the $1000 they make you pay for insurance gap coverage, and close to $3k for the BMW Platinum protection package ...so in reality it was $105k drive away .... the dealers had things like factory bonus incentives to shift available stock + $4k BMW diesel discount + hagling etc

other thing to remember though is that I did not go overboard on options:

- USB for ipod
- Sunroof
- Sports Steering wheel
- side boards
- alpine white (therefore no extra paint cost which saved a few thousand- but only because we actually wanted a white one)

The extra stuff is always nice if you really need it, but I didn't + the 35d is pretty well kitted as standard.

I would recommend test driving a few types with different options before deciding what works for you. e.g. if you're getting factory order then comfort seats would be worth $3k in my opinion, but other gadgets perhaps not ..also ..sports option with 20's etc starts adding $$ - looks great but we felt the ride was just terrible - god help people who try to drive 20's offroad / sand / snow etc ...then again 99% of time X5's are cruising the burbs ... but still ... hated the ride on 20's.

when you buying