10 used car clunkers to avoid/By Forbes.com

[TiAgX5]

Originally Posted by theblue

makes sense... the list is a mile long of problems and fixes on these things.

My '03 4.4 sport with 155k miles has only needed a waterpump, belts, upper hose ass'y, FSR and coolant tank along with regular maintenance items.

Your X is hardly average, seeing as you bought "the cheapest X5 ever" that was not treated well at all. It was also pre-douche owned, as evident by the massive "tapout" sticker that was on the rear window.

It would be interesting to get an answer from Forbes as to why the '02 4.6 is so radically different then other year 4.6 Xs.


OTHER FACTORS ARE AT WORK HERE TOO
The massive gas price increase in the mid-2000s wreaked havok with SUV/SAV values, causing many first owners (owner demographic is upper middle class (read non-DIYers) with children), to keep their "old" SUVs (not worth a warm bucket of piss at trade in) and give it to Jr because he just got his permit. I'm sure most everyone on the forum can agree they drove the snot out of their first vehicle and Jr has spent the last decade playing GranTurismo/Grand Theft Auto and has ZERO DIY skills, causing EVERY problem is fixed by a BMW dealer (MASSIVE REPAIR COSTS).
I would bet Forbes obtained their info EXCLUSIVLY from first owner surveys, the vast majority of first owners of 10 yr old Xs have bought a new vehicle for themselves and left the old X behind to receive Jrs daily a$$ reamings.

When I found my one owner X I inspected the rear seating area closely for "teenager wear" (knee wear on front seat backs, door liner kick scuffs, rear seatbelt wear/staining) because I did not want to be the 2nd owner of Jrs 1st car.