2001 BMW X5 Frustrations

[Meiac09]

I would sell, and then look into something newer that is CPO!!!

[BlackE32_SilverE53]

I must say you all scare the hell out of me.... I have a 2001 4.4i Sport just a few hundred miles short of 100k. Not my daily driver because I have my bike and a 94 740iL, but in the last 5 months I have put over 15K on the X alone. I have not had any major repairs with my X. I know I have to change one of my CV boots because while I was changing my oil I noticed that one of the boots was missing a clamp. So I ordered both front axels and will replace both as soon as they arrive. But So far my X has been a dream, same goe with my 740... I have 300K on it and still on the original trans, now I did change almost my entire front suspension on that car, but only because a few rods did not look good while I was under it changing the oil so I just did an overhaul on it to prevent damage to anything.

But I agree with the others that say, since you have made all the major repairs, now you should start enjoying your X.... Just pray I dont get hit with all these problems at once

[Dannyell]

Duke i've done most of the repairs you have DYIs except replacing tranny, but I replaced engine...I have the car paid off...but If i sell it know I would loose even more...so for me its all about maintaining it as long as i can at this point...

[klnteg]

I am in the very same position with out the transmission replacement. I am worried everytime I drive it now! I find it very sad when you put out a large amount of money for a "quality name brand vehicle like BMW" and then it nickle and dimes you to death! I am sure there are many quality cars that BMW make. But when a quality car is outfitted with every option available to man or women, what good is it when it lacks the most important thing of all (reliability) I have a 94 jeep Grand cherokee and far surpasses the bmw in reliability.

Dukediablo: Good luck with whatever way you choose to go! listen to your wife she knows best.

[Weasel]

Originally Posted by klnteg

I am in the very same position with out the transmission replacement. I am worried everytime I drive it now! I find it very sad when you put out a large amount of money for a "quality name brand vehicle like BMW" and then it nickle and dimes you to death! I am sure there are many quality cars that BMW make. But when a quality car is outfitted with every option available to man or women, what good is it when it lacks the most important thing of all (reliability) I have a 94 jeep Grand cherokee and far surpasses the bmw in reliability.

Dukediablo: Good luck with whatever way you choose to go! listen to your wife she knows best.

The only thing with a vehicle that has all the options known to man is that there is THAT much more than any other vehicle that can go wrong. But it is all of those options, when working properly, that make it what it is!

[X5Flyboy]

I've had my 2001 X5 Sport since June, 2005

post-buy inspection replaced FSR, blown speakers, 1 slightly bent control arm, 2 hoses behind the engine, and a window regulator that failed on the trip back from picking it up, and I had the battery replaced

since then I've replaced the rear hatch lock/light assy, virtually all the exterior light bulbs, the windshield, 1 fuel sending unit, just did all 4 brakes/rotors at 93K, just replaced the Diamaris it came with at 91K, BMW replaced the instrument cluster for labor only ($115), BMW also fixed the taillight short, replaced the caution light/master door lock switch assy ($42), the coolant tank was replaced by previous owner, I also replaced the water pump/thermostat at 61K since it typically fails sometime between 60K to 80K miles (a couple less, a few last longer)..., 1 camshaft sensor also

the driver's door lock sticks occassionaly, door locks will sometimes freeze up in very cold conditions and not work untill frozen section warms up

I've never had to fix anything a second time, tranny still works great, mileage is 15-17mpg around town and 19-20mpg hwy, though I have gotten as high as 22.7mpg, I always ride as much as possible with the windows down to exercise the window regulators and it actually rides quieter, with less breeze with all the windows down (vs front windows only), I have not had to replace another window regulator in over 3.5yrs & 50,000 miles

for an 8yr old car (12/00 build date), it has no rust, rides great, and I love it. like I stated earlier, once I've had something fixed, it's stayed fixed. I can only hope yours does the same.

[E61Silver]

My first reaction was to sell it but considering all the work you have done I think keeping it might make more sense. Nothing stopping these cars from going 200,000 miles plus and you will not get much for it if you sell it.

[ZsX5o3]

I would have to say you should keep it as well. It sounds to me like you bought the car right around the mileage that all of that maintenance work needed to be done, so I'm not surprised by any of it. Aside from the transmission, which is a toss up.

If you now have a warranty on your transmission I'd drive it into the ground.

[bklynbm]

you will not get much for the X5...less than $10k..if you want to know what you will get KBB is a waste of time because the dealers don't use that. They use Galves because that will tell them what a specific vehicle went for at the dealer auction that week if not that day...they don't care what Edmunds or KBB says.

Personally my 3.0 is my wife's car and it hasn't been without issues, it's paid for and this summer I was told by a dealer they would give me $8k-$10k and the car had 88k on it with the sport pkg, cold weather pkg and the premium pkg.

[DukeDiablo]

Thanks for all the replies.

The Wife and I actually started looking around at some Dealers just for fun, since I managed to fix the "reported" leaking power steering lines and get an inspection.

We checked out quite a few SUV's from the Hyundai's, Kia's, Chevys, Jeeps, Toyota's, and Subaru's... but none of them really interested us that much. The new Cherokee was pretty nice looking but we haven't gone for a test drive.

One dealer offered me $11,000 which I was shocked at, but I guess happy. I'm still going to give Private Sale a try first and I may wait until the Spring now. That way I'll have enough time to fix the "Bank 1 Too Lean" issue and make sure it's ready for sale.

Thanks again for all the help and advice and yall have a good one. Oh and I got the X5 washed, waxed, and detailed yesterday and even the Wife said she is really going to miss it when it's gone. The warranty is up on the transmission in June 2009, so I'm guessing we'll want to find something else before that comes to pass.