:xoutpost:

I think it comes down to your bottom line. Most people would advise you to buy as new and low mileage an example as you can afford. If you absolutely can't swing the extra money for the 30,000 mile example then your decision is pretty much made up.

Higher mileage X5's can be very reliable with good maintenance. There are number of 125,000 mile and up X5's we hear about on the site. I would recommend a search here for transmission issues. Some people have had them and some have not but I would have to say that there seems to be not than many replacements.

I have an '02 3.0 with almost 80K miles and aside from a variety of common problems there hasn't been any major mechanical issues. (Knock on wood!) Definitely check out the home page here for background info that will help immensely in your research.

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