Rob Siegel aka BMW CCA's Roundel Magazine's "Hack Mechanic" had an '06 E53 X5 3.0 for several months a few years ago....

It had the oven dials for HVAC, 6-speed manual, sport package, OEM tow package, and sunroof-delete. Pretty damn rare...

Craigslist Finds
 

That's as rare as I've ever heard of!

Oven dials. Cute never have seen that one.

Think of all the things that you wouldn't ever have to fix!

That could be the last car I own- until the left knee goes again. :swear:

Knee replacement seems like an easy sell when the alternative is driving a slushbox!

https://austin.craigslist.org/tag/d/...726085744.html
12V BMW X5 Car

:rofl:

there are further complications than a bad knee; plus, slushbox advantages
 

Sure, knee replacement is an option, but not always a solution (my father-in-law had to get another one after five years, so I chose not to get mine done). The bad thing is that I'd have to do both (equally wrecked) and I have a great fear of surgery/hospitalization (my family had a history that demonstrated this: "if you go in, you won't come out").

Then there's the sciatica (worse on the left than on the right); it's been (literally) a thorn in my side since the '90's, and our last car with a manual transmission was a '88 Fiero. Only 9 of my 26 cars have been manuals, and the Fiero was the first I'd had since '86.

As for slushboxes,unless you've got a Buick Dynaflow from the fifties (or any crappy CVT tranny, today), then you probably don't appreciate the advantages of an automatic transmission.

• 1) torque multiplication: ask a grass-roots drag racer why he uses an auto (usually with a high-stall-speed torque converter)...it gives you an advantage leaving the starting line,
  
  
• 2) stop & go traffic: if you've ever been caught in an hour-long traffic jam, usually going under 10 mph, never over 30 mph, you'll appreciate not rowing the gears just to stay in first, most of the time (my daily commute over the last 30+ years before retiremant, made a manual shifter not a favorite),
  
  
• 3) ZF vs GM transmissions: the Craigslist find is a 2006 model, which would've had a ZF automatic, not a GM, as mine does ('01 model); the ZF is more highly regarded than the GM 5L40E (most people online deride it), but mine is a gem (I have no service history for it, but it works as good as any I've had). Look at my signature below to see what automatics I've had (some, but not all are listed), and I've only had 4 automatic transmission problems over 58+ years:
  
  
  • a) '86 S-10 200R4 torque converter failed (at 200k miles), & lost the overdrive, and needed repair,
    
    
  • b) the B&M torque convertor in the TH350 in my '86 Chevelle, lost the main seal while drag racing, replaced it with another, and put in a shift-kit at the same time,
    
    
  • c) the 4L80E in my '04 Chevy 2500HD needed solenoids replaced at 100k miles, and now, at 140k miles, it's starting to slip on takeoff (but not in tow-haul mode), after many years of primarily towing heavy trailers,and
    
    
  • d) almost forgot this one: my 16 y.o."friend" shifted my '56 Chevy into reverse on the freeway, back in 1965...it tore up something inside, and his Dad had it repaired (and my "friend" got grounded for six months, back when kids minded their Dads)

As-is, I'm happy with my "slush-boxes" in all five of my current vehicles, YMMV.

A unicorn for sure, but get a load of the underhood rust. Having had a New England salt car before I bought the X5, no thank you. Had enough of busted knuckles and broken bolts/ studs.