realistic reliability of an x5 - coming from 325xi

[mcurcio1989]

I have been driving an 02 325xi for the past three years and I love the car but its time to upgrade while it still has some resale value. I have several trailers and I really should have a car that I can tow with. I looked at grand cherokee's and other small - midsize suv's and I just hated the thought of giving up the things I like so much about the 3 series (fit and finish of the interior and its ride). I am a bimmer guy and I don't really want to ever dd anything else. I started looking at x5's and I think the vehicle would be a perfect fit for me but I have concerns with the cost of ownership.

First of all let me say that I have never paid a shop to do anything for me other than alignment. If a job can be done without special tools costing thousands of dollars (which I have yet to encounter) I do it. I expect even a reliable car to require incidental as well as routing maintenance and repairs. Things that concern me are when people talk about things such as transmissions, engines, or axles / difs that are almost certain to fail. I hear a lot of talk about issues with costly repairs on x5's and it is hard to tell if that is just the "people only talk about the bad on forums" phenomena or if it is something I should be scared of.

Right now I am looking at an '05 with 80k on the odo and basically every package their is. I don't really need all the packages but it would be nice unless they are prone to problems (ie. nav failure or a sunroof costly failure). I do really like heated seats as it gets cold here in the winter.

When I bought my xi there were all kinds of people telling me that the trans was basically a ticking time bomb and (knock on wood) shes still going strong. And everyone talked about terrible electrical problems which I have not experienced at all. The E53 has been in production for 14 years now and out of production for 7 so any real issues should be well documented. I have searched and will search more but of course " you cannot search for something that you don't know to look for."

So any advice or links to similar discussion would be great. Are their any years to avoid or options to avoid? how much will the cost of ownership on an x5 differ from my 325xi. (Like I said I expect to have to replace little things like regulators and cooling system components as well as inspection II items).

Also I drive 50 miles each day on my commute to work and I will probably tow an average of about once a week (mostly things under 3-4klbs in flat terrain. I would like the 4.4 for the added power and it seems to not hurt the mpgs much compared to the 3.0. Is that true in experience? any advice on the engine side of things?