Are these common problems?

[faz]

I am kinda new here, having purchased my 2005 3.0 last Nov. with 42k miles on it. Great site, and I should become a paid member, by the way.

My X5 is still under warranty until February 2nd, so I have to either buy an extended warranty or decide to go without it.

The non-BMW dealer I bought it from had the car serviced at the BMW dealership and they had replaced both front CV boots (covers?) They had also reset the adaptive transmission memory.

After I have had it, I got a second key for it, had the left rear tail light fixed by the dealer.

A couple of times the alarm went off when I used the remote to unlock the car, so I took it in and also told them about the whistling noise I heard from engine.

[edit: I got the 4x4 warning light that came on, so I took the car in for that, and provided the above problems to the dealership as well]
[- steering angle sensor was found faulty and was replaced.]

- A cracked air intake tube was replaced
- the alarm code showed interior motion sensor error, which was ordered and replaced.
- they found a leak at power steering hose and fixed that.


I have had the same alarm scenario happen one more time since then, when it was raining.

I noticed some pixels gone on the radio display unit, and also a slight rattle coming from the engine some early mornings from time to time (colder mornings). I just dropped the car off at the dealer last night and picked it up tonight....
- they replaced the alarm sensor under the hood,
- they noticed rear brakes were gone so they replaced rear rotors/pads/sensor,
- they noticed cracks in the alternator belt and replaced it,
- they found the source of the rattle to be deflection pulley and idler pulley having excessive play, replaced both.
- they replaced the radio display unit

Needless to say, I guess, I am kinda surprised that a California car with abuot 45k miles on it would have all these issues (cracked belt, excessive play in pulley, needing CV boot changes?)... this is my first encounter with BMW (my wife's BMW still has less than 10k miles on it, so that doesn't count.)

Are above mentioned fixes pretty normal for a car of this age/mileage?
Should I be looking at extended warranty? the one being offered is from EasyCare/APCO, and price comes to about $100/month for 2 years for 'full' coverage and 30k miles.

I do most of the maintenance and small repairs myself (changing brakes/spark plugs/ window regulators/etc. will not be a problem.)

Here in the bay area almost everyone and their cousin owns a BMW, so there are plenty of independent shops that have good BMW knowledge with lower cost than dealership (advertising $500 front or rear brake jobs including OEM rotors/pads, for example.)

Any feedback is appreciated.

p.s. I should mention that I am absolutely, 100% in love with this vehicle.... love the way it drives and love the size, looks, etc. etc., and do see myself owning an X5 from this point on... so while I might be disappointed, I truly think this is one of the best overall packages out there.