Originally Posted by Penguin

Yes, and one should remember that X-drive is a mandatory feature of the X3/X5, i.e., if the X3/X5 were available without X-drive, as many SUVs are, I suspect the story might be different.

Still, from what I've read the X-drive system is generally consider to be better than other manufacturers implementations, except for Honda, where even the Roundel magazine review of the X5 vs. the Honda gave the Honda system better marks than X-Drive.