Used car philosophy
 

I am in the market for a new X5..

My usual buying philosophy is to buy a 3-5 year old car with low miles and then flip it in a few years.

I was looking through 2011-2012 X5's between 40-60k miles but then came across a posting for a 2007 X5 with less than 10k miles.

the car is way out of my year range but its basically a brand new vehicle.

My question is how much of an impact does year have on wear and tear vs actual mileage? How much actual wear and tear is there from letting a car sit there without driving it for years..?


I dont know if it has been garage kept.

would i be better off with a 40-50k 2011 or a 10k miles 2007?


thank you all in advance

cheers!

I always go off mileage. A vehicle that sits too long is concerning - vehicles are designed to move. Long periods of sitting can result in fluid separation, lack of lubrication, etc. But if the vehicle was just not driven far on each trip, but driven regularly, I wouldn't worry about that. If it sat for 5yrs then I'd be concerned.

Very good point.. I wouldn't know how to check if the car had been driven regularly or just sat there.. any way to find out?

things to check?


thanks for your response

Personally, and everyone is going to have their own feelings on this, I'd rather have a well-maintained (records included) high mileage example of a vehicle than a low mileage car that may have sat for long periods. You usually pay much less for the high mileage maintained vehicle because of the way valuation works and most of the parts that are common failure points have been replaced. Sometimes replaced with newer/better designed versions.

Whichever way you go, if you aren't a DIY'er... I'd recommend an aftermarket warranty. On the lower mileage truck it might actually be significantly cheaper to purchase too so keep that in mind.

It truly depends on a number of factors. Did the car just sit outside for (X) amount of years of was it just driven lightly since it was purchased?

To answer your question manufacture date does impact wear to an extent, especially when it comes to rubber components on a vehicle; think gaskets, tires, hoses, etc. 2007 with 10K on the clock is ridiculously low mileage.

My family and myself have bought vehicles with a wide variety of years and mileage. To be honest there is no hard formula to it, you really just have to go see the vehicle and check it out for yourself. It seems like you know what you're looking for. For all you know this could be an excellent vehicle that was just a backup for someone, or it could have experienced some catastrophic failure and it just remained parked.

One way to have an idea of whether the vehicle sat or not is to get a CarFax/AutoCheck and look at the mileages for the vehicles registration over the years. Seeing as how you're in California this shouldn't be a problem considering how serious they take Emissions and Registration. I attached an example of one below, fairly steady increase in miles throughout the years.

I share the opposite approach to buying a car. I still own my first BMW- a 1975 2002 that I have had for 30 years. The next was a 2000 E39 that I have owned for 15 years.

I purchased my *first* 2004 E53 in May of 2004 with ~32k miles on it. New car with a zillion miles on it in less than 5 months. It was a 3.0. The best thing about that purchase was the CPO warranty and maintenance extension that I used well into the 6th year. It became a well sorted X5 over the time that I ran it up to about 100k miles.

In contrast, my 2nd 2004 was a 4.8is with ~11k miles on it in 2011. 7 years old, no CPO and ridiculously low miles. I'm a maintenance freak, so I proactively replaced all the hoses and other plastic bits within the first year. I experienced zero issues related to sitting around. With about 78k miles on it now, the car has been solid for the past ~5 years as I've driven across country twice and back.

That experience shared, any used BMW is going to require some TLC. Whether that is hours of paint polish and wax or some nagging problem that drove the PO crazy. You should be prepared with a maintenance fund that you've told yourself you will spend. How much depends on whether you DIY or not.

If I liked the E70 even a little, I'd hit the lower mileage example. By now anything that was a year 1 issue with the 2007's has been sorted and a remediation plan exists. Finding an online DIY community and/or a trusted mechanic can make all the difference here.

^:iagree: If the E70 sat outside in the tundra with 10k miles, I may be a bit more wary. But if it was garage kept or in a non salt/winter area subject to lots of temperature cycling, the lower mileage example I'd be totally good with.

+ Another fan of that low mileage E70, esp if it was garaged and the OP can get his hands on maint records, CarFax, PPI inspection, etc.

Even non-garaged, SoCal isn't the ugly weather capitol of the US...

Other than it needing an immediate oil/filter change and some concern on what condition the gasoline is in the tank, I wouldn't bat an eye.

A full fluids change out, after purchase, some attention to rubber seals, and it should be good to go, imo.
GL, mD

I bought my 06 4.8IS about a year ago at this point with 25k on it. My advice would be to get a warranty with it. They typically price warranties off of the miles on the car (more than year). Since the miles are low the cost really isn't that bad. So far I have had over $10,000 worth (at dealer prices) work done on the truck utilizing my warranty. Its nice to be able to be really picky about stuff and have it all fixed

I bought a 2004 X5 4.4i locally on Labor Day.
Miles were 86K.
The car showed well but had some quirks.
Battery was 4.5 years old and not healthy.
The rear air suspension wasn't working and had a dash message.
The dash lights flickered and were on all the time with the key in ignition.
The tires were okay, but a sidewall plug repair (big no-no)
The car had a previous owner funky smell.

Anyway, I bought it for 6200 dollars.

1) replaced 30 amp fuse on air suspension.... X5 rises up, dash lights out! (Biblical moment)
2) found a short in the telephone wiring system. Problem was in the center
console flip up lid. Repaired and no more flicker in dash lights.
3). Replaced battery, new Interstate
4). Replaced the cabin air filter and no more funk.
5). New set of Michelins !!!!!!

I had both front and rear bumpers repainted along with the hood.
I also installed a front "skid plate" painted matching silver.
Had the rear bumper lower valance painted like the other guys have done.
I installed front and rear mud flaps also.

I honestly think the previous owner got spooked and dumped it.
This Forum and previous 5 series experience fixed this car right up.
I would drive it to Boston today.
My other BMW is a 2000 528it wagon.
I spent crazy money fixing up that car.
Rather be in the X5 from here on out

Wow over 10k of work is a lot for a car with 25k miles. The BMW in question is also a 4.8is. Im curious, did you have any engine work done on it? I'll definitely look into the warranty.. that sounds like a great idea. I'm going to take a look at the BMW tomorrow, see if I like it, and how it runs and sounds.


Thank you all for your good feedback
Cheers

No real money in the engine other then an alternator. I did pay to have all the fluids replaced (all of them since I wanted to start fresh). Warranty paid for both front axels to be replaced for torn cv boots, also the entire air suspension (bags, module, compressor etc) and a new nav system. At the moment I am scheduling it to go back in (hood wont release and the tire pressure light is on AGAIN....)

That thing is so fiddly and sensitive, I find myself just manually resetting it at least once every couple months. Takes less than 5 seconds at any startup. It's also completely useless on the E53. I'd like to find a way to disable it all together.

To think that at one point I was considering adding a tire pressure monitoring system to my 540i... That would have been dumb lol. At this point I hate it, the tires are at a safe pressure and work fine

In my case the tire warning system works great. Mine is the one that uses the wheel sensors to monitor rotation, not the ones that monitor air pressure in the tire.

All the times that it triggered only one was a false alarm. The rest alerted me to leaking tires before they became undriveable on.

Funny, I enjoy having it. Only time I had false alarms was on my road trip bringing it back from California. I attributed that to the increased temps from being on the road for 18 hours straight...

As mentioned, it's an easy manual reset at startup and I would rather be alerted falsely every few months if it gets it right that one time a year and saves me a tire. Especially with the cost of the wide rubber.

Fair. In fact, given that I've driven 8-10 hours a day for at least a few weeks at a time in the past two years, I may find myself simply more susceptible to actual variations in tire pressure than the average use case. Now that I think about it, temperature variations from places like Southern Arizona to Pike's Peak and Winter's wrath to southern Florida probably don't help much either.

I'll have to pay closer attention to whether it happens when I just tool around home.