It's an honest and objective comment Coffeman, thanks. You're right.

During my decision months, I tried many mid sized SUV's including Toyota,
Volvo, Lexus, VW, Cadillac, Merc, and of course X5. Don't get me wrong, I'm a BMW fan (motorcycles and technology, engineering) but I just don't like it. X5 was top of my list... Exterior is fugly and bulky... too American (completely personal taste... please do not get offensive, everybody and X5 owner friends...) And comparing with all SUV's above, X3 is the best handling car and has highest fun factor. Besides that, it's a pretty comfortable family car too.

I have no friggin idea why BMW forced X5's to Paris Dakar... It's completely beyond me. Proportionally, X3 would be much better decision for rally raids.