[purdyawesome]

First post in the X5 forum - quick background:
I bought a 2011 X5 Premium - black on black, 35xi
We leased it, and decided to sell it to close friends when lease was up. We bought a 2013 MB GL 450. Liked it, didn't love it. Was huge, and cursed (long story). My wife missed her X5! So 7 weeks ago, we traded it in at the BMW dealer for close to an even swap for a demo 2014 X5 35xi - sophisto grey, cold weather, soft close doors, comfort access, etc etc - standard trim. She's happy. I would have probably ordered one in m-sport with a bit different equipment if I had not been concerned with keeping it as close to an "even swap" as I could with the GL - already took a giant bath on that trade-in... So here we are! I love the X5. It has a great engine, great transmission, wonderfully comfortable - but I gotta BEEF!

The X5 HAS GONE SOFT! Perhaps I should have looked into this more before trading, and I'm embarresed to say I didn't notice, but here are my gripes:

1. No more tire stagger? My 2011 had 19's that looked sporty and aggressive, and had big beefy rear tires. The 18's on my new X5 look very-- I dunno, "Equinox-like".
2. I miss the matte black shadowline trim around the windows.
3. The stance is BRUTAL - tires are really pushed in and don't come close to filling the wheel well. It's like the body is sitting on a 3 series chassis.
4. The wheel gap is huge! It looks like my GL when I raised the suspension for additional clearance - is this necessary?
5. The steering wheel is GARBAGE. It's flimsy, cheap, really thin, and the center piece is big and super ugly. It gets HOT with the heated steering wheel function enabled.
6. The electric steering is sooooo light and wimpy. When switching to sport mode, couldn't they make the steering firm up to recreate the feel of the 2011? Or at least close?

Okay - I feel better! Sorry my first post over here was to bitch and moan, but I felt like my 2011 sat fat and low - with an aggressive stance, awesome steering, sporty exterior trim, great steering wheel. Are these all things that I overlooked when buying the "standard trim" X5? I realize much of this is different on the m-sport model, but geez! Truthfully I found the different trim offerings as kind of confusing and over-complicated when I was using the BMWNA website configurator and I must have missed a lot.

Does anyone share my disappointment with the standard trim, and has anyone done anything about it? Spacers? New wheels? Suspension drop? Upgraded steering wheel?? Thoughts?