BMW X3

Replying to: cotmc (Oct 14, 2007 9:27 pm)

Every time I say I will hold onto my car for several years, something else comes along! I haven't held onto one car for more than 3 years since 1993.
 
I'm getting better at keeping my cars, but I relapse from time to time...
As it stands now, I have one car that I've kept for almost twelve years(1995 318ti Club Sport) and one I've kept for five years(1999 Wrangler Sahara). My wife still likes her CPO 2004 X3 2.5 that she acquired in December of 2005, so it will remain in the fleet for the forseeable future as well. I can't imagine selling off the Mazdaspeed3 unless I hit Powerball, in which case I'd probably get a new M3 sedan AND an Exige(crosses fingers)...

Replying to: cotmc (Oct 14, 2007 9:16 pm)

Replies to this message:
• cotmc (Oct 16, 2007 9:51 am)
  • kyfdx (Oct 16, 2007 12:08 pm)

Replying to: kyfdx (Oct 15, 2007 8:40 am)

Replies to this message:
• kyfdx (Oct 16, 2007 12:08 pm)

Replying to: cotmc (Oct 16, 2007 9:51 am)

The 225 HP 3.0 litre from the E46 has multiple intake runners, while the new 3.0 litre in the 325i had a single intake.. (plus, it was a whole new engine.. and more fuel efficient).
 
Anyway, who knows what the real numbers were/are.. It's pretty easy to massage them up or down 5-10 HP for marketing reasons...
 
Just like the model numbers... 325, 328, 330, 335 all had 3.0 litre engines..
 
I do think the horsepower wars are a little silly, though...

My wife really loves her 2005 X3 (virtually all options, the 225HP 6 and a stick shift too.) However, she has tested about everything you can imagine that might even be remotely considered a competitor. She's looked at vehicles, CUV's, SAV's & SUV's from many makers and in prices that seem to range from -$5,000 to +$10,000 difference of the current ('08) X3. With 6 lease payments left, the heat is on, since she will almost certainly be ordering a car and ordering it with a 90 day lead time.
 
The $44K Acadia? The $44K Tourag? The $39,950 LR? The $58K Q7? An as yet to be seen EX35 from Infiniti or Q5 from Audi? Something perhaps from SAAB, Volvo, ja?
 
We've driven Acuras, Infinitis, Lincolns, Cadillacs and Mazadas of all ilks and seemingly all price ranges. Hell we even drove the Hyundais of late vintage.
 
Along comes the new (but not too new) Jeep Grand (with a Hemi no less). Stop the madness -- pick something, get to know it, love it, choose it, get it.
 
OK, so the Acadia wins in several categories, but the engine needs to be the one in the new Cadillac CTS DI, not the anemic thing standard (now) in the Acadia.
 
The Land Rover is quite entertaining, as is the RDX and the MDX, etc.
 
Ah but the power of the Jeep is, er, entoxicating.
 
Well let's price one of these puppies:
 
A pretty much all out X3, as she wants it, is $49K. The Jeep is $42K. The Jeep is dicounted $4500 if you can walk and chew gum at the same time.
 
The Jeep is $777 per month for a 39 month lease, 15K miles, no cap cost reduction required by us.
 
The Jeep, at that price does NOT have Sat Radio or Sat Nav.
 
The X3 with everything but the sport package, but WITH the SAV package for 36 months is $636, same deal otherwise -- don't even have to ask for anything.
 
If we "countered" on the Jeep, would they drop it to 36 months, add sat radio and nav and let it go for $636 per month? Naaaah.
 
On the other hand, if we asked for a little better deal on the X3, would THAT be a likely outcome. Probably -- plus they'll let her out of her lease 3 months early.
 
It is a sinister plot, I tell you.
 
Not that I, for one, would mind one little bit, upgrading from a somewhat more crude and underpowered 2005 X3 to a hardly at all crude and reasonably powered 2008 X3.
 
I just wish the X3 had voice command at least for the in car phone system that works, oh so well, even in the 2005 version.
 
Even the Acadia was more than the Bimmer for pity's sake.
 
Damn subvented leases -- you would have to be out of your mind to buy one of these things with the lease program soooo "supported."
 
Er, no offense, if you buy, it is, YOUR money.

Replies to this message:
• bodble2 (Oct 16, 2007 7:25 pm)
  • markcincinnati (Oct 16, 2007 7:38 pm)
    • bodble2 (Oct 16, 2007 7:59 pm) and 4 more...

Replying to: markcincinnati (Oct 16, 2007 6:53 pm)

You gotta cut back on the caffein, Mark!

Replies to this message:
• markcincinnati (Oct 16, 2007 7:38 pm)
  • bodble2 (Oct 16, 2007 7:59 pm)
    • markcincinnati (Oct 17, 2007 5:16 am) and 2 more...
    • cotmc (Oct 17, 2007 1:14 pm)

Replying to: bodble2 (Oct 16, 2007 7:25 pm)

Replies to this message:
• bodble2 (Oct 16, 2007 7:59 pm)
  • markcincinnati (Oct 17, 2007 5:16 am)
    • kyfdx (Oct 17, 2007 8:35 am) and 1 more...
  • cotmc (Oct 17, 2007 1:14 pm)

Replying to: markcincinnati (Oct 16, 2007 7:38 pm)

"...the power of that 3.0si was at least very adequate."
 
Just adequate? I've been hoping that it would be more "vigorous". "Adequate" conjures up images of....RX350, MDX, ....

Replies to this message:
• markcincinnati (Oct 17, 2007 5:16 am)
  • kyfdx (Oct 17, 2007 8:35 am)
    • markcincinnati (Oct 17, 2007 10:39 am)
• cotmc (Oct 17, 2007 1:14 pm)

Replying to: bodble2 (Oct 16, 2007 7:59 pm)

I was toying with saying "ample" -- but the truth of the matter is, I have driven the 3.0 turbo, and the 260HP non-turbo, nice as it is, isn't quite in the same league.
 
Coupled with the 6 speed auto, the 3.0si's output is "more than adequate."
 
That's about as far as I can take it -- the fact is, the landscape keeps changing and what was once adequate or ample, loses out as technology marches forward.
 
The 2005 225HP X3 with the stick shift was "adequate" at the time -- now, not so much. . . .

Replies to this message:
• kyfdx (Oct 17, 2007 8:35 am)
  • markcincinnati (Oct 17, 2007 10:39 am)

Replying to: markcincinnati (Oct 17, 2007 5:16 am)

Manual tranny X3? How many miles on that puppy?
 
Trading at The BMW Store? That could be my next car..

Replies to this message:
• markcincinnati (Oct 17, 2007 10:39 am)