Late responses here guys, my bad, spent the weekend working on the future mother in-laws house, it never seems to end.
The itch has passed, we haven't even driven one yet but started noticing things missing and different from our 2007. We have this sturdy shelf in the back cargo area about 12" up from the floor, it nearly doubles the cargo capacity, shorter things under it, taller things on top. They removed this from the 4th gen but have added a retractable vinyl cover to conceal your cargo. Um, thats what tint is for, give us the shelf back! Additionally, ours has an extra "glovebox" I guess you could call it a split glovebox, thats gone and for no apparent reason, there is most likely just dead space behind the dash where they could have put one. Not so important, but the rear seats no longer tilt or slide to adjust because they added handles in the trunk that will auto-fold the rear seats, we don't really need that. Lastly, our EX-L Nav has a low console between the front seats, and seat-mounted arm rests. We have two Chihuahua's and what we do is build them somewhat of a pillow "bridge" from the front of the car to the back. The 2015 has a huge/tall center console with a padded armrest on top, this just wouldn't work as well with our pups. Perhaps we can look at a BMW SAV in a few more years, or wait an check out the 5th gen CRV due out either mid 2016 or mid 2017; maybe we'll be better off financially in a few years (one can only hope).
How do they look? I've been given the thumbs up to do the ~$1k of maintenance on the current CRV.
Sorry to hear that, I have two friends with first gen x3's that have had hardly any trouble out of them. Our local dealer has tried to take advantage of my sister a few times, wanting to charge her something like $120 to replace the cabin air filter while she had it in there (with a coupon) to have the brake fluid flushed. Shady. I hope that is not what is actually happening with your friend. Luckily she called me and asked "What does a cabin filter have to do with brake fluid?" Haha, apparently the service advisor turned red in the face at that point and got pissed.
I am, the better half, not so much, I found a first year 2nd gen x3 28i (When it was still the naturally aspirated I6, asking $34k, had 30k on it, and nearly no options). The 2015 CRV Touring ($33,650, most people are paying $31,500) has every option available on the X3 (projectors instead of HIDs though, but this x3 had halogens and of course a 4cyl vs I6), plus a host of safety features that the x3 doesn't have. I know its apples to oranges, but at this point in our life it doesn't make sense to pay more for less. We'll see what is available for comparison in a year or two, perhaps it will make more sense then and/or we'll be in a better financial situation.
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Finally drove mine yesterday for the first time since last Friday, missed her. I had planned to wash her at work last night, but the better half showed up with dinner and a hissing front tire on the CRV, must have just picked up a nail bringing me dinner. That kept me busy for the rest of my shift.