X5 35d Early (and Ongoing) Impressions

[FunfDreisig]

As some of you already know we took delivery of our built to order X5 35d yesterday Here, in no particular order, are our early impressions.

Overall we are very pleased with our new 35d. -- The fit and finish is superb. After taking delivery we ran a few errands on the trip home (50mi). And even though we are in a record drought -- IT RAINED most of the way home. And not just a sprinkle. It began as a Texas frog strangler and gradually gave way to a light drizzle. Over dinner at home, my wife commented on how relaxed she had felt nestled in her multi-coutour seat, listening to some quite jazz on the HD radio while I negotiated the 2 lane country roads of the Texas hill country in the rain That my friends made the long wait for our BTO worthwhile.

The wipers really worked well -- Of course the drive home also provided ample opportunity to try out the rain sensor wipers (that weren't on our 2001 X5). The rain sensor worked like a dream as the rain slowed down. I really appreciated not having to fiddle with the intermittent settings. BUT... the auto sensors over reacted during the earlier very heavy, gusty rains when the wiper speed whip sawed from intermittent to hyper active. Lesson learned - use rain senors for light rains and switch to manual in heavy rain.

HD radio is very spotty -- especially outside major metro areas. This appears to be a urban option at this time. And BMW does not make it really easy to turn HD on/off. The setting isn't even in the Entertainment section of the iDrive - DUH.

The space saver spare doesn't -- save space that is. It takes up nearly all of the space under the cargo bay. And boy does it look chintzy bolted down to the body pan between the rear wheels with lots of exposed painted metal. What's worse BMW removed the normal gas shock that holds up the cargo bay floor. What were they thinking? "Anybody stupid enough to order the space saver spare must be so dense they'll never notice that they have to hold up the floor board with one hand while extracting the spare with the other."? The least they could have done is provide a stick to prop up the floor. Hopefully we will never have to use it. FWIW I actually used the spare tire on our old 2001 X5 several times in the last 8.5 yrs. I loved the E53's uber slick tailgate spare tire sling/lift mechanism. The E70's space saver spare is throw back to the original rough and ready SUVs of the 80s. I know, our ranch truck is one

Funf Dreisig