Quote:
Originally Posted by bmw540san
Well, after 15 years of wrenching on BMW's, I'm ready for the new level of reliable: 2 year old car that has no forum which talks about what's the latest thing broke.
It's pretty bad feeling when you're on your way back from Florida and about 300 miles from home when car decides to die in the middle of interstate with pretty much no warning (throttle body, resolved).
I'm definitely keeping E39's which will give me plenty to wrench.
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Yes the X5 is no where as reliable as the E39s. I love my X5 and will put up with it what comes next (currently waiting for window regulator from ECS) but I have a theory as to why they are not as reliable. The X5 is built in South Carolina and many of the components come from US vendors. The E39 is built out of Germany and many of its components are from German vendors. One example: The X5 E53 has a known evaporator leak that can occur. High failure rate, US Valeo unit. Its a bear and big money to fix if you cannot do it yourself. Valeo is better known as a automotive lighting manufacturer/supplier. The E39 on the other hand rarely has evaporator failures better engineered. Behr makes the Evaporator unit for the E39. They have more experience and know how when it comes to cooling.