should I let my 4.6is go?

[c4racer]

I've had my 4.6is for 1 year now, and I really love it. It is a great combination winter driver, ski tripper, gear hauler and business trip vehicle for me. I have no complaints about it whatsoever. Great winter ride with snow tires on, and hauls all of my gear perfectly - I am an active musician playing both drums and keyboards in a few bands and such, so the X5 gets the call for hauling gear on a weekly basis.

My primary summer driver is a 2007 C6 Corvette coupe. Excellent sports car and very good 2 person road trip car that gets upwards of 26mpg on the highway and ~19 in my mixed around town commuting and visiting my customers (in outside sales in the high tech field).

So it's a pretty good combo, and I don't really have a huge drive to make a change. But. The wife is now involved in a couple carpools for our two kids that go to different schools both fairly far away from home 15-25min range. And she could really use a 6-8 seater from time to time. And I think that need will continue and grow into next year especially if both kids end up going to the same high school.

So the thought has crossed my mind to give up the X5 in favor of a bigger mid-sized or full sized SUV with seating for at least 7. The Pilot seems pretty hard to beat in that segment, or maybe the 05+ Pathfinder - I have been a big fan of Nissan cars and trucks over the years. I would be buying something used and basically swapping aprox even value with my X5.

About the only thing that would get me excited to replace the X5 would be to also replace our G37 with a nicer and larger sedan that would cover my business use and also become my main winter driver here in the northern CA bay area. No snow use - the SUV would still get the call for that.

E39 M5 comes to the top of my list...
Followed by a 2002-2003 Audi S8 / A8L or maybe even a E38 7 series.
Budget would be in the $20K range give or take.

I would certainly miss my X5, but also would likely enjoy one of these excellent sport uber sedans just as much if not even more. Leaning towards a E39 M5 with folding seats so I can carry my bike or keyboards in it. Although the big Audi and E38 are large enough that I could easily fit my music gear into it when needed. Plus I'd have the SUV available when needed and the wife would still have a larger car than her little Mazda hatchback availble for her use as needed too. So that is a tempting option as well.

Any thoughts? Would I regret selling the X5 if I can pick up a nice uber-sedan of some sort for my driving pleasure when I can't be driving the vette?

I can't see owning both the X5 and a E39 M5 btw - two rather expensive and risky cars to own. I'd prefer to limit my liabilities in that respect. But moving from a X5 to a E38, Audi 8 or E39 seems a fairly lateral move in that respect.

Here is a picture of my X5.