I always have a little fun when you guys in the US are talking about your expensive X5...

I compared similar configurations and that vehicle is about 25.000 eur (40.000 $) cheaper in the US compared to Europe.

Yeah, I always find this price difference so absurd, unfair and don't know why. Yes, the X5 is US made, so there is shipping expenses...but even EU made cars sold in the EU are still crazy priced compared to US prices.

My mother in law lives in Sweden, so Sweden's 25% sales tax does not help the price, and my family lives in Germany (obviously:) where the sales tax is 16% (or maybe it is now raised to 18% or 19% as proposed)...but some cars are almost double the cost in Europe, as in the USA. Horrible!

Yup. The VAT in Germany increased to 19% this year.

Jwatts: Did you ever find out the gas mileage issue? I just posted something on the same issue. My 2002 X5 4.4i is getting horrrible gas mileage and I "know" my car in and out as far as mileage is concerned. Plus, I do not use the AC, drive moderate most of the time, slow stops and accelerations, etc. STILL horrible gas mileage. Help!

Gas mileage.
 

The dealer will not discuss gas mileage. If no faults are set, then everything is ok no matter what you tell them.

Maybe I glossed over this in the thread, but you simply cannot use the OBC to discern your gas mileage. The only accurate way of doing it is to fill up the car, set your trip odo to zero, drive the tank low, fuel er back up and do the math...miles/gallons you put back in it.

The OBC gives you a nice rolling average. I bet if you did your gas mileage in this light over several tanks, you'd find the information you're looking for. I use this method on every tank, and I can tell when my car has something wrong with it and needs to be looked at.