I guess I will post in this thread as well. I literally stepped in the door from my 2nd test drive of the 3.0si. What people say about the delay after stepping on the gas pedal is correct. I don't know whether to attribute that to the "computer learning your driving" stage or not but I doubt it. Even my SA said the 3.0 is underpowered (and he wasn't just trying to sell me the 4.8i because he said that wasn't worth the price difference either). He went on to say, from personal experience, the E53 4.8 went like a bat out of hell whereas this 4.8i is nowhere near it.

After a thorough 2nd test drive, I would say that the power is "enough" but the acceleration delay REALLY bothers me. He attributed it to it being a 6-speed 3.0 and I asked if the upcoming diesel would have this problem and he said it's probably going to be worse. I know torque is better, but is the delay there?

At that point I wanted to test drive a 4.8i but they didn't even have any left on the lot - all sold out after checking his computer. Now I really want to test the 4.8 for this delay and if it's not there, I'm definitely staying away from the 3.0.

One other thing - saddle brown interior... I know others have had their SA search the US for existence of it and it came back with a few - we've all seen pics here. But when he pulled up the search - it came back with a big fat 0. He'll work on it for me if I go through with the order.

Without even attempting to haggle, he gave me $2500 off MSRP (sport/tech/prem/tailgate), but the aero kit was a static $3695 installed. Ouch. He said they can't do anything on that price and I could always do it after the fact if I still wanted it. I'm going to have to wait right now cause my Rodeo drives better/feels more powerful at local driving at this point. For a $60k premium, I can't be having the accel delay after every stop sign. Where's that *shrug* icon? Someone please tell me the delay was a figment of my imagination, or because this didn't have the sport package. Sport pkg is just for suspension, not transmission, correct?

As far as new info from him goes... X6 is coming March/April (another dealer told me Jan. along with the 135)... and no new X5s at all until November. Facelift for X5 will be 2010. Don't shoot the messenger.