Hello all. This forum has been great assisting me with my purchase, I could really use a little more help. Thank you in advance.

I'm about to pull the trigger on a new 2012, but I can't get the right configuration and it's killing me. The vehicle is for my wife and as she's upgrading from a 98 Land Cruiser (luxury yacht), the ride can't be too rough or she'll hate it. Any features or capabilities to soften the ride (I still want to have fun) would be appreciated.

I like the Premium, but I really want the anthracite headliner and the Carbon Black Metallic (only on the Sport Activity). I don't think the Sport Suspension is going to work for my wife, because I'm assuming a stiffer ride. Is that fair? I like the Adaptive drive options, but it looks like it cancels out the Sport Suspension and seems like I'm wasting money. Would I be better to just switch to the Black Sapphire Metallic and ditch the Sport Activity package? What are the differences between the Adaptive Drive and Sport Suspension?

I'm also going to go with 19" wheels all season on either X5 for the softer ride (more like the LC). Do you see an issue with this? I like the 20s, but not for a harsher ride or worse performance in the snow. The 335s of the Sport Activity are really nice.

Is the M steering wheel heated? If not, that's another feature miss by the M Sport.

Any thoughts on running boards?

My two configs are right here:

Sport Activity:
Build Your Own

Premium:
http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/BYO/SharedBuild.aspx?ConfigurationId=1843286

Thanks in advance.


Eric