Originally Posted by Hoser

As I understand it, these X5's were assembled in N.America. With that, many of the accessory type items (not main structure) would have been supplied from N.American suppliers-like Dorman, Magnatek, etc. So a lot of the window, door, suspension parts and assemblies were probably from N.American suppliers. The design and specification is all BMW. I believe BMW to a large part is resting on their laurels from their 80's and 90's 3 and 4 hundred series vehicles. Most of us have had experience with them- they may well not be practical now for family use. Enter the X5, basically a truck that has been sold on the BMW credo of a quality, long lasting vehicle-just like those we formerly drove. Crap did they see us coming-building a 6000 lb tank with such light duty underpinnings, transmissions that are marginally designed to handle the torque produced, engines that are unnecessarily complicated for truck use, under-building bodies that are to be used in snow/salt belt areas. Vehicles as complicated and requiring the maintenance of a Ferrari but without the forethought to make them easy to service and maintain. It is nothing short of arrogance to install such an important part as the auto-trans and then not install either automatic or preferably manual means to maintain fluid level (all oil seals are meant to weep fluid to lubricate the seal). I have found it to be no more comfortable than my former Denali, and certainly nor nearly as reliable. I love my X5 for what it is but am sorely disappointed in what it is not.