I made the foolish decision to add up my expenses for the X5 today. I purchased the 4.8is in early August, so this is not quite five months of ownership. I am not counting insurance, gas, registration
or my purchase price. This is just repairs and upgrades.
$18,338
That bought me:
- New transmission and a lot of diagnosis/repair on the old one
- New water pump and coolant system
- Control arms, thrust arms, ball joints, four alignments (still off)
- New alternator, ABS modules, battery
- New wheels, TPMS sensors
- Eonon radio and some related upgrades
- A butt-load of small fixes and upgrades/mods
I'll be the first to admit a large part of this cost is labor. I am remodeling my house and have no workspace to speak of. I'm happy to turn a wrench but the complexity of these jobs mixed with working in a wet/sloped driveway made me very popular with the local indy. They gave me a Christmas present.
It also leaves me with my 2017 Todo list:
- [ ] R&R brakes and rotors, paint calipers
- [ ] Diagnose and resolve slow leak in left-front airbag
- [ ] Diagnose mysterious burning oil smell through heater vent
- [ ] Polish/restore headlights
- [ ] Repair side mirror dip/fold issue
- [ ] Misc software mods
- [ ] Paint restoration, leather refresh/deep clean
- [ ] Tow package (maybe)
- [ ] Running boards (maybe)
Including purchase price by the time I'm done I'll have spent as much on the 4.8is as I would buying an E70 X5M. This truck was a very poor financial decision, but that's not why I bought it. I love to drive it, I love taking care of it, I stop and look back at it every time I park. I can't rationally justify the cost at all, but to me it was worth it.