Figured I would update this thread here. My wife and I drove the 3.0 and really liked it. It was slow as molasses, but still a nice vehicle for what we wanted.
The kicker on this: my wife noticed an '02 325xi wagon with 148K on it for 2 grand less. She wanted to give it a go, so we took the keys and headed off. Although this won't be THE car, that's the direction we decided to go. We liked it way more than the x5, found that it had plenty of space and the fuel economy was much better. We're currently on the hunt for a better condition e46 wagon as this one was pretty beat. I'm now doing some research on the 323 vs. 325 and xi vs standard RWD.
I do want to say thanks for everyone that chimed in here. When comparing the typical problems of the E53 to the typical problems of the E46, it seems that the E46 issues are significantly more manageable.
The kicker on this: my wife noticed an '02 325xi wagon with 148K on it for 2 grand less. She wanted to give it a go, so we took the keys and headed off. Although this won't be THE car, that's the direction we decided to go. We liked it way more than the x5, found that it had plenty of space and the fuel economy was much better. We're currently on the hunt for a better condition e46 wagon as this one was pretty beat. I'm now doing some research on the 323 vs. 325 and xi vs standard RWD.
I do want to say thanks for everyone that chimed in here. When comparing the typical problems of the E53 to the typical problems of the E46, it seems that the E46 issues are significantly more manageable.
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