It will fit. I am in the same boat and have not had a problem yet.

The lean angle on rear seats is adjustable. It has been there since the first gen X5.

Not completely true.

The E53 rear seats are adjustable. But...
The E70 rear seats are NOT adjustable, UNLESS you have the 3rd row seat option.

This design flaw significantly reduces the usable cargo space when the rear seats are up.

Funf Dreisig

This is what I had looked at in the manual before posting. Wrong? they missed the adjust lever when no 3rd row?

E53s have the nice power adjustment button conveniently located at 2 places(2nd pic below). :nanana:

The X5 manual is very misleading because they mix the description of optional equipment in with the standard equipment. The only hint is the little asterisk in the titles. And even that is only a hint, because there is no clear explanation of WHICH option includes that feature. In this case nearly all of the section titled "BMW X5: rear seats" only applies if you have the 3rd row seats :(

Even our 22 yr old PathFinder ranch truck w/ no radio, hand crank windows, etc. has adjustable rear seat backs - DUH.

Funf Dreisig

Indeed, I guess I am just not an acceptable demographic to the BMW product planners. However, with the decline in sales, I apparently was lucky enough for them to make a one-time exception and sell me an X5 this time around.

As noted, the non-adjustable slant of the rear seatbacks makes it mandatory to lower the seats to get any serious packing space, which then opens-up the rear doors to all sorts of nasty nicks and rubs with the cargo one packs. My solution was to buy three of the cheap urethane backpacking sleeping pads, cut them to size, and use them to line/protect the doors and front seatbacks. I managed to get everything in and still see out the rear window, but it was rather tight, and taking a cooler, tent, sleeping backs, campstove, food, etc. would be rather difficult if one had more than two people and couldn't lower the rear seats.

No battery problems, but it was clear the battery was getting a bit low, as the charging voltage was at 15.1 volts when we set out for home. Next trip I may run a couple of wires from the jumper terminals to near the front grill so I can measure the battery voltage when it is "sleeping" and get an more accurate indication of charge state.

I had my battery jumper along as back-up and did not have to use it, but but it certainly appears being parked a while with the power rear hatch and doors being opened a few times is not the X5's forte. I expect it will need battery replacement sooner than my other vehicles to keep a sufficient "power draw while parked" safety margin.

BMW has cheapened things a bit with the E70 vs. the E53, IMHO. And they have cheapened the E70 even more since it's launch, taking away things like the rear floor lift cylinder, emergency sunroof tool, reduced base audio system, etc.

Has anyone compared the 5series GT cargo space to the x5? My dealer said the Gt had more space than a 5 series wagon. Has anyone compared the the two, side by side?

The specs say the GT with the rear seats down has 1 cubic foot less than the X5, 3 cubic feet more than the 5 series wagon, and 12 cubic feet less than the Focus.

one of the issues with the 5 GT is how the space can be used. Behind the rear seat is a folding panel that seals the rear trunk space from the passanger compartmnet. The end result is that the trunk space is not as usable because the angle of the rear panel and the separation between the rear seat and the panel sealing the trunk space (if this makes sense).