Originally Posted by PropellerHead

I drove a 10/2004 model for nearly 7 years. I loved that thing. Early 2004 X5's (including yours) have XDrive. A change to the standard all wheel drive of the pre-facelift. X Drive can put 100% of the engine power to the one wheel it senses with traction. The older ones were static 48/52 (I think that's the right ratio)

The best thing ab early '04's? The good ole, reliable small sunroof. Less top side weight, too. Between the lowered weight so high on the body and the intelligent XDrive, I still find myself looking for early face lift builds. After they cleared through the body's from the older models with smaller roofs, they rolled out the 4.8is and the giant, heavy glass up top. Such a silly idea for a performance geek. Great for a rich mom, though.

Also, no screwy adaptive headlights. The ones on my 4.8is have yet to break, but when they do, I will strongly consider just getting the early ones. That said- it *is* cool that they sweep from left to right based on steering input. And it *is* cool to watch happen. But it does absolutely nothing practical (for me) and is thus just a gimmick as far as I am concerned.

You got screwed on Bluetooth, but so did every 2004 and it is an easy fix. I replaced the SOS module with a BT module and BOOM: Bluetooth.

Those are the two big things that I noticed when I went from my '04 3.0 to an '04 4.8is (07/04 build). Well, besides the obvious.