I first drove the X5 a few months before it was released at the "BMW Ultimate Driving Experience". Essentially they break you up into groups of about 15 people with professional drivers, a small autocross course and let you go at it (in this case with a few 4.4i X5s). After driving the X5 on the autocross - I was sold. Although at the time I was in my mid 20s and owning an SUV wasn't something I was very much into so I never purchased one and instead stuck to the ///M cars.

One of the demonstrations they had set up at the Ultimate Driving Experience was an 'S' turn outlined in orange cones with a radar gun and a digital display showing the speed of the vehicle as they went through the turn. They had several of their competitor's vehicles there including the Toyota Land Cruiser, the Mercedes ML (and a couple of others but I forget which ones). The competitor cars were set up with anti roll over outriggers (you know those long bars they attached to a car to keep it from rolling over during safety tests).

Anyway - the point being that the thing that really sticks out in my mind is watching them bring the Mercedes ML through the S turn at 35mph, jerking the steering wheel, the ML went up on the outriggers, then onto one outrigger and spun around in mid air like a top - almost flipping over. When the professional driver got out of it he was white a ghost. Then they brought the X5 through at close to 60mph with no outriggers and the thing never left the ground. Again... sold.

That being said when I finally decided I needed an SUV (carry mountain bikes around with on the tow hitch, trips to costco and fry's electronics for large items etc). I still went out and checked out the other competitors because by now some very capable vehicles have been released. And honestly I have been driving BMWs for 12 years now and I kind of wanted something new. The cars I seriously considered were:

Porsche Cayenne - I discounted this based on price, how it drove and frankly the fact that there is basically a Volkswagen version of it which I think cheapens it a bit.

Land Rover Range Rover - Because the current Range Rover was designed while BMW owned them and every part in the thing is BMW I Would have bought one of these if the 2005 still had the BMW motor and not some Ford crapper they call a Jag motor. Plus it has some reliability issues.

Land Rover LR3 - Same issue about the Ford/Jag motor,reliability, and the interior of the LR3 is almost identical to the interior of the new Mustang... I have no idea what Ford was thinking when they used interior components found in the 18k Mustang in a $50k SUV. American car companies simply don't get it in my opinion.

The larger SUVs just were not what I was looking for.

The X5, in the end has some of the highest Consumer Reports ratings and holds its' resale value better than the rest. It drives and handles like a car, I love the looks of it, the interior is pre-bangled.

I would suggest getting the 4.4i. I cheapened out and picked up a fully loaded 3.0i and in my opinion it is slightly underpowered. Granted my other ride is an E39 ///M5 but I have never found myself thinking about having to pass someone on the freeway in any BMW I have ever owned except this one and it is somewhat irritating sometimes.

The fact that this board/web site exists in a testament to the X5 and marque. Other than Porsche and Ferrari I don't think you will find such a passionate community of car owners. There are sites dedicated to just about every BMW ever made with large user groups. BMW CCA, i believe is the largest Car Club in America now. BMWs simply instill passion in their owners and you'll see many of us on here who have purchased them over and over again because of it.

Anyway, my 2 cents.

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Current Cars:

2008 X5 4.8i - Blk/Saddle
2001 330Ci - Titanium/Black Sport/Premium

Past Cars:
1993 325is Blk/Blk Sport
1995 M3 Blk/Blk
1997 328iC Blk/Blk Sport/Premium
1998 M3 Silver/Black
2001 M5 /Black/Black/Sport
2005 X5 3.0i - Blk/Blk Sport/Premium