I've had my diesel for a month now, and I'm definitely glad I went that route. You do feel the lack of HP at higher speeds - say accelerating from 50 to 70 - but the torque from a dead stop is neck-snapping.

I "launched" mine for grins last week by holding the brakes while building RPMS enough to spool the turbos - and took off like a scalded cat.

As far as the E70 not feeling like a BMW - this is my first BMW, so I have no basis for comparison. However, the amount of technology packed into that car (and mine was "only" about $60K, so I don't have a lot of the additional bells&whistles) is impressive. It's also a VERY solid car - for something that weighs in at 2.5 tons, the complete lack of rattles and squeaks and the stiffness of the chassis is also impressive.

As far as interior materials go, I got the pleather - er, leatherette - interior for maximum durability, but the interior is still nice. No major complaints.

Oh, and on my 180 mile round-trip last night, I averaged 27MPG.