I found my 2002 X5 3.0 on eBay after carefully searching for about three months. I wanted the six cylinder, with the premium and cold weather options. Additionally, it had to be a southern, but non-hurricane impacted vehicle if possible. I was fortunate to find a lease return from North Carolina with 53,000 miles on it. All the service records were intact with BMW and there were no instances of flooding in the county it was registered in or in the CARFAX records either. I picked it up in Houston from the broker who accepted my bid of $23,800. It was almost eight grand under book at the time, but the broker didn't have much invested since the lessee paid a hefty premium for racking up an extra 5000 miles on his contract.

In the first ten thousand miles, I replaced both front axles, and all pads and rotors going to Akebono pads and Brembo rotors. There's more than 180,000 miles on those rotors now with no measurable wear. The FSR, and expansion tank, and alternator were replaced during the next 50,000 miles along with two window regulators. Then the fun started!

The front driveshaft splines and transfer case went out at 136,000 miles. It was $4200 repair, employing a used transfer case, and pretty much took me to the point as if I had paid book for the vehicle when I bought it in 2006. But still, I figured I had just netted out and now had a vehicle with a solid drive train.

I've replaced the other two window regulators since then, the driver's door handle carrier and lock cylinder, another FSR, another expansion tank, and the thermostat. Everything else has been routine such as belts and hoses.

In the end, the annual repair costs have been less than half the cost of what my payments were, so I'll bank the difference as a down payment, and run this one until the wheels fall off! I do have some concern that I'll lose the front driveshaft again, but nothing else drives like it!

2002 X5 3.0 248,353 miles
2004 325i 110,000 miles