My experience with the '03 4.4i has been fantastic. I wanted the V8 because we regularly drive into the mountains with a fully loaded car and I wanted the surplus power. It does not disappoint and it sounds beautiful when pressed.

In the city, however, it suffers poor fuel mileage. My wife has a 1.5 mile drive to work, with a little client visiting and errand running here and there and she is getting 12.6 to 14.5 mpg depending on when I reset the trip computer. When we've taken it on road trips to San Francisco or places east, I've been able to average 20-22 mpg while driving at a reasonable pace.

On my way to visit friends, I drove it alone up I-5 to HWY 198 which runs west from Coalinga to King City and had an epic romp with it that would make Fernando Alonso proud. The M62 V8, when being shifted manually or keeping the revs between 3500-5000 is a magic piece and the truly amazing E53 chassis begins to reveal itself. These X5's are really sports sedans with increased ride height. One can engage in confident, fast transitions and smooth four wheel drifts under power on corner exit.

I simply cannot heap enough praise on the car. Oh yeah, it's sans Sport Package too...

Since the car is so heavy, in-town mileage suffers from accelerating it up to speed. One up there though, it is smooth, torquey and efficient.

Just my $.05

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2003 BMW E53 4.4i Titansilber/Black
2008 BMW E90 328i manual
1972 BMW 2002 std Colorado Orange
2003 Audi TT 225 Coupe