Test Drive Fails -- Found a good one - Page 3

bestvaluestore · #21 02-04-2015, 09:38 AM

Yes,buying old car can be dangerous.Just make up your mind.

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tcoop · #22 02-04-2015, 11:31 AM

The first E53 that I drove, I decided that I wanted one. The problem with the first one
Drivers side door would not open from the outside
They had to jump it to get it running
Half the buttons were missing
the nav system was missing the disk (no big deal) could not read half the screen
there was white powder all over the back seat
The second one I drove
It had to be jumped to start
none of the windows worked smoothly
the nav system would not even turn on
everything seemed to have a rattle
it didn't run very well
Third time was the charm
it started right up
Very clean and looked well kept
had power to spare
nav system worked but had a few dead spots on the screen
It had a nice ride...not as stiff as my 88 F250 but not as soft as my 02 Mountaineer
It's not a perfect car but for being 11 years old its in pretty darn good shape. the best part is because i waited a week before going back to look at the car a second time they lowered the price a $1000 below trade in value before I started the negotiations. Patience is the key to finding a good vehicle at a reasonable price.

upallnight · #23 02-04-2015, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdstrickland

My wife is is happy with a $39 bag from Kohls. She's a function-over-form kind of gal.

She shies away from the Kia Santa Fe's of the world because they are shoddy. She wants reliability high on the list, but a reliable vehicle that sounds like it is about to blow up kinda spoils the deal. She based her X5 desire on the four 3 Series cars we have owned.

Actually Santa Fe is made by Hyundai, and not by Kia.

Also if you were to compare the two vehicles they come out pretty much the same. Except that the Hyundai is about half the cost of a BMW. So given the same amount of money that you would spend on a used vehicle for the wife you can get a later model year Hyundai with probably a warranty then a BMW with no warranty.

Compare 2014 Hyundai Santa Fe to 2014 BMW X5

white46 · #24 02-04-2015, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdstrickland

I'm looking at the X5, used, as my next car. I drove two of them yesterday, 02/02, and both were disappointing. Sadly, I heard either tire or wheel bearing noise from both of them, one with 71k miles and the other with 113k miles. I do not associate the noise with the drivetrain, specifically. I'm pretty certain I heard a wheel bearing, or it was the tires. At low speeds, I could hear a rubbing noise, but at highway speed the rubbing just joined into regular vehicle noises, and there were many. These two vehicles made far more road noise than my E36 'vert.

Both also had burned out pixels on the radio/message panels, one had bad pixels on the instrument display also.

My goal is to get a vehicle for my wife, and she selected the X5 as her choice. I think that when she drives one, she might not be impressed because the behavior is so much like a truck.

I have had two different E36s, and both of my kids have had an E46 -- one still has hers -- and our experience has been very good overall, and this is driving us to the X5. Maybe my test drives have been in the wrong vehicles -- the one with 71k had a tire package from the F70, current X5, with staggered 20s and the other had 4 worn out tires that probably should not be allowed on the roadway -- and this makes my experience with this model to be so disappointing. We have had our share of repairs on the four 3 Series cars, but I have made the vast majority of these repairs in my driveway, and I find the cars to be pretty easy to service.

I have more X5s to look at, but frankly I will be closing the search radius so I do not spend the entire day driving 150+ miles round trip to see two vehicles. When I find one that I like, I'll insist that my wife drive it, but my instinct is that she will change her sights to an Acura MDX or other similar crossover instead of choosing a vehicle built on a truck chassis. Maybe if I find one with good tires, it won't be as bad as what I have driven so far.

Are burned out pixels common? My kid's car has the same display and the pixels are okay.

I've had BMW cars since 2000, and I have to say that I am not seeing what I thought I was going to see with the X5. I expected more refinement.

Hey, glad to see you here.

Knowing you from e46fanatics, generally, e53 is going through the same old used car situation as e46.
Since e53 and e46 are old now days, price came down to almost rock bottom, available to pretty much anyone with little money in bank. They don't tend to maintain the car, even if they do, they will fix as it breaks down.

I bought my 02 X5 3L about a year ago. At the time of purchase, engine was smooth and tranny was fine, but it was clunking due to worn bushings, and I knew I had to fix some stuff such as VCG, OFHG, etc.. you know the general M54 engine stuff.

After spending about $2000 on parts only (since I do most of work myself), all fluid flush, front bushings overhowl, it drives great now.
Of course due to higher center of gravity, it won't drive as good as e46, but for SUV, it drives great.
My next to do is rear bushings overhowl, then it will be better.

As for dead pixels, it's very common on e53, e39 and e38.

jdstrickland · #25 02-04-2015, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by white46

Hey, glad to see you here.

Knowing you from e46fanatics, generally, e53 is going through the same old used car situation as e46.
Since e53 and e46 are old now days, price came down to almost rock bottom, available to pretty much anyone with little money in bank. They don't tend to maintain the car, even if they do, they will fix as it breaks down.

I bought my 02 X5 3L about a year ago. At the time of purchase, engine was smooth and tranny was fine, but it was clunking due to worn bushings, and I knew I had to fix some stuff such as VCG, OFHG, etc.. you know the general M54 engine stuff.

After spending about $2000 on parts only (since I do most of work myself), all fluid flush, front bushings overhowl, it drives great now.
Of course due to higher center of gravity, it won't drive as good as e46, but for SUV, it drives great.
My next to do is rear bushings overhowl, then it will be better.

As for dead pixels, it's very common on e53, e39 and e38.

I have no issue with driving a 10-year old car, I have an E36 that's 20 years old, and my F150 is not far behind. We have found that the '05 X5 can be bought for $11k, give or take a couple of hundred.

I think my first two test drives must have been bad specimens. One of them had an F70 tire package that was staggered and the tires were noisy and I could hear what sounded like a wheel bearing at low speeds but could be tire noise -- although I know the difference. The fan inside the cabin did not work -- my instinct on this is that the FSR is cooked. The car also had multiple lines of pixels that were burned out on the message display panels and radio display. The other X5 had four bald tires and was generally not taken care of very well -- it was dirty inside and the seller explained how it had just come out of the paint booth after somebody carved the paint with a key. It also had burned out pixels.

I'm not giving up on the quest for an X5, but the first two I drove were a disappointment.

Doru · #26 02-04-2015, 06:11 PM

Got my 2004 4.4 knowing well what I get into. The car was NOT looked after, so I got it for a great deal. Things I did:

Had to clean the bastard. took me almost 4 days. Everything came out, incl. seats. Sand, dirt, old candies, wrappers, etc were lodged incl. under the spare. Body & paint was in good shape.
Changed the wheels with OE staggered style 168
replaced the cooling system & ancilliaries
replaced rear ball joints (shot tires when purchased, pointing to it)
replaced sway bar links
replaced rear air bags (deflating when it was getting cold)
changed the differential fluid & re-programmed
changed the transmission fluid, filter & sealing sleeve (was shot and leaked ATF)
flushed the brake fluid
flushed the power steering fluid (had a squealing noise when turning)
replaced the cooling pipe (the OE pipe was half de-bonded)
replaced the valve stem seals & all gaskets and seals, incl CCV's (smoke of shame)
replaced the HU unit with Dynavin N6

The result is spectacular, but I also have all the tools (including BMW special tools) and scanner. Now it looks and drives beautiful - my wife is mostly using it, I'm still DD-ing my e39.

So, if you want a used X5, you need to have some sort of maintenance history. the above points can serve at what to look for when checking service. On my vehicle the front control arms, bushings & CV joints are still good, but I'm sure this is next on the list. Also, if you're handy with repairs, it's a plus. Otherwise, I would strongly suggest to check locally what the cost of the above repairs (and some others, mentioned earlier)might be, to be prepared to fix it.
The 3l has different issues, but some are common.

admranger · #27 02-05-2015, 01:53 AM

jd -- if one had the E70 wheels and tires, were they run-flats? I have no issues with the ride on my X5, and I put Bilstein sports on it since I have the sport package.

The X5 is a maintenance pig, but the subframe and vanos aren't issues like on the E46 (m3, for me). However, it's a big, heavy vehicle and things fail at a much faster rate. Tension strut bushings are good for maybe 40k miles, depending on your roads. I'm doing a complete rear suspension ball joint and bushing refresh, including subframe bushings once my shoulder heals up. I'm at 95k miles. I haven't yet experienced the poor valve seal or water pipe issues that the N62 has, but I know I will. However, fixing them is a lot cheaper than $1k/month car payments on a new one (or a lovely RR sport!).

As much of a maintenance pig as the X5 is, it is a wonderful vehicle. We've driven ours, loaded to the gills w/a big hitch mounted carrier out back to DC and back through rain, summer heat, winter snow (and dark of night!) with no issues. Flat out hauling from Dallas to Vegas in a single 16 hour run. Having a 400+ mile fuel range (4.4i in hyper drive mode) helps make it easy peasy. It swallows up the costco goodies and even most Lowes/Home depot trips. When stuff was too big to put in the back a Uhaul trailer works fine (factory hitch only please) and the X5 barely knows it is back there. I've yet to have any weather upset it. It just goes where I want to go when I want to go at the speed I want to get there.

However, if you are not a DIY'er, buy an extended warranty. Stuff costs $$$ no matter what and if you have to pay for labor then you are well and truly hosed.

One last thing: do a "California stop" with the ones you drive and get on the gas hard just as the vehicle is about to stop. If you get a thunk and it feels like you were rear ended, you have a tranny issue. It can be addressed, but it's not cheap (mine got a rebuilt tranny from BMW under CPO for this). Sometimes a fluid and filter change helps the tranny out (after resetting adaptations for the tranny).

Oh, the best part of owning an X5? This forum, of course!

Good luck in your search. Look around for the right one. It took me 6 months to find mine (Imola is tough to find in a 4.4i).

crystalworks · #28 02-05-2015, 04:07 AM

^I really have to second all of the above.

In my first post I did make it sound like these things are to be avoided... but I still feel like I got a decent deal at $10k on ours with how good the inside and outside were kept. That is taking into account the different things I have to do to it (another $2k in parts).

We just took it to Houston and back to the tune of 1 tank (440 miles) and loved every minute of it. We've had 4 wheels/tires in it three times now, with some Ikea shopping, and our 1 year old at the same time on one of those trips. It really is a versatile vehicle.

If you can handle the mechanical headaches... or have a really good aftermarket warranty to handle them for you... it's a great machine.

bcredliner · #29 02-05-2015, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by upallnight

If it is for you wife, I can see why she choose a BMW X5, the same reason why she will spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a bag made by Coach or hundreds or thousands of dollars on a pair of shoes. The X is just consider an accessories to her life style. It's has more WOW when she mentions to her friends that she has a BMW instead of an Acura or Kia. Plus when it breaks she just have you fix it or bring it in because we all know that when a female brings a car in for repairs, they just gonna rip her off because she doesn't understand what a whatchmacallit from a thingamajign.

Wow! Having another bad day?