I agree. I've heard dealers in Houston are not as great.

The reason I asked if you got your car serviced in Austin or Houston is because I was under the impression that a dealership provides better loaners to people who purchased their car from them. So I think BMW of Austin would not have given you a crappy rental car (unless they completely ran out of loaners), whereas Houston dealerships wouldn't go out of their way to treat you well.

I live in Austin and one of the reasons I bought my X5 from the local dealership, rather than shopping around the state for a deal, is because I felt I would get better attention from them come service time. And so far it's been true. I've always received BMW loaners (including a 2008 535 that I had been wanting to test drive) and they have been excellent at taking care of my car. And if I ever have an issue with my SA, I can always contact the salesman who sold me the car and he'll take care of my issues. My salesman has been great about letting me know that I can continue to come to him if I have any issues.

Of course, BMW of Austin was recently rated the #1 BMW dealership in the US for service, so maybe that's why I've had a great experience and maybe it has nothing to do with the fact I bought my car there.