Crankshaft position sensor it was! The best $160 in labor I spent for an $80 sensor, the guys at the shop said it was not fun - at least I know the MAP sensor and the cam sensor are new as well now too (I did them both just because)

all is well and the X5 is running better than ever :)

The way I see it RB, once one or two of those sensors fail, (Cam, DISA, MAF, Crank) it’s probably time to replace the lot of them.

Once mine were replaced, my E53 ran, and still runs markedly better. :dunno: