Started a thread about changing the white CX-7 we had more than a year, and we returned the leased 2007 vehicle, and swapped it for a 2009 model, before the face lift. Had it for over one year now, but it only travelled 6500 Km so far.
The white wheels, and a new set Toyo’s summer and 3 year old Toyo’s winters were from the previous CX-7. The BS oem tires only lasted 2 summers and less than 25,000Kms.
After 8 years of winter service, the 1990 325ix is showing some wear & tear. The steering rack is leaking power fluid, about 1/4 L a month, and locks, front passenger, 2 rear doors, and trunk, will not fully close and lock when temperature is below -20C. Don’t really want to sell it, want to repair it, with used parts, and DIY. In the mean time, want something else, and very different.
Enter the 2004 GMC Sierra 2500, 6.0L V8, 4WD, and towing capability up to 10,000LBs. One owner, full service record, all receipts, even the original window sticker.
My brother swapped his 528xi for a 2011 X6, with 3.0L TT and 8 speed. Taken care of it for him while he is in China for business for a couple of months.
Love the smoothness of the drive train combo, silkiest auto shifter driven. Heavy steering, firm ride, and tank like presence travelling on the highway. Rear visibility is rather poor, with a car the size of a Ford Focus, can only see the top of its windshield when it is behind at a light. With a full size van behind, its windshield than can be seen thru the rearview mirror. No standard backup camera, just sensors and a beeper.
The gauges in the dash is traditional, a lot of similarity to my E30, but the dials and numbers area bit on the small side. The paddle shifter on the steering is not really needed with this drivetrain, the parking brake button’ up/down function is rather video game like. The steering has a small ‘dead center’ feel, wiggle it a bit at speed, the car has no responds, un-BMW like, in my experience anyway. Suspension setup is firm, soaks up bumps nicely. The X6 is a very heavy vehicle, and BMW hide its weight rather well. However, in doing so, some of the road feed back is isolated and eliminated, so the driver doesn’t have a true sense of the actual road grip.
My favourite thing out of the X6 is actually the iDrive, and I really like using it. Don’t think a person need to read the user manual page by page to use it, its functions and controls are very logical and straight forward. I had more difficulty trying to open the glove box and center console.
