Yes I owned the 4.0 d in the prev generation. Never kept the car too long. I found that the steering was too "hard" especially during parking speeds and this was a problem especially for my wife. Then the ride was in my opinion also not the best out there.
I feel bmw has really come a long way especially with this new car. Some people say the shape is almost too similar to the old one but when u drive this u realize the entire car has changed from the ground up. Now you can enjoy the ride comfort and if u want a weighty steering just press sports. I think it's perfect. I always wanted an x5 with the ride comfort of a luxury car. Now I got that. I also test drove the ml and range rover and in my opinion don't stack up to the x5. So there u have it. The dealer that I bought from say they sold 60 last month and there is no stock so that alone says how well the car has been received by the public.