Doing a bit of towing with my 2003 X5 with the 4.4 and I am not quite as impressed as the others on here that are towing with there X5s... I am towing a small inclosed motorcycle trailer 6 x 8 with a v nose and with all the cargo loaded in I am about 2400 lbs. Thought for sure with the v8 power I would easily be able to leave this thing in drive and not have to worry about it. Well I tried this the first time out and I didn't like the back shifting that was happening when I would come to even the smallest of grades. Just tiny little hills would make this thing backshift. I tried it with my foot and with the cruise and the cruise was definetly worse as it would back shift at the sight of a grade. After that first go around I came on this board and did a bit of reading and to my surprise everyone was bragging about how much they liked towing and how much power they had in reserve and or talked about towing some huge trailers that I couldn't even imagine pulling with my X5. I then read on here how many like putting the trans in the manual mode as they said it wouldn"t backshift when pulling larger loads and just left it in cruise. Well this last time out pulling I tried this, put it in manual mode and hit the cruise. Well, I must say it was better but it still will back shift on even small grades. I was under the impression that in manual mode this thing wouldnt back shift at all. For me so far just leaving it in drive and using my foot has been the best way for me to tow as I can kind of control the back shift by geting a bit of a run if I see a grade coming and then not pushing down on the pedal at all and just letting it drop a few miles an hour till I get over it... Am I overlooking something, do you think my X5 is just a toad??? To me my X5 runs like a swiss watch, looks great, always maintained, only the best synthetic oil, and not even the smallest of tick or non normal sound coming from my motor... If anyone has any suggestions, advice or any info at all it would be greatly appreciated... One more thing what does everyone think of the cushioned ball mounts??? Looks like a bit of a slot in the receiver that has some urethane in it to take up some of the shock of towing. Seems as if it would be good for my X5 and also the trailer but for sure I am no expert... Any and all info will be greatly appreciated...