comfort seats preserve the adjustable function.

We skipped the third row this time to get the spare tire. Anyway, pet peeves aside, a really great family hauler with a ton of power. The V8 solves the main complaint we had about the E70 3.0si.

I've been exclusively leaving it in sport and it's still really light. Do you use Sport or Sport+?

I would have loved the rear comfort seats, but this one didn't happen to have them. I'm really glad it has a spare tire, though!

[Josh (PA)]

Originally Posted by wdc330i

The E46 is a ton of fun to drive, even with sub-200 HP. I just built an F31 and it approaches the cost of our 5 wagon way back when. Yikes!

Does your parents' wagon have the Track Handling Package? I suspect that would transform the feel.

If you can deal with the smaller form factor, I loved my 328 E91 wagon with sport suspension. Not sure how the AWD version would be, though, and I imagine you need/want that where you are.

I'll post a thread in the Perservators area when we start looking in earnest so as not to hijack Zach's thread (sorry Zach). Just to wrap up here, my parents have a pair of 328i sedans. They drive fine, but are pretty disconnected. The track handling package would help I'm sure, but the big issues are the E-steering, which seems unfixable and the 2.0T's engine being very buzzy and diesel like. If they made a 335 wagon, we'd be sold.

The e91 is getting a bit old. BMW never seemed to get the suspension right on x-drive versions of that car. My 335 x-drive crashed miserably over pot holes. It was the biggest reason we sold that car quick.

At the end of the day, i have a LOT of lust for an e63... I doubt that will turn into reality, but it makes for some fun window shopping at the moment. The fact that my wife dislikes the x5 and has opened the door to replacing it just makes me work harder to build a (ir)rational case for it.

[wdc330i]

Originally Posted by zach

I've been exclusively leaving it in sport and it's still really light. Do you use Sport or Sport+?
\!

Just Sport. The Comfort setting feels like the steering wheel isn't even connected the steering column.

Originally Posted by Josh (PA)

The track handling package would help I'm sure, but the big issues are the E-steering, which seems unfixable and the 2.0T's engine being very buzzy and diesel like. If they made a 335 wagon, we'd be sold.

There was supposed to be a tweak to the E-steering for the 4 series. I wonder if that will creep/has crept into the 3 models.

[/quote]The e91 is getting a bit old. BMW never seemed to get the suspension right on x-drive versions of that car. My 335 x-drive crashed miserably over pot holes. It was the biggest reason we sold that car quick.[/quote]

The RWD E91 wasn't THAT bad on pot holes, but it wasn't great. It had a considerably better ride after I dumped the run-flats for Michelin A/S+ tires. The adaptive suspension in the 2 series is MUCH better. And I imagine it would be as well in the F31. My 2 has Michelin Super Sport summers.

[/quote]At the end of the day, i have a LOT of lust for an e63... I doubt that will turn into reality, but it makes for some fun window shopping at the moment. The fact that my wife dislikes the x5 and has opened the door to replacing it just makes me work harder to build a (ir)rational case for it.[/quote]

Oh, yeah. I get that. They are a handsome wagon. And very luxurious, by BMW standards. Super spacious as well.

[zach]

Originally Posted by wdc330i

Just Sport. The Comfort setting feels like the steering wheel isn't even connected the steering column.

Glad I'm not the only one who thinks that.

The power really is insane, though. I was used to the 400hp in the e70 and this thing just feels WAY faster all through the RPM range.

[Plaz]

Congrats, looks sharp!

You're probably better off with the 19s in the northeast.

[wdc330i]

Originally Posted by Plaz

Congrats, looks sharp!

You're probably better off with the 19s in the northeast.

And they are heavy enough when you're swapping to winters each year.