I may be grilled because I do not "belong" anymore to the X5 club. But I still like and still are a big fan of BMW (that's why I still read the forum).

I traded my 96,000 miles + 01 X5 for an Acura MDX a couple of months ago.

Loved my X but the warranty expired (I was short of 100K miles) and I got "scared" as I've had many problems with the X since day one, from stupid things (that honestly should not be happening in such a car, like window regulators, sensors, lights, heating, etc. etc etc.) to big ones (coolants issues, oil came out completely due to a bad hose or something, etc. etc. etc).

I would have loved to keep the X for at least another 50k miles as "in theory" these cars should go that far with no major issues, especially when maintenance is done by the book (or even over the recommendations in my case) and I do not do any mods.

All these where fixed under warranty but now, I do not have the time to deal with taking it to the dealer, picking up the loaner, going back hoping they fixed the problem ok, etc. etc. plus the cost of repairs for out of warranty can get pretty high. I even talked to my service adviser with whom we became pretty good friends and asked him if these cars have lots of issues when they hit 100K, to which he responded "oh, yes all kinds"

Do I like the MDX? yes it drives great, plenty powerful and handling is excellent (the AWD in snow is amazing). Do I love the looks as I do the looks of the X? no, but I can live with it. Do I miss the X? yes when it was working fine and because I have always been biased to BMW, but honestly the MDX is a very nice drive with nothing to envy in the power / handling department.
So far 5K miles trouble free. Let's see if the Japanese reliability is as good as they claim.

I am not badmouthing the X or lobbying for the MDX, I love the X and BMW in general, the X just become "not practical" for me any more.

I've tried getting a 3 series XI station wagon but BMW was giving me nothing for my X (And I have bought from them a 95 / 5 series (best car I've ever owned), a bike and the X ). so I said no (I was pretty pissed actually for the lack of interest and loyalty to returning clients) and believe me I was willing to take a small hit but not something stupid as they offered (they claimed they had way too many X CPO's) .

We shall see, in a couple of years when my lease is up on the Acura hopefully I can get an X6 or go back to a BMW car.

Best of luck if you are getting the 5 series I am sure you will be happy.