I had an early morning trip to the dealer to drop off my car. The reason is in another thread....

It did provide me a chance to see the E90 in person for the first time, a good look at a 6 series hard top and convertable, see an M3 CSL, and drive an X5 (loaner)

I'll start with the easy ones...

M3 CSL: This one was Black/Black. In the small showroom at my dealer it held a presence over the Z4s, 6ers, and single E90 that just screamed, "look at me!" It drew me in across the room like a black hole. What a beautiful car. It was furthest from where I entered the room, yet I didn't even know what else was there until I had walked all the way around the car almost twice!

6ers: One was a white convertible, the other a black hardtop. Neither had a sticker and both had been debadged (I assume both were already sold) The exterior of the hard top is starting to grow on me, but I still give the interior a I'm just not there yet.

E90: I am starting to convert The car is much better looking in person than the pictures. The one at the dealer was already sold and thus locked up. It was the only E90 on the lot I have finaly come to terms with the exterior, but do not like the red blinkers. The interior didn't look to bad in person, but since I couldn't get in I couldn't judge the quality of materials. It isn't as driver friendly as the E46/36, but still not bad.

X5: For the life of me, I can't get comfortable in this vehicle. I like the looks inside and out and it drives very well for sitting so high up in the air, but I just can't get the seating position right. To me it is too car-like. When driving a large SUV (I own one myself) I like a very high, upright seating position for visibility reasons (I have been told running into things is a bad idea ) but I just can't seem to adjust the steering wheel and seat to get me where I want to be. I don't like the step tranny, but have griped about that before in other BMW's. The 5 second lag in shifts is anoying. This model also seems to have a really odd gas peddal. It is not linear in the least. You gently push down the gas and nothing...nothing...suddenly you hit a magical pedal position and suddenly ZOOM! your off to the races. Very unnerving in traffic. It must be the throttle by wire I'm glad my old E46 doesn't have it.

There..my 2c if anyone cares.