BMW X3 Lease Questions

Our 8+ month old 2005 BMW X3 is one of my wife's favorite cars EVER (and she and I combined since 1977 have had 28 Audis and 2 BMW's -- take a deep breath that did include several company cars that were Audis.)
  
She got the 3.0 with the 6spd manual and
  
Premium
Sport
Cold Weather
Sound system upgrade
Bi Xenons
Servotronic
Sat Nav
Sirius
Chrome tail pipe extensions
In car built in/removable Sony Ericsson T637 Bluetooth and mounted phone.
BMW specific (dealer sold) Kleen Wheels
  
And probably a couple other things I forget right now.
  
MSRP including shipping and the three accessories mentioned above ~$47K; we put $250.00 down (for the Servotronic), sec dep and got a 36 month 15K per year lease including tax (state of Ohio) for $581/mo.
  
We custom ordered the car, it took 7 weeks to come in -- black gloss (at the time the bumpers ONLY came in black, now they are body colored) with the Terracotta Leather Sport seats and the light birch wood.
  
We have had the wiper blades changed once, it has over 13,000 miles on it and we have had to add one pint of oil during this period of time. Picked up the car in May 2005, car was built in April 2005. Only other visits to dealer are for weekly free car washes Starbucks and choc chip cookies avail to all customers all day Saturday.
  
I assume there are changes in the 2006's beyond the dressed up bumpers.
  
We thought the vehicle with the 5spd auto was adequately powered as the transmission seemed to hunt a lot (Cincinnati is the city of "7 Hills.") With the 6spd manual it was a blast and the mileage is good (~24 highway around town; in the city ~20; on long trips over 25mpg even with the A/C on.)
  
Regrets: we didn't get the home link transmitter option (didn't know it didn't come with it); we didn't get the privacy glass option (the only one we've seen without it is ours); AND MAYBE the power folding mirrors, but frankly this has never been a problem so for $350 or whatever, we might re think that one.
  
Encourage others to: ORDER the car with SERVOTRONIC it is "only" $250 and it transforms the steering and feeling you get via the wheel. It was here in Cincinnati a sold order option only. Beats me why. The stock sound system is lame. The upgraded system with Sat Radio and the single CD in dash is very nice.
  
It is a BMW -- it is NOT based on a truck. It is NOT really an off road vehicle. It rides higher than a BMW sedan and has a firm suspension. It handles, therefore, like a somewhat taller sport sedan from Germany -- the ride is firm, at slower speeds on a "washboard" surface the sensation can be one of being jostled. This happens, to us here in Pot Hole Central, less than 5% of the time.
  
This is a relatively quiet vehicle, but there is a bit less isolation than in a similar Lexus -- some people love this (my wife) some don't want to hear or feel the road -- hell, some don't even want to see the road. The X3 needs a slight upgrade to the material covering the dash. This has not been and I suspect it will not be a durability issue, it is an appearance issue. It seems to look better in black which hides the coarse pebble grain of the dash.
  
With a high contrast interior, like Terracotta, it is not really too much of an issue, but for $47K you'd think they would take a page out of the book of the 3 series or from an Audi A4 for Pete's sake.
  
Confidence inspiring is what my 50 year old lawyer wife says after 3 Audi TT 225HP coupes and a dozen Audis of various ilks since her first Fox in 1979.
  
She likes being slightly higher off the road and the feeling of the X drive when we have one of those nasty but brief Cincinnati Snowstorms (luckily only 1 this year.)
  
Hope this helps if you are a shopper at this moment in time. The deals, too, seem to be quite good as the residual (subvented or not, who cares?) on these cars seems impressive.
  
Drive it like you live.
  
 

Replies to this message:
• Car_man (Jan 19, 2006 3:32 am)

Replying to: markcincinnati (Jan 17, 2006 1:45 pm)

Thanks for taking the time to post such a detailed message about your lease, markcincinnati. I'm amazed that you've had over 28 Audis . What made you switch to BMW? Did you just get sick of them or did you get a bad one?
 
Car_man
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Replies to this message:
• Car_man (Feb 09, 2006 2:51 am)
  • mnovodvor (Feb 09, 2006 5:37 am)
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    • Car_man (Mar 07, 2006 5:01 am)
• dookie83 (May 11, 2006 2:00 pm)

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• mariab (Feb 05, 2006 4:49 pm)
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• Car_man (Feb 09, 2006 2:57 am)

Replying to: fogdogpd (Feb 05, 2006 9:35 am)

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• Car_man (Feb 09, 2006 3:01 am)

Replying to: fogdogpd (Feb 05, 2006 9:35 am)

Replying to: mnovodvor (Jan 24, 2006 8:33 pm)

Replies to this message:
• mnovodvor (Feb 09, 2006 5:37 am)
  • kyfdx (Feb 09, 2006 8:09 am)
• jjota (Mar 05, 2006 6:03 pm)
  • Car_man (Mar 07, 2006 5:01 am)

Replying to: fogdogpd (Feb 05, 2006 9:35 am)

Replying to: mariab (Feb 05, 2006 4:49 pm)

Replying to: Car_man (Feb 09, 2006 2:51 am)

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• kyfdx (Feb 09, 2006 8:09 am)