Not necessarily; I think the ride/handling is great with the 'standard' suspension and 20" wheels. Ride is on the stiff side, which some may not like, but it has very well controlled body motions, like a BMW sedan. Personally, I don't like any of the 'active' roll control systems, which IMO provide artificial feedback. I like to know what the suspension is doing.

Sport Suspension = Adaptive Drive. In recent years, if you ordered the Sport Package but don't want Adaptive Drive, you select Sport Suspension Delete. For non-Sport Package vehicles, Adaptive Drive is a stand-alone option.

So my 2007 4.8 w/ sport package has AD?

Sport suspension does NOT equal Adaptive Drive. Sport suspension has historically not been available in the US until recently (05/2011 production) as the default choice for the M sportpaket.

To answer the question: average Americans aren't informed about their car purchases. This especially applies to options and features. To make an in-stock car $3500 more expensive for a feature that is hard to appreciate on a test drive is a tough sell. Sat nav? Tangible. Comfort seats? Tangible. Adaptive Drive? Not so much.

Dealers need to sell the options that will sell the quickest. They're not there to equip vehicles with features that educate consumers, unfortunately. This is different from most other countries, but that's just how the American market works.

Ah, I see. I suppose you're also an expert in quantum physics? :stickpoke:p:

An earlier post had said that it was part of sports package. That might be applicable now but was not in 2008.

For my 2008 X5 4.8i, Adaptive Drive was separate to the Sports Package. I've never regretted the purchase of either. I would definitely recommend Adaptive Drive...

AznX... was correct that the dealers are not informed. They tried to talk me out of Adaptive Drive as they did not think it was necessary (but it was obvious that they did not even know what it is!).

EDIT: My comments about Adaptive Drive are incorrect. I was referring to "Active Steering"...

Pre-2010 production X5 with Sports Package included Adaptive Drive. This is fairly easy to identify if you have the Adaptive Drive, if you do then there should be a button for enabling Sport Mode right next to the gear shift. For 2010 and newer model years Sports Pkg and Adaptive Drive were separated with Adaptive Drive a $3500 option. As folks have said, for an uninformed prospective customer it is an intangible option and a tough sell especially in this economy, hence the dealers don't usually order it. I could see the change myself between 2008 and 2009. I bought mine in 2008 when there were a lot of incentives to move the existing inventory and I saw a lot of fully loaded X5s. My colleague bought his in 2009 and there were far fewer fully loaded X5s. BMW has also progressively increased the price of the X5 and I think to increase margins they have separated out the AD from Sports Pkg, which gives them more options to sell while creating an illusion of lower price for a similarly optioned earlier model year X5.

^ fully agree with Jeep on what's been happening. Brian I believe all '08s had a simple option of sports pkg (with AD, seats, steering wheel, black headliner) for $3500 vs. no sports pkg. 4.8i's had the option to get the 20" summer wheel upgrade (and flares) on top of that. I also recall that all 4.8s back then without sport pkg were given a chrome trim around the windows instead. It was only about 2 years ago that they split AD from sport pkg (and further diluted the sport pkg options) and people here were remarking that now that they've got people hooked, they're finally pricing it separately for margins. And if I recall correctly, 2011s finally saw the E70 sold by the restrictive trim levels (base, premium, and sport - with AD as standalone) that they are now. I honestly don't know how salesman can keep up with these variations across every BMW model. In other words, don't trust what they tell you until they put it in the system. :D

And the other day I got a shuttle back home with a '09 3.0 without sport pkg (could tell because the of the plain steering wheel, and no sport button next to shifter, so no adaptive drive) and it didn't feel all that different from my '08 3.0 with sport pkg when taking a hairpin on-ramp. Like someone said, already handles well. Either that or my AD isn't working all this time. :D

I wouldn't pay $3500 separately for AD at this point. Just watched a motor trend 2011 SUV of the year video (Cayenne won BTW), where they mentioned the X5 is probably the best handling of the bunch, and who knows if the test vehicle even had the separate AD option.

Yes. AD was part of the Sport Package until 2010.

Sorry, my bad. In my earlier post, I said Adaptive Drive.

I meant the "Active Steering" option!! The full name of the option was "Active Steering w/Servotronic Power Assist". MSRP for that option was $1,400.

Adaptive Drive was not listed as such but the Sports Package did include "Active Roll Stabilization & Elec. Damping Control".

The OP is in Chicago, so it is safe to say he/she is referring to US market vehicles. When an X5 here has the "sport suspension delete" option, it is referring to a vehicle with Sport Activity Package, but without Adaptive Drive. There was a time that this is how it had to be ordered. It does seem that BMW has made an effort to make this more simple by makng Adaptive Drive as a stand-alone option on all models, however this was not always the case.

Is the "sport suspension" on the M Sport Package without Adaptive Drive truly different than other current X5s? I doubt it, but if you have an indication otherwise, would like to know for sure.