Our E70 4.8 sport has been a good car. Basically reliable. Pretty comfortable (took off the run flats) and a good drive considering its weight and size. BUT...I simply cannot stomach the gas bills. Was never an issue before, but a) we never had a car this thirsty b) gas was cheaper 3 yrs. ago and c) I now have the most fuel efficient car I've ever owned (the X5 is the wife's) which makes her car seem even worse.

90% of the milage is in town. Both of us drive hard. We're averaging 13 mpg mixed. 240 miles later I'm at station again getting another $100 in gas.

So. Here's the dilemma: She likes the X6 (which I wanted instead of the X5 in the 1st place). Right now a $68k 3.5 is more to lease than a $83k 5.0. You read that correctly and I'm not mistaken. The residual stinks on the 6 cyl. and is very high on the V8. I'm sure that won't be the case come Jan. and were not off lease until March. But man is that tempting. I would love to get a 5.0. I've driven them and X5 5.0s plenty and the power (unlike our 4.8 which is peppy but not fast) makes the pathetic mileage easier to digest. But. I don't want to be a hypocrite and the 6 cylinder is still really nice.

Any thoughts on this 6 vs. 8. Maybe there are some angles or considerations I'm missing? The gas mileage is the issue. She does 16k mi a year. By my math it's approx. a $2,000 a year difference at the pumps and at least another 2-3 days between fill ups??

It's important to debate this issue heavily since a lot can happen in 3 years...gas could be $6 a gallon in 2014??

DRP