Everyone is entitled to their opinion, including me.

My experience with the X5 and BMW was poor. I'm a bit jealous of all you X5 owners whose cars actually work.

I point out that my 911 handles better in the snow than my X5 to highlight that something was seriously wrong.

Whoopy-do, you live in the UK and you want to tell me about snow? I've got almost 6' of snow around my driveway now. Your X5 won't do ANY better than my 911 in this weather. Maybe the Porsche dealer network in the UK isn't up to snuff. I don't know anything about that.

A big part of my problems with BMW are with the dealership itself and with BMW Canada. As many people have said, many of my problems were quite minor. It was only through neglect that things got here.

I just hoped my comments served to help other X5 owners and potential owners.



I did want an SUV. I sold my last 911 4 years ago for an Avalanche and I enjoyed it. I thought the X5 would be a great car with the functionality of the Avalanche and the fun of the 911. This isn't a mid-life crisis because, fortunately for me, I'm not quite old enough for a mid-life crisis yet (I'll have to get the 911 Turbo for that!)

As far as options available on the 911, there are hundreds. If you can think it, they can do it. My car doesn't have many of those because I didn't order the car, I chose from the selection they had in stock. Mine is a basic C2S. My car has:

CARRERA CLASSIC WHEELS
HEATED FRONT SEATS
BOSE HIGH END SOUND PACKAGE
BLACK SPORT SEATS
LEATHER SPORT SEATS
PORSCHE CREST IN HEADREST
STAINLESS STEEL EXHAUST
SPORT CHRONO PACKAGE

Good luck to all of you current and future X5 owners. I wish you all the best.

PS. The driver for the dealer almost crashed my X5 on the way back to the dealership because something is not right (I think it's the ABS, but it may be more than that). I have no problem driving a 911 in a snowstorm, but my X5 made me really nervous to drive. My buddy has an '02 X5 4.4 and it drives great (and is actually more comfortable), it was why I bought one. I meant what I said - Good Riddance to MY X5 and MY X5 problems.

This was my experience.

Whoopy - did your brother have snow tires? I'm comparing snow tire equipped 911 to snow tire equipped X5. Despite my insanity I would have to agree that the summer 911 tires would make the car useless.

Insane or liar? Those are the only explanations to my problems? It couldn't have been that there were actually problems with my X5 that nobody would fix? No not that. I must be insane, because according to your thinking a sane person would just accept it?

Good of you to make this a personal attack on me.

I didn't get the 911 as a direct replacement for the X5, I got it because it was another car that I liked, and I have had great experiences with this Porsche dealer.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Praetorian, I admire your persistence but give it up now... Thanks

he already did, where he signed off at the end of his last post

nothing wrong with his post imo, completely understandable

Just out of curiousity...Praetorian, which BMW Dealership...Budds, Parkview...?

No need to get personal.

open road

yeah point taken on the personal attack , accept my appoligies

enjoy the porsche when the snow melts its quite a car in the dry!

I must admit, he sorta lost me when he said "Your X5 won't do ANY better than my 911 in this weather."

He may be the only person in the World that claims a 911 with snow tires does as well in the snow as an X5.

But then who knows, perhaps he is right and everyone else is wrong.

It's possible.

didn't he mean that the snow or weather was so bad that it wasn't particularly driveable regardless of whether it was an suv or not?

Perhaps. I didn't read it that way, but maybe he did.

But I really can't see comparing a 911 to an X5, any more than comparing a Ford Shelby Mustang to an Expedition, or a Toyota Celica GT to a Titan... they're just two different beasts meant for different purposes.