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Originally Posted by tmv
E53 X5 has aged quite well, IMO. The drive is still solid 15yrs later. The M54 engine is reliable too.
Transmission issue is rather case isolated. We can't tell when one will failed. If you're getting one in 100-110 k miles range, at least do a tranny fluid drain and refill a couple times to get as much new fluid in there as possible.
With your experience in working on bimmers in this era and the wife's support, I would say: go for it.
Good luck.
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This sounds a little more promising. Again, just going back to my reading, it seems folks had transmission issues after replacing the fluid. Some seemed to abide by the BMW lifetime fluid and the "don't fix it unless it's broken" attitude, and others seems to religiously replace the fluid on a quite frequent basis. I'm used to manual transmissions so these automatics are foreign to me. I'll keep reading up.
Also, FWIW, I'd like to only spend about $1-1.5k annually on maintenance. Again, assuming I'm doing most work myself. A $4k transmission would be brutal.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by dannyzabolotny
It's a shame you're limiting yourself to only a 3.0, the V8 X5's are so much fun, especially the 4.6 and 4.8. Though I'm sure it'll be fine if it's mostly for your wife.
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Truth be told I'd love to go out hunting for a 4.8is. I'd like though to be able to share parts and knowledge with my current M54 330. I'm not ready to dive into the world of German V8s just yet
