Sell my X5 or drive it into the ground?

[davesx5]

babyduke
You are in the same situation as the previous owner of my X5. He put money in it for years, until he had enough. So as with any car when the miles and years go on, you either have to be able to make your own repairs or have the money to pay someone. So if you like the car, keep it. And if you want to sell, call me.

[mam4.6]

I have no intention of ever selling mine. I think I paid a fair price for a vehicle that I really wanted, will always enjoy owning and enjoy driving very much. In all reality, how far will the money you sell it for go towards a new vehicle? If you don't have the money to keep it up, but love your X, look at it as a project, let it set in the garage and work to keep it in tip-top shape as funds allow, and buy another daily. On the other hand, I believe in having vehicles paid in full, with the exception of business vehicles that make you money. So, ultimately, the decision is yours, according to your individual situation...

[babyduke]

I don't DIY but have a reliable mechanic who's taken care of me well for years. But he's not a bimmer specialist and often takes trial and error to figure some things out. Plus if he ever retires which won't be long, I'm screwed.

[kevinkay]

IMO, If you lost trust in the car you should move on.

170k+ on my 04, 3.0 and with proactive maintenance and about $7 thousand since warrantee ran out (doing all work myself), my car has never left me stranded and i still have trust.

[Clockwork]

what do you think you could get for it in a sale? these are a DIME A DOZEN vehicle so you will get nothing useful. at best you can afford an OLDER used (obviously) honda accord/toyota camry. If you're looking at buying new, then you're back to having a monthly car payment/loan payment.
Choose wisely.

[squidzilla]

You have done most of the big stuff. If you want you can replace the alternator and voltage regulator now and get that over with. Do your battery if it is 5 years or older.

Same with the fuel filter and fuel pump. Again, at your mileage those things are hit and miss.

If you had a Honda or something as a daily you could do all of this stuff very slowly. Between detailed forums posts and you tube I think anyone can learn to DIY if you have the time. Harbor Freight gets you good tools cheap.

As the original owner I would feel best about doing those things to the car since I know all of its history. Most of us, even with service records, are left in the dark to a degree.

[StephenVA]

I think we all have beaten this topic to death already.

There are lots of choices with vehicle purchases- New Vs Used? Warranty VS None? Own vs Lease? DIY vs $$$ and on and on. Everyonegets to make choices. Most on this forum tend to make SMART choices by DIY to reduce cost of ownership and to improve reliability on 10+ year old performance SAV.
If you plan it right most of these vehicles will go way passed 150,000/15 years and still look good and get remarks that start with "Is that New?"
DIY, learn from the forum = happy owners
Give your repair shop of choice $$$ (Dealer add 40%)when something happens will usually make you great friend of the shop owners, but not much else.

DIY and drive until there is nothing left. That will be ROI.

[Qsilver7]

I got lost on the comments about the inability to get through winter???? I can only assume that those that live around the Great Lakes area and can't get through a winter...are running all season tires instead of dedicated snow/ice tires.

Based on my winter driving experience with my 06 X5 and the Michelin X-Ice xi2 winter tires that get mounted in the winter...I just can't comprehend an X5 having the difficulty that was suggested in some of the earlier threads.

When my snow blower broke its belt this past winter after only cleaning off about 5 feet in front of the garage...the X5 backed out of the garage into the snow filled driveway and onto & down the street with about 20" of unplowed snow without a hiccup. Then when the ice storms or freezing rain comes and puts a nice glaze on the road or on top of the piled up snow...again, if driving properly for the conditions...there still wasn't slipping and sliding...in fact, you could feel the thousands of sipes in the tires grabbing when accelerating and while stopping and turning.

Those that do have snow tires and still have issues...then perhaps you have the wrong type of snow tires for your winter conditions (performance snows instead of snow/ice tires)...or it's time to replace them because the threads have gotten too low.

[Joshdub]

I don't understand those guys either. I bought mine specifically for winter. Now that it is getting nicer, I only really drive the X5 when taking the dog somewhere or I need the space (which is almost never).

As far as buying another used car for more "reliability", the devil you know is better than the devil you don't. Chances are that used car is going to need its own version of everything you already did to your current car. Not to mention the bore factor of a Honda/Toyota. I'd rather buy a nice bycicle.

[X5rolls]

I love my X5 and also have alternative transportation even for the snow if I need it. BUT.. this is a vehicle that I won't own outside of a comprehensive warranty. I purchased one before it hit the 50k mileage mark, ending factory warranty. Got a very good (and expensive one) that covers nearly everything, bumper to bumper and has a $0 deductible. Everytime something goes wrong that I can't quickly and cheaply fix, I take it to my dealer, they toss me the keys to a brand new BMW and call me when it is ready. There have been a few items here and there that have not been covered but the warranty has paid for itself 5-6 times over. I'm running out of that one in 8k miles or in Sept - whichever is first - I've investigated another warranty, from the dealer and while not cheap, provides me with another 3 years and 36k miles - $0 deductible and the tossing of new keys anytime I take it there.

I never want to get rid of my X5, I love it so much.

Please consider going that route - some dealers may even offer financing of the warranty. You can also negotiate the price - I got a very good discount by being patient, doing my homework, reading ALL the fine print and being ready and willing to walk if I didn't get the price range I wanted. Do it in person when you get to the end - FI people can deal. Good luck.