[ken_xman]

I had a very similar BMW the 04 530i... same body. The I drive is kinda cool when you get used to it. It was pretty reliable until about 140k miles, then it seemed to come apart. My wife used it as a 120 mile daily commuter here in NY and was fine with the Conti Extreme tires on the rear wheel drive chassis. I sold it because it needed brakes, rotors, broken front spring, bad steering rack, was starting to use oil, and resetting the electronic warnings for no real problem was becoming a pain in the butt.
As mentioned in a earlier posting the Mercedes E350 4Matic. We bought one for her as a replacement to the Beemer. Its an 08 had it for a year and a half and its has had no problems. Bought it with 32k miles for $33k. Its a white sport model with the all glass panarama roof. It really looks cool, drives really nice, and goes through anything you can put infront of it for snow. As fyi- I also put on the conti extreme tires on this car too.
I should say I am currently driving a modified lifted 4 door rubicon, on 35"tires, so I have an aversion to getting stuck in the snow to begin with.
As Background I have had an X5, 3-530's, S600, and a 300SE.. and know benz and beemer products pretty well.

I would say the best car for the money right now on the used market is a Benz E350, and would buy another in a minute if something happened to my wifes.