When I had the E70 loaner, the RDS on the radio annoyed the hell out of me! I want it to display the name and artist of the song, but it really screws up the preset station IDs. When I first set the RDS to "on," a Kenny Chesney song was playing on the one station, so the station ID is showing as "KENNY" and not WPOC, like it should. WIYY is showing as "MICKEY" because that is part of the name of the morning show.

UPDATED 11/3/08:

I had an E70 loaner last week and I found the fix for this issue.

If you program the radio presets with RDS turned off, it will display the station information - normally their call letters - once RDS it turned on. It's not 100% correct (one station showed as LOCAL-44 instead of HOT99.5), but it was a BIG improvement over the artist names or song titles that would show when the presets are programmed with RDS turned on.

Gresch - Thank you for passing this along to me. :thumbup: :hug:

:thumbup: Yeah, fingerprints are horrible on touchscreens. And yes, who wants to be locked out, since the vehicle is in motion? I might have some gripes with my 4.8i, but i-Drive is not one of them. Yeah, on the 2003-2006 7 Series...i-Drive was beyond horrible (a nightmare!!), but it's easy now & simplified!

To the contrary, we have a 2001 x5 in the garage and replaced our 2005 x5 in Feb. with an 08 3.0 x5. The new one is WAY, WAY better than the previous generation x5's in our opinion. There are SO many improvements. The most important is drive comfort and handling. We just finished a drive from SF Bay area to San Diego and back. We arrived much less tired after the 8 hr. drive each way. The new x5 is SO much smoother, more power on the road, hugs the turns better, the comfort seats are awesome. The back is a little deeper and wider so we can get more stuff in when traveling. The ipod interface is great, premium stereo is worth it-the 05 had standard sound and the new one is a huge improvement. The much maligned backup camera is a significant plus for us. Love the lighted door handles, idrive is great-so much more control. The quality of the interior finish is much improved. And, I almost forgot...the navigation system is MUCH, MUCH improved and the screen larger!! I could go on and on. Best of all, it is just really FUN to drive. Never really had that feeling to such a degree in the earlier generation x5's.

What I don't like: gas mileage, of course. Got 18.5 mpg combined on trip. Hopefully it will continue to improve, only have 2000+ miles on it so far. Dislike NOT having a 3rd key. Miss adjustable seatbelt height in older x5's plus electric reclining back seats.

All in all, the 08 X5 is quite an amazing car. I have almost no complaints.

myself, i sit up under the wheel with my heel planted on the floorboard. i have found with practice the stock pads are easy to modulate. the throttle also. it surely does tend to be choppy if i lose concentration.

i have about 8k on mine, so some days i romp on it a little. much fun. short of the disparity in torque it makes my Z06 feel pedestrian.

That's odd. Both my 2007 & 2008 X5 had great radio/satellite information.

On Sirius, it will say for example "90's Alternative" Jane's Addiction with the Song Jane says.

For the radio it will say (for example) STAR 98.7, Plain white T's with the song Hey there Delilah

Giving the current 4.8is to the wife
My new 4.8i is not here for another 4 days!

Seriously though, the current 4.8is has the following annoying little issues;

Passenger side head rest rattles a little - it gets looked at every service and I lube it regularly, but when it dries out it rattles again.

Glovebox configuration, small and awkward to get into

mine must be broken. lame music such as listed above won't play.:rofl:

Just noticed a definite annoyance today!!

I now remember it being mentioned in other threads: metal seat belt latch makes small nicks on door pillars. This was not the case with the first generation x5's. When you unlatch the seat belt and don't hold on to it, it flies again the door pillar and there is a little indentation left! Argh!

Judyd, see post #9 of this thread.

Totally agree, my old C240 MB standard system sounds much better. Plan to mod the system in near future.