If you're paranoid about the auto transmission issues and if you don't mind doing the shifting yourself, I would highly suggest the 6 speed manual available on the 3.0i. There's no getting around the auto transmission problem as they tend to be more complicated. Most of the failures appear to be electronics related. As JCL had indicated, the failures are just due to the nature of the beast. BMW is not the only manufacturer that have this problem. More and more manufacturers are facing the same problem.