One year and 34,000 miles later...

[ncsucarjock]

Bought the 2004 X5 4.4i a year and two days ago...bought sight unseen in NY, from Habberstad BMW. Flew up, it passed my inspection, and I drove it home to NC.

I honestly bought this vehicle as a stop-gap for two years until the economy and my finances recovered...having come from a 335i, and a 540iT.

Imagine my shock when three months later, I absolutely adored this vehicle. I drive a lot. And whatever I threw at this vehicle, it simply shrugged it off. She's been to ski-slopes, back and forth to Maine, up and down the eastern seaboard. Not too long after she arrived she got a hitch installed from Europe, thanks to my buddy Bram who had one shipped in from the Netherlands. I made my own wiring harness, and installed the brake controller, and we were ready to rock down the road.

I loaded up the trailer (dual axle, 18', trailer brakes), strapped down the Jeep, and took off down the trail to Kentucky for the first big 4 wheeling adventure.

Climbing the hills into the campsite were amusing, my buddies in F250's in 4 low struggling to pull their rigs up the trail, and the BMW quietly idled the 6000# trailer and rig up a treacherous road, around the switchbacks, and into the mountains without issue or hiccup. We even disconnected the trailer and did a bit of soft-core wheeling in the BMW. That was funny, but she's not nearly as competent as the Jeep (no surprise with that though). Drove home after a weekend and was quite impressed with the fuel economy even when towing. 12-13mpg at 75-80mph with a 6000# load. Even ascending in the mountains, I could never make it get lower than 10.2mpg. That's darned respectable for a V8 being dogged. And trust me, it was not spared the throttle.

Soon after, it was time for a new set of tires...the stock Michelins had worn out at 46k miles. On went a set of General Grabber UHPs, as recommended by the Tire Rack. That resulting in significantly more cornering grip, awesome wet weather traction, and slightly more road noise, at half the price of Michelins. Very, very good deal.

Then came all 4 brakes, with EBC Red-stuff pads and rotors, which greatly improved stopping power and brake pedal feel. Very nice, very nice. At the same time since this was around 50k miles, I changed the front and rear diff fluid, tranny fluid, transfer case fluid, air filter, cabin filter, and serpentine belt.

Summer towing couldn't make it miss its stride, and towing my project car around getting it finished was child's play (an '88 Volvo 740 hot rod).

A couple trips up the eastern seaboard, plus some to the beach, numerous ones to Kentucky to visit friends...

In November, it finally went into the dealer for the first time. I"d noticed the transmission was starting to not shift right, hard to describe, but, something wasn't quite right about throttle response. Not all the time, but sometimes. And the drivers door lock actuator was messing up. The dealer kept it a week, and replaced a slightly leaking front axle shaft, and found an internal transmission leak from a seal, and replaced that, as well as the door actuator. It had been 30k miles at this point, with nothing but routine maintenance. Far surpassing all of my other BMW's in terms of service needs, as even the brand new 335i was towed to the dealer 3 times in less than 10k miles. And we wont' speak of the 540...what a nightmare.

December came time for a tire rotation, and they found a nail in the sidewall, resulting in two new rear tires for the beast. A bit premature, they had about 10k miles of life left, but I wasn't willing to just replace one tire.

A few days ago, I noticed a whine, and discovered the leaking power steering lines. Dealer visit is scheduled for Tuesday.

January 4th was the anniversary day, and she was at 64,3xx miles. It's been a great year. This vehicle has handled everything I've thrown at it, from 6" of snow, 6" of mud, 6000# of towing duties, 14 hour days on the road, huge traffic jams, high-speed running, carving corners, looking pretty, and getting dirty. Through all of it, she's never let me down once, and the maintenace costs have been very reasonable. I've got 6 months or 35k miles of CPO coverage left.

This has been an excellent vehicle. The best daily driver I've ever owned. And I cannot believe that 1 year later, I'm absolutely in love with this vehicle, and can't imagine driving anything else. I had the opportunity to drive my old '08 335i coupe the other day, and though it was fun, I was glad to get back into my X5. It's truly the best all around vehicle I've ever owned. I plan on driving it till 200k miles, at which point I'll find a newer Diesel X5 to replace it.

[Quicksilver]

This kind of post belongs in this thread,

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...-x5-today.html

Originally Posted by ncsucarjock

This has been an excellent vehicle. The best daily driver I've ever owned. And I cannot believe that 1 year later, I'm absolutely in love with this vehicle, and can't imagine driving anything else. I had the opportunity to drive my old '08 335i coupe the other day, and though it was fun, I was glad to get back into my X5. It's truly the best all around vehicle I've ever owned. I plan on driving it till 200k miles, at which point I'll find a newer Diesel X5 to replace it.

[X5 Meister]

This kind of post belongs as a sticky. Very very very nice write-up, thanks for taking the time to do it.

[willgabriel]

Originally Posted by X5 Meister

This kind of post belongs as a sticky. Very very very nice write-up, thanks for taking the time to do it.

I agree. I'm keeping my fingers crossed about my transmission on my '05 X5 4.4 (96k miles), but I love it, and can honestly say it has surprised me too. I though I'd keep it for a year or two (just got it in late August of '09), but I'm hooked. Just put a new NAPA Legend 75 battery in today (Master BMW Mechanic who owns his own shop said they were great batteries), and will get new front tires soon. Anyway, thanks again for the great write-up. It reminded me of why I love my X5 too!

[faz]

[RMak]

Awesome write-up! Good to hear people's feel good stories. I too have a 4.4i and nearing the 1 year ownership of it, though i'm not even close to racking up as many miles as you have. I've had some minor gripes, but the driving experience is rewarding.

[anerbe]

This vehicle is truely an anomaly. I think the reason so many people post up issues and wishing for fixes is because they love the vehicle so much.

I didn't give 2 craps of my 06 Grand Cherokee Hemi. It stalled when switching from reverse to drive. Had horrible gear whine, never shifted right from new, creaked like a old victorian house. Brought it in once to the dealer in 27 months to try to fix. They said there's no fix. Besides doing oil changes myself, didn't care about the car.

Whatever, not worried. Why? I didn't care that much about the car. Coudn't wait to turn in the lease to buy the X5.

I drove from Detroit to Chicago with the GC and turned in my lease at a Chrysler dealership near the BMW dealership. Chrysler sales guys asked why not get a great deal on a new Chrysler with lease turn-in. I said I'm not interested at the moment, maybe down the road...my BMW sales guy pulled in to pick me up in a 550 that very moment. The Chrysler guys watched me get into the BMW, and didn't think anything of it until the car turned around and showed the dealer plates.

I wouldn't be posting nearly as much if I didn't love this car - it's the best SUV I've ever owned. Does it seem more troublesome than my other SUV's? YES, x10. How could I love an SUV that gives me so many issues? I don't define a car as people mover that has as little problems as possible. Save that for the Lexus drivers. I see a car as a passionate object that gives me a smile whenever I drive it. The feel. The handling. The looks. The sound. Is it worth the hiccups? You don't see me trading in the car.... (unless this stupid cold start issue never gets fixed )

[motordavid]

Excellent Post, NC!
It is an amazing car!
GL,mD

[c4racer]

wow - that is a lot of miles in 1 year!! More than the PO drove it in 5 years!! Awesome.

I had a 540iT for awhile too. Wife didn't like it all that much, and kept having strange electrical problems, so we sold it after 1 year and 10K miles for $1K less than I paid for it...

I feel the same way as you do about my 2003 4.6is. I bought a higher miles but very well cared for example with the idea I would drive it less than 10K miles per year. So much for that idea - so far we have put 10K miles on it in 6 months. Although 4K of that was getting it to CA from KY, and 2500 or so was unplanned daily use by my wife when her car puked a motor last month. I picked up a new car for her last week, so my 4.6 is back to garage queen status. Although, I really do love driving it a lot, so I am guessing it will continue to see more miles than my original estimate. Great vehicles. Yes - somewhat more costly to maintain, but worth it. Mine needs a new CV boot, so because I am so swamped with other projects right now, I will probably just get the whole shaft replaced by a local indy shop rather than my normal course of action to dig into it myself. I have a motor swap I need to finish for my wife's old Mazda that takes priority of my time.

Anyway - thanks for the story, and motor on.

One more point - this thread is worthless w/o pics. Just sayin...