Looking to purchase an X5.. Have some concerns

[polonez]

Hi Guys... I have owned a 2003 3 series before and loved it. I currently have a 2007 hummer h3 that I traded my bmw for. I needed a suv because I need to tow a boat I bought recently. IT is a 18 foot boat.. Weight is around 3000lbs The hummer tows the boat really well. (the trailer does not have brakes)
The towing capacity of the hummer is 3500lbs.
Im looking to get a 2004+ x5 3.0 or 4.4.. Im leaning toward the 3.0 because of the manual trans. Better for towing and gas mileage. I do mostly highway driving.
One thing that concerns me is that it says the x5 has high tow capacity of 6000lbs but needs trailer brakes. and 1600 for without trailer brakes??? whats the deal with that? Am I going to be able to tow my boat with the x5 or should I look elsewhere?
thanks guys!

[motordavid]

Here's are two pages chock full of threads about towing experiences...many do it with success.

http://www.xoutpost.com/search.php?searchid=1085370

And, a thread from the middle of that list:
http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e53-forum/...ht=towing+boat

The "Search Tab", 2nd row from top, third tab from right hand margin,
is really pretty useful, but you get a pass for being new to the board.

Give those threads a read...

Imo, though I do not tow, I might skip the 5 spd manual; I have an '01 with manual
and while it's fun/different, it has a stump puller gear in 1st which may be good for
moving off with a load, but the 5th gear is also numerically high and you will see
serious rpms at highway speeds. All of that may be ok for towing; I dunno as I don't tow.

NEway, welcome to the Board; it is a remarkable source of info on Xs and any other topic
and, the membership is first class, imo.
BR,mD

[polonez]

thanks for the quick reply. The stump pulling gears are a good thing for towing. I was more interested in the 6spd manual and the xdrive system thats why I was thinking of getting the 2004+ model.
is the Mileage better on the auto or 4.4i?

[motordavid]

Ah, the 6spd has a bit of an OD 6th, so the highway rpms are
more reasoanable, but the 1-5th gearing is identical to the
ol' 5 spd; thus, you keep that stump puller 1st.

I think you mean 3.0 vs 4.4 on the mpg question; you may get
a litany of reponses on that issue...from memory, the E53 style
car with a 3.0 and 6 Spd should almost always return better mpg
than the V8, at least unladen. The V8 may be more effective
with towing however. Give those theads a read.

[NC_X5_Guy]

I've got a 2001 X5 with the 4.4 v-8. It tows my boat like it isn't back there period. None of my 4.0 liter grand cherokees could tow it worth a flip, and it was even harder to stop it...boat is a 20 foot challenger by sea-doo with the 240 HP Mercury engine, its a pretty heavy boat and a galvanized trailer as well. The trailer does have brakes (they are activated with movement from the tongue) but they aren't the best trailer brakes in the world, but they do give a little assistance. I have never tried the BMW sixer, but my experience with towing is buy the v-8, hard to beat that torque from a v-8 engine.

[LeMansX5]

Check this thread.

[Tomaz]

If your towing I would recommend the 4.4.. The X5 is an excellent tow vehicle.

[polonez]

I can see that this would make a good tow vehicle. The main concern I had was that I was reading threads that anything over 1600lbs needs trailer brakes, which my trailer doesnt have.... is this because the x5 brakes are insufficient?? I wonder what the reason for that statement is. Im just wondering if I can tow my 3000lb boat without the brakes without problems.
Also how does the reliability of the automatic in the 4.4 compare to the 6spd for towing?
I live in vancouver and its pretty hilly here..

[NC_X5_Guy]

Well look at the brakes on a chevy suv or a ford suv, the brakes are a good selling point on an x5 compared to the competition. The x5 weighs in at 5,000 lbs+, so I don't "think" you'll have a problem by any means. You might go thru pads/rotors a little faster than normal, but if it were mine, I'd go for it.

[4MoJoe]

I had trailer brakes added to my Four Winns boat trailer - was about $400 I think. Then added the brake controller to my 2001 3.0 with A/T (with the useful articles on this site) and it worked great. I towed one time when I didn't have this setup and while I could control the braking the distances were pretty long for stopping. If you are in hilly terrain you need the trailer brakes and more so if you run into emergency conditions where you need that braking power. I've not towed with my V8 yet but I know it will be much better than the 6 for pulling grades and I hope will match or beat the mileage of the 6. Around town the 6 was fine but it did significantly affect gas mileage while towing. BTW I tow up hill for about 15 to 20 minutes to get to the launch and so the flipside of that is the return trip (which is almost all downhill) would be scary without the trailer brakes. IMO this isn't an area to skimp in.