E53 Interior has more character than X70?

[Spanker]

I recently acquired a super clean 2002 E53 4.4i with all Sport options, black on black, no nav but DSP and no CD changer .

I also recently had an opportunity to test drive a blac on black 2009 X5.

The interior of the newer X5 is very very nice, especially the trimming. . . . but it seemed a tad bit more "japanese" than BMW.

After test driving the 2009 and then sitting in my vehicle, I realized that I preferred my interior.

I wish BMW had improved on a good thing, like modernizing the pixel displays and getting rid of more plastic (rather than add...).

How many say you really prefer the interior of the E53 over the x70?