Just nit-pickin of course but maybe not the part quality, or the manufacturing quality of the part but the quality of the installation.

I would agree. And to that fact the native country isn't the issue :)

Isn't that basically the manufacturing quality of the vehicle?

The worst part about the diesel being built in the U.S., we're the last ones to be able to purchase one...

Craig

yeah that sucks
on the upside though, you'll be the first or one of the first to get the urea-injected ones, possibly along with some other of their efficient dynamics stuff

BMW established the plant in SC mainly because of the need to hedge it's Foreign Exchange risk.

Having said that the finish on my X5 is great and I have a theory that the paint finish may be superior at the SC plant. I have read numerous threads on other models (notably the M3) which have had bad Orange Peel...haven't seen that mentioned much in reference to the cars built in SC.

I totally agree. I wish the X5s were made in Germany !!

:iagree:

When will they be selling them in the US?

How widely is Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel (ULSD) available?

AFAIK that has always been the key issue for getting the diesel powered X's into the US - you need the clean types of fuel to be available in sufficient stations to make sales possible.

It's like hydrogen powered cars in the UK - there are only two stations that have the gas available so there are no cars sold here at present.

At the time of my 3.0si purchase, diesel was about $0.20/gal more than premium. 2-3 months later, it's now $1/gal more. $4.45/gal this morning I saw. I would definitely be at my BMW dealer for the 3.0si right now since the only thing left to gain from the 3.0SD US model would be the torque. And it's another 7 month wait, at least.