A re-introduction of sorts...and a new to me E70

[Eric Giles]

I used to be on this forum four years ago when I purchased a '02 X5 4.4i. I have owned about 15 different BMW's in the past 11 years, and always had a dislike for SUV's...until I got that X5. I have owned E30 and E36 M3's, E39 M5, a few E46's, etc...but I must say that '02 X5 was about my favorite of all of them-until now.

It was time to pare down my current 'collection' of BMW's-E30 M3, E39 M5 and E30 325is and once again have something newer and roomier. I've been waiting for the E70 4.8i models to get to a level that I consider affordable, and recently that has happened. So I'm selling the E30 M3 that never gets driven and my E39 M5 and I am replacing them with my newly acquired '07 X5 4.8i.

It is a three year lease turn in that is in absolutely excellent condition inside and out. I had the service records pulled and it has had no issues besides a failed blower resistor, window regulator, and glovebox trim replacement. It has 45k miles, so I have until July of this year or just under 5k miles of warranty left. I plan on purchasing some type of extended warranty for it soon.

It's Space Gray with Gray interior. Options are sport package, premium package, technology package, satellite radio, comfort access, rear a/c package, and premium sound package. It is missing some options that I personally considered very important in my E70 purchase-those being the Style 214 20" wheel/tire option and the fender flares, plus the aluminum running boards. So I have ordered all of these and they will arrive this week.

So far, I am extremely impressed with it-great power, very quiet inside, handling is superb for such a large vehicle, and so far all the electronics function perfectly. Although it is an '07 model, it is a later production (7/07) so hopefully it is slightly more bug free than the early production '07's. I can see how thirsty it is, but honestly it's no worse than my E39 M5 in overall driving.

It was a terrible purchasing experience-the worst I have ever experienced and I won't go into the details here-but in the end I am very happy with my purchase-especially since I got it for a few thousand dollars below the current NADA loan value. I have access to puchase at Manheim auctions, and I could find nothing like I purchased for close to the price-so overall I got a great deal.

No pictures yet, but might post some after the Style 214's and running boards are installed. Oh, and if anyone is interested in a set of perfect condition Style 211 wheels with almost brand new (less than 1000 miles) Michelin Latitude RFT's installed, let me know as I am putting them up for sale by the end of this week. And yes, they will include the BMW TPM sensors already installed.