Not much, cause high mileage (150k) German car:

Loyalty and rewards programs are supposed to keep butts in seats and increase profit for the company. Since the seats are already filled and/or the rewards won’t cause them to be filled (in the case of reduced business travel), what’s the benefit to the company for offering them?

Results may vary. My high mileage modern BMW  has been no more or less reliable than any other high mileage car. 

Vanity? Likely vanity. 

Headlights are LEDs now (or at least will need to be in order to be adaptive) so a bulb burning out shouldn’t be quite an issue.

They’re competent cars now, sure. But…desirable? Something someone would pay EXTRA for? I don’t get it. They’re fine but I don’t understand the passion. Would be like someone lusting for a CRV or whatever. 

I have thoughts, but the biggest of them is the hilarious juxtaposition of the “You May Also Like…” suggestion being the story about Aaron Rodgers and how I didn’t realize at first that it wasn’t a photo of Jake Gyllenhaal. Would make for an interesting casting in a biopic…

The last year or so has shown that…for some reason…Kia is now a “desirable” brand for some people.  Between the markups here and the ridiculousness that is the Telluride, I think I’m in an alternate dimension. 

Along with this - what annoys me is how many “dealer installed options” are stuck on without the customer getting a say. Oh, you can’t do anything about the $50 license plate frame or $300 all-weather floor mats because it’s on the Window Sticker? Eff off. 

Destination is right there on the window sticker. Most people just don’t look / care / feel like they can do anything about it. A majority of folks shop based on monthly payment. 

Most people only fully insure the car if they plan on driving it.  So drop a car down to minimum coverage and mark it “stored”, update your insurance before you drive it to normal coverage, then drop it down again when it goes back into storage. Annoying, but can save you a ton. Although yeah, it’s still not cheap. 

It’s entirely possible that he didn’t even know he was turning over a railroad crossing, or didn’t realize it was unprotected with no lights or guards. Train was probably going 50mph or so and driver would have been much slower on that dirt road, so it would have come up on him fast. If he was looking at directions or…

When I was in college, they’d give you a free Turkey or lasagna with only $100 in spending. Between me, my gf, and three other roommates plus our parents I think we had free food for like six months. Got real tired of eating frozen lasagna though.

The real kick in the ass is that the X5M is the enthusiast’s wet dream if you must drive a SUV and is a downright “bargain” in its space, when compared to, say, a RRS. Someone just pissed in Erik’s cornflakes today. 

I’m curious, why do you think that? I’m getting Bronco Sport vibes from the front end, and the rear just looks like every Nissan SUV from the 90s.  Side profile is SG Subaru Forester. I’d say the design language on this was ahead of its time.

This is fun! The gray Mercedes ML(? Might be a GLS) SUV in the first pic, and whatever that blue hearse-looking one is in the second photo. 

Well. Different strokes etc. Under the skirt they’re the same 😆

Does the RRS / SVR of that generation share the 5.0l AJ-V8 that was in the Disco 4? I love that engine even if it’s finicky. 

Came here to post a X5M, but yeah basically the same deal. They’re easy to work on yourself (relatively) and BMW has a massive user support network. 

In general all of the luxury badges now are meh, with BMW being the least meh. Mercedes? Nice interior but boring engagement. Lexus? Outdated interior with even more boring engagement. Audi? The worst perceived reliability and too overwhelming for older buyers. BMW hits the mark of “good enough” for all boxes.