Wanted to Introduce myself...

[sunir]

Hi I'm new to this forum. Wanted to introduce myself. I am actually in the market (or soon will be) for an X5. I am in the process of consolidating my current daily driver (BMW e46 3 Series) and my truck ('01 Cummins TD 24V - Longbed Quad Cab - Sport eds. with only 50K miles) by selling both of these and replaceing them with an X5 that I can drive everyday and tow with when I need to tow my race car and open deck 18' trailer. I figured since I don't drive the truck often this would be the best thing to do, my load is only 6 - 7 thousand pounds fully loaded so that should be fine I would think with the X5.

Now some questions and advise requested...

1) what type of X5 should I be looking at? Keep in mind this will be mostly for daily driving but also towing a handful of times a year in various conditions (rain, crosswinds, mountains etc...etc...) I was told at least a 4.4, or 4.6 may be good...the 4.8 has more grunt but may cost me more MPG for the daily driver end of things.

2) what are some pitfalls to look out for...? what should I look at when checking these vehicles out? I'm a long time bimmer guy and member of BMW CCA but never dealt with the X5 before.

3) what years should I look into? What years should I avoid? and why? What options are desirable?

4) Is there a towing forum?

5) How do I set the X5 to tow my load? Any shops in MD that can get me fitted with a class III hitch? I use a Tekonsha brake controller as well so can I still use that or should I go all BMW parts and installation to get it set up?

6) Anything else I might be missing, or anything you'd like to share...I'm a newbie when it comes to the X5 so I am here to learn...

thanks so much and I look forward to making some new friends and learning about this unique vehicle!

Sunir