Kirk, sorry, I didn't see your question before this. I didn't try the manual shift thing because I was having good luck with running things normally. I left it in Drive, and let the equipment do the work. Heading down a steeper slope, I took my foot off the gas, and let the weight of things work itself out. If the speed climbed to about 60mph, I gently braked till it slowed to low 50's, then let it go again. I never felt out of control, or that the engine or brakes were being overtaxed. That was why I said it was like I didn't have much behind me - things were that smooth. Definitely a better towing experience than with my Ford pickup. (Love Ford trucks for heavy work, but this one just wasn't much up for the task of towing well. I love that the BMW does it better.)

One of my coworkers owns a 2002 M3, and we swap stories about our BMWs all the time. His comment after hearing of the smooth towing experience I had was that "No surprise. X5's have a tuna boat motor in them. They can haul anything." He's a fan. In fact, he says if I ever want to sell my X, he wants to buy it. Pretty cool of him. :)

Dave

That's awesome please let us know how it works. I've never seen a "cushioned" ball mount before. Very cool.

As for our towing we just got the OEM hitch KIT about a month ago and put it on ourselves. Installed in about 5 hours. We usually tow bikes and ATV so usually not more than 3000lbs with the trailer but the X does a wonderful job even with the I6 motor. Heavier loads or big mt passes I'm sure the V8's are killer.

Happy towing all!

I can attest to that.

Be careful with the cushioned ball mount if you have surge brakes. I've had 2 friends use that part with their boat trailers and the surge brakes seem to have a longer delay before the trailer brakes engage. But seem to work fine with electric brakes.

Good to know for when I get my next boat, but I don't have any supplemental braking system for my utility trailer.

You'll enjoy it then. Very quiet. And probably puts less stress on the chassis too.

OK my dealer has the stock hitch for $450+tax. I am thinking about using my 03 3.0L to tow my 95 m3 track car. I was thinking of using uhaul car trailers to start off with to see how it works before investing a ton of cash on my own trailer. Online, it shows that the uhaul trailer weighs 2500lbs, my M3 is 3000lbs.I will be towing 5500lbs which is a little more than what I've read that the 2003 auto's can handle. Not sure what the diff is but the chassis/tow hitch can handle 6000lbs. Is this a good idea? I figure, I'll start with towing to local track events within 200 miles at first. This is Texas so its mainly flatland, with some hills.

There are a few members on here that tow within that range or over without problems. It is just a matter of getting the right trailer brakes setup, right amount of tongue weight, and proper driving technique. Should be just fine :thumbup:

Any hitch will apply a bending (twisting) moment to the receiver, based on the trailer tongue weight and the dynamic loads caused by accelerating and braking.

If you are buying an alternate hitch (drawbar) to that sold by BMW, you should be aware of the BMW specs for that hitch. The BMW spec for the ball location is no more than 8" horizontally from the pin that the hitch drawbar is secured to the receiver with. There is a limit of 12" vertically from the top of the receiver to the base of the hitch ball.

Exceeding those specifications (ie more vertical drop, or more horizontal extension) will stress the receiver beyond what it was designed for. I am not suggesting that you cannot go over those limits for very light trailers, but you do so at your own risk.

We just bought our X5 and we're planning to use it to tow our Malibu Response skiboat. It weighs about 3.5T all up so it will be interesting to see how the 3.0ltr copes. Based on advice from others it should be ok.

Does anyone else have experience with towing a 3.5T or heavier boat?

Cheers,