those seem to be my thoughts too:

1. the 3.0 seems a little underpowered (perhaps relatively speaking)
2. sport Package elimates any roll to the vehicle which is nice, although not that important in day to day driving (for my wife)
3. the other options are nice but not essential in any way
4. the extra $5k isn't the end of the world for the extra power and options but you hate just to piss away an extra $600 a year in gas!!

I've seen the 4.8's history report and nothing out of ordinary (it was a BMW corporate vehicle so you would think problems would have been fixed quickly). Are the 4.8's that much less reliable? Her prevous car was an 01 740il...that was a royal pain in the butt and cost an absurd amount to maintain.

For some reason, this is not really that easy of a decision.......