Originally Posted by crystalworks

Everyone has their own idea of what "the ultimate driving experience" might be and is largely financially and personally limited. Taking a 3000 mile road trip in my 4.8is this spring with my wife to introduce my family in Florida to our daughter, and to introduce her to the wonders that are the ocean and beach... is my idea of the ultimate driving experience.

I would LOVE to do a race track (CotA is only an hour away) with a few of the cars I have owned, but lack the expendable income and time to make something like that happen. Those funds get channeled into experiences (and the house) my whole family gets to enjoy, which is fine by me. Who knows how I would feel if I were in your shoes, but I'm not.

Try to be a little more open minded when people here don't take your negative attitude towards the e53 very well. I understand for you it's just an SUV that provides some measure of enjoyment. For others, that measure of enjoyment is probably on the order of magnitudes higher.

I, like PropellarHead seem to really enjoy driving the X5 for the enjoyment of the way it handles on normal roads, dirt roads, and yes, the open highway. I enjoy his threads for his thorough enjoyment/enthusiasm and lack of discouragement towards his chosen mode of transport. As he said, the good miles vastly outnumber the bad.

PS: I rented a Camry on a recent trip to Vegas because the 4.8is blew an expansion tank 800 miles from home. I had to drive back to El Paso, TX from Las Cruces, NM to pick up a replacement tank. I could never subject myself to driving a vehicle I did not enjoy for any considerable length of time. 2.5 hours in that thing was like torture. Reliable or not. We've put 20,000 miles on the 4.8is in ~320 days of ownership.