First Impressions

[cet2055]

Lurked on here while I was deciding between a Cayenne S and an X5 4.8. Bought the X5, which I picked up yesterday. A few impressions:

1. Drives quite nice, a good deal like my father's 7-series. Feels a little bit bulkier, which is to be expected, but not bad. I have the sport package and like the way that affects the handling.

2. The milage is not good, but not absolutely horrible. Yesterday I drove from Denver to Estes Park, down through Rocky Mountain National Park and back through Winter Park to Denver. About 40% mountain roads, 35% regular highway and 25% city. ~17 MPG combined.

3. Unfortunately, I suffer from the 6FL dropping-to-FM problem. Let my sales guy know and that I'd be bringing it in once one of us has heard there is a fix.

4. Wavered on the Comfort Access, but I'm glad I got it. Sort of silly, but it's kind of a cool feature.

5. Don't know why people rag on both iDrive and the navigation system so much. I thought iDrive was a cinch to figure out after about 20 minutes of screwing with it, and I much prefer it to a phalanx of buttons. I thought the navigation system was fine. It navigated and gave accurate directions. Don't ask much more from my navigation system.

6. Got the navigation system, but not the technology package and the other stuff that goes with it. Kind of wish I had gotten the technology package, as the proximity detector and the rear view camera (even with its limitations) would give me more confidence when parallel parking or otherwise backing up.

In all, I'm happy with the purchase. Hope that sentiment continues.