I think I will drive my 6mt until it dies or some future repair exceeds my pain threshhold

2006 6mt
2/2010 purchase $27k @ 58k miles
2/2023 total maintenance $38k @ 197k miles

still running strong and I can't find newer vehicle I would rather have

The manual gearbox is what does it for me!


E53 RiPPeR
XOuTPoST jUNkiE
ReVELaTiON 22:21

For what it's worth, I'm with these guys. I'll sell the X when they make another vehicle that can tow with a manual transmission (which is never) or when I sell my trailer.

I couldn't afford to keep the car without the need for towing, though. It's less fun to drive than other family cars that do the same job, it requires constant upkeep, it gets absolutely terrible mileage, and does anybody really need AWD? The X is actually a pretty terrible snow vehicle without snow tires, due to the heavy rear torque bias. I drove it for 3 years on A/T tires in the snow and was always stepping the rear end out, until I finally put Blizzaks on it and now it feels as safe as my FWD.

For a really capable tow vehicle that doesn't suck my soul out of my body (like any American vehicle that can tow does) I am happy to put up with its faults, though.

A/T tires suck in the snow was your real problem. (Or, more specifically, they suck on ice, which is the challenge with most snow unless you live somewhere that's cold enough to get real powder that stays powder.)

Mine is pretty good in the snow even on all seasons. The only time I ran into traction issues on the Contis was when I was trying to pull a trailer uphill in the snow off road. (I didn't really expect to succeed and had an assist ready.)

Great thread. I read a post here once where a guy said looking at having to pull his dash would make him sell the car.

Frankly, I’m not sure what it would take now that I’ve put so much time and effort into it. It’s fully a daily driver again and has so much new stuff on and in it that it’s hard to imagine what could fail that would make me throw my hands up. I do expect the car will get to the point where wires begin to degrade and short inside of harnesses, and I think a steady pace of chasing shorts around the car, under carpet, door pillars, etc. will have a limit in terms of patience. So far so good tho.

A lack of quality replacement parts (new and used) could be a good reason to retire the X5 as well.

The X5 parts are getting expensive vis-a-vis the value of the vehicle. I always buy my parts from FCP Euro due to their lifetime replacement warranty. I need to replace the front suspension control arms but this time around it will cost me around $20 to ship back the old parts to FCPEuro after getting the new parts for free (you get your money back after buying the new replacement parts) :D. Other than working on the car myself, this is one way the X5 gets to stay with me happily and at no risk of being gotten rid of:thumbup:.

See, but you have an Xdrive which has a totally different AWD system to my 2003. The pre-Xdrive models just have plain old open center diff, but with a rearward torque bias via the planetary differential. It felt a lot like driving a RWD car in the snow, at least with the old tires. It would consistently and repeatedly break the rear end free in the snow or ice with the A/T's.



And my A/T tires were the "snow rated" ones that truck owners buy because they think they are just as good as snow tires. (I know that's not true, but they are probably better than all-seasons just because of their blocky tread.)



FWIW, I do live in a town where we get lots of snow and don't salt the roads.

I will NEVER sell my 2005 6MT!

Now that's what I'm talking about! What a powerful statement for an X5 :iagree:.

Agreed. Front springs, as I’m learning are good example. I’m doing a full refresh and have a damaged right front spring, but as best I can tell it’s now a BMW only part, unless I go with the full spring conversion pieces at Strutmasters or $90 Chinese knock-offs. I’m going with Bilstein Touring struts, so I’m kind of locked into an expensive BMW part this time. Thankfully this has been a pretty rare occurrence so far.