I agree that cars don't feel windchill, although it aways seems that a car parked in an unheated garage is "less frozen" than one parked in a windswept parking lot in -35C weather.

In the mean time, I tried another one they had parked on the lot yesterday morning. It was -19C when I started it, but had been -25C overnight. I don't believe it had been started in a few days.

It turned over a bit slowly but fired right up and settled into an even idle. At cold start up in winter, I think one can expect a fair bit of noise and vibration compared to the sounds you will experience in the summer. I don't find the added noise objectionable, but it was definitely noticeable, compared to the X5 they drove out of the heated showroom for me to drive last Friday.

On the issue of cabin heat, I was expecting the ceramic heater to blow warm/hot air as soon as I turned it on, but it didn't. It was warming up within about 5 minutes though which is comparable to a gas engine vehicle, so I'm not too concerned about winter heat.

I didn't notice any vibrating or droning sound in this test drive vehcle (at ldle) and even though it was shod with the same Bridgestone tires, the ride was much better. The dealer indicated that after some structural damage in the service department recently, things have been very busy and the PDI may not have been completed correctly. I'm going to attribute the stiff ride in my last test drive to overinflated tires.

I found this vehicle a great drive (for what it is - i.e. I'd prefer a 5 series X drive, but need the utility of an SAV) and the power from the diesel great. THose wanting better straight line performance could opt for the 4.8, as I can see that the 35d doesn't have any where near as much "punch" as the 4.8 once you are above 80km/h. For driving soplight to stopllight, I think the 35d is the better choice.