I just do a lot of 400+ mile trips and then just drive around the city. I almost feel a lot more comfortable taking the 3's 6 to higher rpm's than my X's 8 for some weird reason but I think in the end Ill stick with my x5, every time I drive it, it seriously is a privilege.

I love mine and the Estoril Blue is rare. Turns alot of heads, people asking if i had it painted, etc. I typically cruise about 80 and at 100 it's still just loping along. Of all the things I worry about with it, I never even think about the rpms as an issue

Step one: Get in X5 and drive to nearest freeway.
Step two: Use right foot to mash right pedal to floor & hold.
Step three: Observe grin.
Problem solved.

Keep the X. One thing that you haven't accounted for is that you know the maintenance history of your X pretty thoroughly. Knowing what was replaced when can help you a ton with these things. A slightly newer I6 with that hasn't been maintained properly could potentially be worse than what you have now.

I had a 2000 325i that had all it's regular oil changes, but nothing else - in 18 months I replaced suspension bushes, cooling system parts, cam sensors, various other parts and it still wasn't perfect. Replaced it with a 2002 X5 4.4i that had been well maintained by it's original owner, after 18 months it's only needed one ignition coil and I have no plans to replace it because I love it!

A well looked after X5 can cost less to maintain and make you a lot happier.

4.6 wins hands down. Might want to calculate difference in the cost of gas over a year to get a better perspective, if that matters to you. My wife drove a 325 for several years. It was solid but very boring. The X repair costs were about the same as the 325 until they both topped 100,000. At that point it was time to redo the front and rear suspension on the 2002 4.6. The 2001 325 didn't need much until it got to about 125,000. My wife drives a 335 now--I think you would find that fun but still not as much fun nor as exciting as your X.

Thanks to everyone's reply, I'm keeping the X, I now want to post pictures of it but for some reason they won't load.

Prolly u need to resize your pics.... Go on Image Uploader

A picture, more hopefully on their way

Exterior at Sanoma a few weeks ago

Oh my god! So beautiful, my favorite color fot the 4.6is! LOVE IT.

Ps: if you upload to photobucket itll be faster easier and you can upload through your phone, just go to the pic and copy the image code and paste it in