any model/year to watch out for???

[o. l. t.]

In this small town running into another X is hard to do..... I came out of the post office and a lady had parked her x beside mine, both 4.4, black..... hers was an '01 (mine '03). She was remarking how she loved her X and never had any major issues (bought it brand new ten years ago on the lot). She almost bought another (new) one last year to replace it, but her X was still too good to trade in.

[Clockwork]

i like the wheels on the X5 further away.

have you ever thought of buying tinted signal repeaters? Or covering the factory ones with a smoke tint, or black tint?

I have black ones on both my cars and it just makes the lines of my cars flow better than a clear or orange repeater, in my opinion.

[Fraser]

Originally Posted by Clockwork

Fraser, sorry I should have specified. I never intend to off road this beast. I just live in a city where we get MAJOR ice build up and snow heights. So a sick a$$ set of winter/ice tyres are necessary and an AWD system, IF a person can help it. I am lucky enough to be able to.

So I Just want a system that will help me get out of deep snow and ice conditions.

Glad you compared the two systems though. That makes a WORLD of difference to me, thanx for your input.

Number one requirement is still tyres but given the same tyres, xDrive offers a significant difference especially where the surface in question isn't perfectly flat or even.

[JCL]

Originally Posted by Fraser

Number one requirement is still tyres but given the same tyres, xDrive offers a significant difference especially where the surface in question isn't perfectly flat or even.

Technically, I agree that should be true. In practice, given on-road driving in snow and ice, I have found the x-drive to be not that different than my pre x-drive X5. It is better, but not by as much as I would have expected. We are generally on flat surfaces. I think on uneven surfaces, particularly off-road, there would be much more difference.

[Fraser]

Originally Posted by JCL

T I think on uneven surfaces, particularly off-road, there would be much more difference.

Certainly. That's where xDrive works best. On flat but ice/snow covered roads there's less in it.

[sprocket1200]

Originally Posted by Clockwork

Sprocket1200, do you know of any good american websites where i can peruse for quality cars? I was told Craigslist.

I am not sure of quality cars. you always have to do your due diligence. always ask for receipts on work. having said that I use cars.com and pick the zipcode for an area. the further down in the US the better and sunny states like FL, AZ, CA NV cars will not be damaged by road salt, etc.

from the pricing on cars.com you can either go get the car yourself or use that price to approximate what is will be for getting a broker to bring the car in for you. x5's are made in the US so no duty on them. exchange rate may be your biggest cost and you will have to pay GST on the exchanged price once you get it to the border.

[sunny5280]

Originally Posted by c4racer

personally I would avoid the first year or two if possible - 2000-2001. From there get the best maintained and best condition newest model you can afford 2002-2006.

I'm not sure I agree with this. From the amount of reading I've done on the various BMW forums it doesn't appear BMW corrects problem areas in later years of the same model. Window regulators are a prime example. To my knowledge BMW didn't re-engineer the part in later versions of the vehicle. It seems most all of the issues that existed in the first version exist in the last version of any given model. Or am I wrong?

[JCL]

Originally Posted by sunny5280

I'm not sure I agree with this. From the amount of reading I've done on the various BMW forums it doesn't appear BMW corrects problem areas in later years of the same model. Window regulators are a prime example. To my knowledge BMW didn't re-engineer the part in later versions of the vehicle. It seems most all of the issues that existed in the first version exist in the last version of any given model. Or am I wrong?

Just because the design of the window regulator hasn't changed, doesn't mean that a lot of the first-year niggling issues were addressed. Statistically, models later in the production cycle are more reliable, even if they aren't perfect. Same with all manufacturers, but particularly true with BMW given the complexity of their engineering solutions.

And if you want to improve your chances with window regulators, don't slam the doors with the windows all the way down, the glass isn't properly supported by the guide track in that case. Raise them a couple of inches.

[sunny5280]

Originally Posted by JCL

Just because the design of the window regulator hasn't changed, doesn't mean that a lot of the first-year niggling issues were addressed. Statistically, models later in the production cycle are more reliable, even if they aren't perfect. Same with all manufacturers, but particularly true with BMW given the complexity of their engineering solutions.

And if you want to improve your chances with window regulators, don't slam the doors with the windows all the way down, the glass isn't properly supported by the guide track in that case. Raise them a couple of inches.

Window regulators were just an example. Oil freezing in the oil separator during cold weather, dead pixels in the instrument cluster / BC computer, automatic transmission slamming are yet more examples. Perhaps there's something that affected earlier vehicles but does not later vehicles but I'm not aware of any (save for the E46 subframe issue which appears to affect MY 1999-2000 vehicles more than MY 2001-2006). Do you have any examples?

[sunny5280]

Originally Posted by Clockwork

really? I looked at some sites in Colorado (I have a friend living there who will check them out for me) and they were no different priced than Calgary.

I'm also needing the cold weather package, so I'm not too sure how many vehicles in the states will have them, unless I buy from a state with cold winters.

BC have many for sale?

Cold weather package is popular here in Colorado.