^ (The sunroof cassette weighs 35lbs and the non-sunroof sheet-metal weighs 5lbs less than the sunroof version. Also, the tow capacity is 6,000lbs, not 5,000.)

In any event, I highly doubt the owner ordered it that way for weight's/performance's sake. I find it hard to believe that an enthusiast would be quite that daft. I'm sure he did it for simplicity. In a modern street car - any modern street car - I value simplicity over weight any day of the week. Forget fuel economy. If you're buying an SUV, you have no standing to complain about fuel economy.

There is all this talk about "drivers' cars." People think it's all about weight - rubbish; it's not - not in the 21st Century. In the 21st Century it's, at least, equally about simplicity and cleanliness. I say this because there's no such thing as "light weight" cars (i.e. "driver's cars" in the traditional sense) in the 21st Century that are actually usable (I don't want to hear any Lotus Elise talk; cars like that are far from usable). In the 21st century, "drivers' cars" have more to do with simplicity than with low weight. The new M3 weighs 4,000lbs. My brother just bought an E90 M3 stripper (cloth interior, no options, no sunroof); it weighs 3,700lbs. People might argue that that's a driver's car. In my opinion, it's as close as you can get to a usable "driver's car" in the 21st century. However, no matter how you cut the pie, a 3,700lbs "street sports car," no matter how well it handles, is just not a "driver's car" in the traditional sense.

Yeah, that's a tangent. Whoops.

To me, this X5 is sweet. I love the fact that it has a proper transmission and doesn't have gadgets and gizmos. I absolutely lover the sunroof delete. My only complaint is that it's not AW (yeah, I'm an AW whore). If there was such a thing as a "drivers' SUV," I reckon only this and the 1st Generation Porsche Cayenne GTS with the 6-Speed Manual would qualify. Of course, the GTS would totally one-up the 6 M/T X5 from a power perspective, but I'm just making a point. In any event, I bet the X5 is much simpler and lighter than the GTS. To me, that's more important than the power. Tomato/Tomahto, I'd think (especially if you put a suspension/brake/wheel package on the X5 that is as equally impressive as that which came standard on the 1st Generation GTS).

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2003 3.0i; Base Model Work Horse