Is the E53 4.4i really that bad?

[edogg]

I've had mine for 2 years now and love it. I've put about 20k miles on mine in that time and had about $7000 worth of repairs (so glad I bought the warranty). Even with that, if I were to do it over again, I'd choose the 4.4i over the 3.0i for the V8 grunt. Or instead of an X5, I'd go with a used E39 or E60 530i or a new Passat or Accord.

The one you found sounds worthy of spending $300 to have an independent shop inspect it.

The oil you found could indicate any number of things. A leaky oil pan gasket, leaky alternator seal, leaky oil filter housing, or simply spilling some oil during a change (some dealers will do an oil change when they get a vehicle). It could be a problem or it could be nothing.

A major thing to be aware of is the valve stem seals, which is unique to the N62 engine used in the 2004-2006 models. Warm the car up on a test drive. Then let it idle for 5-10 minutes like you're sitting in a drive through. Then have your wife get back in and drive away (or just hit the gas while in park) while you watch for smoke in the exhaust. If there's smoke, that's a $4000-5000 repair to do it right. Or some oil additives to swell the seals back up. Thankfully, my warranty covered this.

Some things I've done are below, most of them could happen to any car. And most of them were covered under warranty

Valve stem seals (unique to 4.4)
Mechatronic sleeve (unique to the ZF tranny in the 4.4) + services the tranny
Alternator
Transfer case motor
Oil pan gasket
Passenger side mirror motor
Lower control arm bushings
Pulleys and belt tensioners
CCV valves
Driver door handle carrier