Do Americans well maintain their x5??

[TerminatorX5]

my 2002 4.6iS entered Russia duty free in 2009, and I drove it there for about 10 months before leaving... While there, I had people ask me if I wanted to sell the car but once they learned how much it would be to clear the customs in order to sell/buy it on the local market, it was cheaper for them just to buy a new car from a local dealer...

about 20 years ago i had shipped a car to Ukraine, in hopes to make a buck - since the car was a regularly priced car in the US, and after the shipping there, I could not get anything for the car to come up with a profit, barely enough to cover the expenses... it is natural to get something dirt cheap, like a high miles newer car in the States, "clean" the title and ship it overseas - it is illegal to manipulate the title stateside but once it is outside of US jurisdiction, it is a fair game...

In general, there is a tendency for the US consumer just to consume the products, in this case a car- since it a mass produced commodity, marketed to masses, the masses are not car mechanics (in old days you needed to know something about a car once you got one), they just use the car until the dummy light comes on and says - "change oil", or "change brakes"... state inspections force people to change tires, brakes, other safety related items... but.. the cars are like shoes - once worn out, you just get a nw pair and toss the old one into garbage - granted, cars retain some value, so, you trade it in, or sell it... otherwise - disposable, like a lot of other things ... No wonder the manufacturers do not include fire extinguishers, first aid kits, headlight manual adjustments, now, even the spare tires into the cars - something is wrong, you pick up the phone and somebody comes and helps you... lol... this is not a game of a survivor...

[TiAgX5]

Originally Posted by TerminatorX5

my 2002 4.6iS entered Russia duty free in 2009, and I drove it there for about 10 months before leaving... While there, I had people ask me if I wanted to sell the car but once they learned how much it would be to clear the customs in order to sell/buy it on the local market, it was cheaper for them just to buy a new car from a local dealer...

about 20 years ago i had shipped a car to Ukraine, in hopes to make a buck - since the car was a regularly priced car in the US, and after the shipping there, I could not get anything for the car to come up with a profit, barely enough to cover the expenses... it is natural to get something dirt cheap, like a high miles newer car in the States, "clean" the title and ship it overseas - it is illegal to manipulate the title stateside but once it is outside of US jurisdiction, it is a fair game...

In general, there is a tendency for the US consumer just to consume the products, in this case a car- since it a mass produced commodity, marketed to masses, the masses are not car mechanics (in old days you needed to know something about a car once you got one), they just use the car until the dummy light comes on and says - "change oil", or "change brakes"... state inspections force people to change tires, brakes, other safety related items... but.. the cars are like shoes - once worn out, you just get a nw pair and toss the old one into garbage - granted, cars retain some value, so, you trade it in, or sell it... otherwise - disposable, like a lot of other things ... No wonder the manufacturers do not include fire extinguishers, first aid kits, headlight manual adjustments, now, even the spare tires into the cars - something is wrong, you pick up the phone and somebody comes and helps you... lol... this is not a game of a survivor...

+1

The trick to purchasing a used vehicle is finding the exception to the rule stated above. I spent over a year looking at all the '02 and '03 4.4 Spt Pkg X5 that were withing a 200 mile radius of Tampa, FL before finding my one owner exception, the guy even returned to the BMW dealer for new tires!!! Almost 160k miles now and I have only needed minor repairs (waterpump, tires, battery, belts, exp tank, upper rad hose, 1 turn signal bulb), the X is still going on the OE timing chain guides, trans, airbags (the X has thousands of miles towing a 6k lb trailer in the FL and TX heat to boot).

When the X was purchased for under $13k with 100k miles, I installed a tow hitch and went thru it replacing ALL fluids and lubing every moving item I could get at.

People cannot believe it's almost 10 yrs old with 160k miles.