thanks for the advice all! i guess my main concern was the 2 car seats "touching" each other side by side as shown in the pictures. seems like maybe i shouldnt be too concerned about it.

one thing that bothers me about this config is when i snap the child seats in to the base, one of the seats needs to "move" a bit laterally to make space since they are so close together. so sometimes you get one seat a bit tweaked just barely to allow enough space for the other seat to snap in.

yes, thats my E36 M3 track car in the garage, a blast on the track. i actually use the x5 to tow the car on my trailer, along with all my track crap. x5 is a fantastic vehicle for towing, daily driving, track support for the M3