X5 ownership a few months in

[JBF]

After a few months of X5 ownership (late 2004 3.0d Sport) I thought it about time that I posted an update of my ownership experience thus far. I have been lurking on/off since buying the car but haven't had time to post on issues I've experienced as it would have been a full time job! Here is a summary of the issues I've either had resolved, are still ongoing or have only recently appeared:

Coolant leak - resolved - noticed a coolant leak from around the cap a few days after picking up the car. Cleaned cap and surrounding area, topped up coolant and reported to supplying dealers. They arranged for local dealers to pressure test system which came back ok and confirmed cap must have been loose.

Washer reservoir cap missing - resolved - reported to supplying dealer but replaced myself at a cost of £1.49 as I didn't want the hassle of booking it in.

Weak handbrake action / grinding from rear wheel - resolved - from day 1 handbrake was very weak which I reported to the supplying dealer and was told is normal, heavy car etc. When the weather picked up and I had the window open more often I noticed a grinding noise coming from the rear wheel at low speed, while in car parks etc. Local dealer investigated and advised the rear discs, drums, pads and shoes needed replacement due to excessive corrosion. Not covered under warranty. Supplying dealer said that all AUC inspections were passed so as far as they were concerned it was not their problem. I pointed out that the coolant leak, missing washer cap and my complaint about the weak handbrake did not give me confidence that the AUC inspection was carried out properly. Local dealer backed me up by saying that the level of corrosion present would have taken a long time to happen and should have been apparent at the time I brought the vehicle. After being avoided by the supplying dealer's sales manager for a few days I placed a call to the dealer principle, was somehow mistakenly transferred to the sales manager and it was promptly agreed that they would pay the local dealer to carry out the work. Noise has not repeated since.

Click through steering - resolved - clicking felt through the steering wheel around centre point while driving round town with constant steering input left/right. Steering column bearings replaced by local dealer under warranty.

Missing AUX heating remote - almost resolved - factory AUX heating remote was part of factory spec but not present when I picked up the car. Supplying dealer said they were in the process of getting it from the previous owner and would send it on. Months of chasing and they finally supplied me with a new remote at their own cost (over £300) as the previous owner could not produce the original. Received it in the post last week. Needs to be initialised/paired by local dealer next time the car is booked in.

Play felt through steering - ongoing - occasionally feel a light clunk or slack being taken up in suspension/steering. Felt when accelerating or braking with steering input. Up/down hill seems to encourage this. Most often feel it when negotiating a roundabout, shifting weight of car from one side to the other. Hard to reproduce and is quite subtle so an engineer would have to drive the car every day for a few weeks to pick up on it. Reported this at the same time as the clicking but dealer said they could not reproduce. Would appreciate any pointers on the potential cause and ways I could demonstrate it next time I book the car in at the dealers. Bear in mind I don't currently have a locking nut key so can't take the wheel off to inspect the suspension. This may or may not be related but I think I've started to notice a slight wobble through the steering wheel at 55-65 on certain road surfaces, more apparent when on a wide sweeping bend. It is very slight so I may be imagining it!

Intermittent PDC - ongoing - had one front and one rear sensor replaced by local dealer under warranty a few weeks after getting the car as PDC would intermittently stop working. Has started happening again over the past week so will need to have this looked at again when I book in next.

No locking nut - ongoing - anti-theft locking nut key not present. Local dealer was arranging with supplying dealer to have replacement key supplied. Have not been updated on this so will need to chase it again.

Flickering tailgate interior light - ongoing - the interior lights in the upper tailgate flicker on/off every few minutes if the boot is open for a while. Bit irritating and shouldn't happen. Reported to dealers last time it was in and they said it couldn't be reproduced. Will demonstrate it next time the car is booked in.

Squeak when gearbox changes from 3rd to 4th - new issue - I get a funny squeak when the auto box changes from 3rd to 4th. I've noticed this since the car was in to have the rear brakes and steering column bearings replaced. Doesn't always happen, loudness of the squeak seems to be related to level of acceleration. Can often be reproduced by going in to manual mode and accelerating briskly in 3rd, changing to 4th above 3k rpm. Will tell the dealer about this next time it's booked in.

Self levelling suspension inactive message on dash - new issue - had this message come up on the dash a few weeks ago. It persisted over a couple of restarts but disappeared that evening and hasn't come back. Will tell the dealer next time it's in.

4x4 warning light on - new issue - the 4x4 warning light came on a few weeks ago while I was coming back from a weekend camping in New Forest. Persisted despite a couple of restarts while sitting in traffic. Disappeared after I stopped for coffee on the motorway 20 miles later. I had a bike rack fitted carrying two mountain bikes but I don't think that is relevant as I've used the rack several times since and not had the warning light come on.

Blue bars over TV picture with AUX vent/heat active - new issue - Blue bars appear over TV picture if AUX heating or vent are turned on. Not mentioned this to the dealers yet but will have it looked at under warranty when next booked in.

Lurch & Inappropriate downshift - new issue - when the gearbox is in a good mood it's silky smooth but when it's in a bad one it's horrible. Sometimes revs excessively - more so than when in Sport mode. At low speed it will occasionally catapult in to the next gear which is very disconcerting when in slow moving traffic; now leave lots of space in front of me. The worst symptom is when driving down a reasonable incline. The slightest touch of the brakes to stop the car speeding up causes it to aggressively downshift revving the engine up at 4k and rapidly slowing the car. Feels like it shifts down two gears. I'm surprised I haven't had someone rear-end me yet because of this. Have tried the gearbox reset trick and it seems to have an effect but doesn't last long. Haven't mentioned this to the dealers yet as I was having other issues resolved, will be top of the list next time it's booked in.

Excessive smoking under load - new issue - now I expect a little bit of smoke from a diesel but this seems excessive. Can't really be noticed in the day but is very apparent at night with clouds of smoke lit up by headlights of the cars behind. Only happens under load - accelerating heavily, uphill or on the motorway (accelerating on entry ramp or overtaking). It's so heavy sometimes that I can see the cars behind put their wipers on or change lane to get out of it. If there was a police car behind me I'm sure I'd get pulled over and told about it. Fuel consumption seems fine and I can't see any loose hoses under the bonnet. Doesn't really happen pootling around town. On one of my regular routes there is a narrow country lane, uphill with walls lining both sides of the road. With the window open I notice quite a loud sucking / roar so am thinking this could be a cracked inlet manifold, any opinions? I also notice that the turbo whine is very audible most of the time if the window is open. That's not really a problem but my pervious diesel, an 06 VW 1.9TDI owned from new, hardly made any turbo noise at all. Will mention this to dealer next time the car is booked in.


I have a few other minor annoyances:

Loose mudflaps - front mudflaps are a bit loose. There are some white plastic rivets in the back of the mud flaps which clip in to holes on the running board, these don't hold. I can see there has been some black silicon sealant applied to try and hold them on but they have come loose in the hot weather. Did mention this to the dealer last time it was in but they didn't do anything about it. I brought some replacement clips from the parts counter for a few pence and replaced them. they still don't hold, the problem is that the holes in the running boards have become enlarged so the clip won't stay in. This isn't a major issue and I'm not sure it's worth pursuing, depends whether it would be covered under warranty as I guess the running boards would need replacement.

Missing running board rubbers - dam things seem to go missing on the drivers side where I get in/out. Brought 10 of them from the parts desk so always have a few spare ones when I notice one has popped out. Annoying though.

Passenger mirror does not always return to proper position after reverse/dip - not a big deal and doesn't happen often. Not worth asking the dealer to look at it as there's no way I can reproduce it on demand.

Window seals perishing - bit annoying as leaves streaks on the windows. Will mention to dealers next time it's in but I wouldn't expect them to be covered under warranty. Might look for a DIY guide for replacing these.

Hiss from front shock - notice a hiss from front shock when going over speed bumps with the window open (slowly). I think this is normal but I'm not sure. I seem to get a lot of back/forwards wobble when coming to a stop, could it be the shocks need replacing?


Overall I am happy with the car in that it does what I want it to do and is much more useful that the Boxster, even if it isn't as much fun to drive.

I do however think it's a disgrace that a £17k car from a main dealers with a clean history and low mileage should suffer from so many issues in such a short time. Trawling over various BMW forums none of these issues appear to be rare one-offs. If I had brought the car privately then I would have already forked out quite a bit of cash and probably would have changed car for another brand by now. The BMW warranty has so far proved to be worth it's weight in gold and if I keep the car I will definitely be renewing it.

Hope this post isn't taken as one long moan, I like the car; just running over my experience so far and would appreciate any input from members who have suffered from any of symptoms I am at the moment.