The OEM trailer hitch ball is very low -- When we took delivery, the OEM trailer hitch was already installed. When we got it home it was obvious that it was several inches lower than the OEM trailer hitch on our previous E53 2001 X5. So I flipped the ball onto the other side of the receiver tongue. It now comes close to the level of an E53 OEM hitch and makes our 5x9' HD utility trailer ride nearly level. Although we haven't loaded up the trailer with 2 tons of road base yet, the 35d tows our 5x9' HD utility trailer quit nicely Now if I could just improve the view of the trailer by getting those, way too big, rear head rests out of the seat and into the cargo area when towing without passengers.

Apparently BMW put a HAL09 computer in our X5 35d -- We live in the country, with quite a bit of space between buildings (e.g. garage, house, etc). So we frequently off load groceries, etc. at the house and then drive over to garage to park. And shockingly enough we feel fairly safe doing this without fastening our seat belts. But our X5 doesn't. The 'safety' systems have gone way beyond helpful warning chimes and dash symbols. To screenfuls of iDrive nags and occasionally absolute refusal to move until you do what it says Any day now I'm fully expecting to hear "I'm sorry Funf I can't do that" .

Funf Dreisig