Consumer Reports rates X5 as
 

CR'S GOOD AND BAD BETShttp://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gif
Good Bets have performed well in CR's road tests and have had several years of better-than-average reliability.
Bad Bets performed much worse than average.http://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/ipr/grey.gif

Good bets
http://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/ipr/grey.gifAcura Integra
MDX
and the list continues


Bad bets
BMW 7 Series
BMW X5 (v8)
we have plenty of company


:popcorn:

They go by vehicle reliability and Japanese cars are better in that area.

2007 X5

Yeah no offense to any "liberals" but some of the media companys do have tendencys to favor "gas and green friendly" cars... This could also be taken into account.

So what? Beautiful women and fast cars have always been higher maintenance than their less exciting counterparts. That's the way it's always been, always will be. :2thumbs:

Hmmm, some of those Japanese vehicles are not gas friendly at all, MDX and 4runner are great vehicles, but, not green at all my friend.
My .02

I've driven a 4Runner and let's just say I'll take my chance's with my 5.

So whats the issue with V8 reliability? Except for the oil seperator problem engine issues mentioned here are minimal. IMO

With only 4500 mi. I share a minor problem, posted by others, with idle fluctuation or vibration. With my X5 it has been there since day one and only when cold. Its intermittent and probably won't happen at the dealer so I'm ignoring it for now.

The V8 has more moving parts, and isn't as smooth, but I don't think it is less reliable than the I6. I think the point is that the V8 models have more options, and by and large, it is the electrical gremlins that make up many of the warranty claims.

I honestly believe that someone at CR loves the MDX. It always get recommended regardless of the year. :rolleyes:

Toyota/Honda:kissass: CR

You could get a nice reliable minivan, er MDX. I drove one when I was shopping and had to keep convincing myself it wasn't a minivan.

I was actually impressed with the MDX. Their redesign really opened that vehicle to male drivers and still retained enough to satisfy the wives in my opinion. My boss has one and I'm impressed with the vehicle as a whole. Gives the Q7 a real run for the money and even looks similar in the rear 3/4 view - amazingly so. For the money, I honestly think that the MDX is an excellent SUV for space, luxury, quality, reliability, and styling ( I like the rear more than the front). Let's not forget that it handles pretty damned well too per the test reports. All it needs is another 100hp and watch out! MDX type R?? :)

CR usually rates the Bimmers lower due to some of the electrical and coolant problems and ac/heater issues, as most of you know some of us have them and they are a pain....but, that being said, all those other cars are boring to drive IMO.

Amen brother.

I would hate to live in a "Consumer Reports" world. Talk about vanilla.

My CR subscription expired long ago but at that time their automotive reports were BOARING.

Has their been any improvement?

I had to laugh at the MB reply to their bottom of the list ranking:

Mercedes disputed the findings. Today's models "are without question some of the best we have ever built," spokeswoman Donna Boland said. "If the survey doesn't reflect that, there's something wrong with the survey."

What a load of BS. Funny that a local MB dealer loaner car (Toyota) had a much better rating.
MB:nanana:

CR rates cars based on how long they will get you from point A to point B with minimal problem. Driving pleasure is not a criteria for CR and never was. No question that Japanase cars are the best at that. I have had my share of problems with my X, mostly electrical and water cooling related. However, since I got the X every thing else I have driven other than a bimmer feels tasteless to me.

They are messed up, they just did another story on LCD TV's but did not test Sony. In earlier testing they loved Sony whats wrong with them?

agree.. bimmers are very addictive. once you drive one, nothing else will satisfy :) my addiction started with a 96 E36 328i and progresses to an 03 540i, 91 325is and now an 05 X5. The handling cannot be beat. This is why we put up with the reliability issues :)

Alright....I can settle this.....

2001 X5 4.4is...cost me $4500 in repairs the final 10K I owned it which was from 48-58K. Fun to drive, a great to look at but a blaze 16.3mpg.

2006 Acura MDX Touring. Boring...Boring...Boring...did not have one issue with any repairs which should be expected with an 06 did not have the cache of a BMW but none of the aggravation either, avg 17.4 mpg. 26K in one year, which blew up my lease so I had to dump it at a Carmax and brought a 2003 LS430 until I can get a CPO new body style X5

If BMW would now focus on quality as much as they focus on the fun factor they would be the number one car builder in the world.

I guess i could if i was in the market for it. :nanana:

Whenever I see the back of a RDX, it screams minivan too. The new MDX doesnt look like a minivan as much, now it looks more like an appliance, more specifically a shaver. LOOK AT IT! The front is like the latest Remington electric shaver!

Oh and our new Civic with 2,000 miles on it, had an issue with the wipers where they wouldn't turn themselves off no matter what you did with the stalk. Very annoying. Then there's the jerky transmission, the stupid lag from the gas pedal, and the fact the automatic gearbox "creeps" along at like 25mph when a cold engine.............so you'll likely ram into a concrete wall at the next parking garage.

^^^^^^kiss ur dealership ass all the time for bugs!:)

What in the world are you talking about...:confused:

Haha, I love it when Bimmer owners get their panties in an uproar when they hear they aren't the best.

Off topic:

CR goes by general consumer need, the general consumer..when looking for a SAV/Crossover doesn't want to spend 70k+ on a vehicle that can barely carry more then 5 people and has zippy storage space after that. CR doesn't give a crap about 'road feel' or 'driver experience'. The majority of consumers are more concerned about cost>performance and search for a balance between.

On topic:
As LeMans said in post number 2, reliability on Japanese cars far surpasses German vehicle. Every BMW I've owned has needed 'service' that I would consider nuts for a brand new vehicle. Oddly enough my 2008 Expedition so far has needed less then my 2004 X5 did.

I wouldn't have an acura integra or a MDX. The lexus SUV is another nasty one, looks like a blow fish on wheels

pinoix5,

Kumusta pare ! We have a lot of fellow Filipinos based in the US in the forum. What kind of X5 do you drive dude ?

I drive an 02 X5 3.0d euro

OT

My Bmw sucks ass! I always find myself repairing something electrical that should not need to be fixed. waterpump, c.v. boots. everything wears faster on a bmw than a japanese car. However the ride is like no other stock vehicle and that is why I still keep mine.

I agree about the japs having better reliable cars, but lets face it. The japs are starting to get real close to the Germans. Have you guy's seen the new Nissan GTR??? Blow the time clock at Nurburgring! And blew the Porsche 911 out of the water. I don't now, but I think the Japs are putting reliability with performance, and hold on to your seats, because now I think your going to see bombs being drops on all German and American care manu... I can't wait to see what is coming next.

you have to remember that a bmw, merc, porsche etc owner expects more from their cars than say a skoda!

They (CR) view cars like an appliance, as long as it does what it supposed to do, they don't really care about looks or drivability.

That said they are not biassed by Ad revenue, and is a meaningful resource.

Japanese cars are for people who have no soul. The kind that take pride on finding the best deal on their lawn mowers

I work for a honda dealer here in salt lake city and there is a huge difference in bmw owners and honda owners I dont know how many times I have had a car in with 30,000 miles on it come in for its first oil change and to fix the grinding brakes or some other blatant problem the are transportation to them bmw enjoy and have pride in there cars & sav's and any problem sticks out like a sore thumb and it goes to the dealer if we treated our x5's like a honda and just drove the wheels off of them our repair bills would seem low to trust me hondas have plenty of problems to we have 18 techs 6 days a week and we are one of four dealers within about 25 miles I would never compare a hond to a bmw It's like comparing an apartment to a castle

I am not an overly sensitive or PC type person, but I am Asian. Can we start reffering to Japanese and Japanese cars as "Japanese" instead of "Jap"? Since we don't refer to any other nationalities here with slurs.

Yeah, you people and your Kraut-Wagons. :rofl:

:rofl:
Oddly, I never take insults personally. I had a discussion with an old man that insulted Taiwan pretty badly and I didn't feel all that bad about it. Maybe cuz I was born in the US.......:dunno:

Sorry buddy, I did not mean it like that. Take no offense from it.
Regarding my opinion on Japanese cars, more to the point, Acura, to me they are like little clueless nerdy kids saying "when i grow up i want to be a BMW", I mean who the heck names a 4wd system super-handling awd, i hear that and it sounds like someone is talking about a nintendo...

:D no worries guys. I am a 5th generation American...just reminding Jap is not a respectful term.

you just cant accept the fact that your paying too much on a bmw emblem thats it!and how can you say japanese cars are for people with no soul youre just a straight damn idiot!:popcorn: i think a lot people here just cant take the fact that bmw is just not that good period!

You just made my point, you are someone who cares about the price tag, not the experience.
And while I would have gladly admited that a GTR is a great driving car, and that my comment was targeted to vehicles such as the MDX, im just going to point out to you that the GTR only tries to be something that was done by germans first, and like I said, you never understood. Keep your swearing to yourself, you talk the way Nissans are designed. Vulgar.

I used to temp for CR in Yonkers, NY. CR is not biased by advertising revenue, and they do not allow other comnpanies to use CR ratings in ads. Therefore they are more objective than say Road&Track or Car&Driver. The statistics do not lie. Toyota and Honda have long kicked ass and will continue to kick ass in the area of reliability and time outside of the shop.

But their best has not matched BMW's best in terms of performance and handling. My entire family drives Camrys and 4Runners. These things will take a licking and keep on ticking. But I still love my X5 for the fun factor.

Incidentally, I was watching a Lexus demo on one of the car channels on TV, and they were bragging how their latest IS model outperforms the BMW 3-series in all categories. Of course they didn't mention WHICH 3-series model they used for the comparison. There were some quick videos of the slalom, and it looked like they were running against a 330i. I'd like to see them try that against the 335i with the twin-turbo, or better yet an M3! They'd get their asses handed to them on a silver platter.

:confused: what?

There is no car built by Germans like a GTR....period. You're sounding a little pretentious yourself.

Well - a GTR's main PR stunt so far is that it will 'beat a 911' - which means that it is really just a newcomer trying to be cool like the 40 y/o german. Nothing particulary wrong with that, except - it is not trying to be as wonderful as the 911 - its sole purpose in life is to beat the 911 on the track, meaning that those 40 years of experience porsche has spent on making their cars enjoyable, the GTR has to compensate for by being ... what? cheap? That makes its a white good of cars and really rather pointless. It will be a car for people who want a super-car but can't afford one, so its likely that will make it a poser-mobile. Its the same story with almost any other car that tries to impose itself on another car's territory.

I, ofcourse, say that having very little insight into the GTR and further more having an irrational loathing of 911's :)

You are an idiot.

pinoix5

Just curious. If you're really a BMW hater then why not see If you can take a moment, put together a decent sentence, and muster a constructive comment about the consumers report in the original post. :rolleyes:

I had a 911 and would love the GT-R. Remember it ran with the 911TT not 911n/a...major difference. And the Porsche has nothing on the GT-R IMO. Not until you start putting letters after 997... ;) And the GT-R is not brand new to the seen, it's been in Japan for quite a while.

Glad to see someone gets it exactly like it is. The GTR was built in 89 to compete performace-wise against specifically the 911, and i will say, dis very well in that area, and nowhere else.

The car was not invented in Japan, neither was the engine, nor disc brakes, nor independent suspension. They are always late to the party trying to be something else.

One thing they are is very reliable. I respect that. I'm a real estate developer. I just bought a fleet of Toyota Hilux for my new proyect, and i would not have considered anything other than Japanese, they are remarkable in that area, switching from dogde trucks to toyotas cut our fleet's maintenence budget by 32%.

If you are here you may have bought an X5, but i hope you did for the same reasons as some of us did, the right reasons, because we love the fun and excitement that they bring into our lives, to us getting from A to B is not about cold hard performance numbers, price, or reliability, it's the ear to ear grin when you get out of your car. And if all you care about is piling miles on miles at the same speed and all you care about is repair bills, then you don't have a driver's soul.

Hate to quote a wiki but actually the "Skyline" has been around since the late 60's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Skyline_GT-R

Not sure how we got on the Japan/German tangent but whatever.

I was refering to the last generation, which was designed to compete against the 911.
And by the way, i never debated that the GTR is a bad car. as a matter of fact i recall calling it "a great driving car". Nevertheless its intention was to be something else.
The GTR I will insist is a great car, but can you honestly tell me that all nissans drive like that? do all toyotas dirve like a supra? Every model in a Japanese car manufacturer's lineup is designed to compete against others for market share, not according to their company's history. On the contrary all BMW's have very defined driving characteristics that makes them BMW's its not the badge, but this heritage that is their signature, from a 20K 1 Series to a 160K 7 Series. I think that engeneering-wise its even outstanding haw they copied this so faitfully into a 4x4.
We got into this "debate" because the report originally intended to compare MDX's to X5's, but it is doing so in an area outside of what an X5 is supposed to do, which is, like I said, make you smile every time you drive it. I think that the MDX fails far worse in that area than the X5 fails in reliability.

Roundel, BMW CCA's own magazine, compared the MDX directly to the X5 and RDX to X3 (both X's lost by the way). So it is 100% valid to compare those models IMO. The 1er is going to cost far more then 20K when released in the states but that is beside the point. I would agree that not all Nissan's are powered to be like a Skyline. That would be pointless as such all their cars would then be 45K+...ohhh like BMW :rofl: Oh an the M Bimmers feel nothing like their non-M counter parts.

As was stated much earlier, CR compares what the average driver wants & can afford.

The CR report doesn't surprise me at all. Nothing new that BMW has reliability issues and Honda/Toyota have far fewer issues. It's clear that some of the Japanese car companiew are starting to get a bit more daring with performance, design and market segments.

Toyota's Tundra just won truck of the year and the Nissan Titan is advertised all over the place as well - obviously aiming at Ford, GM etc for a portion of the pick-up business (which is highly profitable). Nissan also has a GT-R and Toyota is coming out with an IS-F which is targeted after the same buyers as BMW 3 series.

In brief I agree with the Japanese approach, first concentrate on reliability and then branch out to other market segments. I hope that BMW, who currently has a market niche (us), will now concentrate more on reliabilty - which is a factor that most reasonable people weigh into the decision.

Ya got to give props to BMWNA realizing that maintenance costs were too damn high on BMW's and thus, 50K free maintenance was born. Smart move.

Good point, the free maintenance was a smart move. I just hope it's not BMW's way of saying "we can't compete on reliabilty so we'll do this instead". At the end of the day I want to drive my ride, not a loaner. So I'm hoping the free maintenance is just a short term 'solution' before the rectify the real problem.

Yes, M BM's are a whole differrent animal, and i thought about writing so, but thought that would make the post too long.
I'm not against comparing the X's to Acuras, but you have to do it from more than one persepctive (i.e. reliability), otherwise it is a biased comparasion.
Yes the 1er is, i heard going to start at around 30 in the states. But in Mexico you can get one with the smallest engine offered here, a 2.0 4 cil with 150 hp and valvetronic, at around 22k all the way up to a 135 for 45k.
but they all drive alike, of course not powerwise, but handling is shockingly similiar, (except for the powerslides). That's my point. If anything the Japanese have shown that they can make a good driving car and for little money, at least less than the Germans, but they don't stick to it, thay don't stick to any other belief other than making money from markets thay didn't invent.

Do some searches on this site for Roundel articles comparing the two, you'll see they were compared on far more then reliability.

Found them, i will finish reading them, and I will do you one better. Tomorrow morning at the latest, I will go and test drive the new MDX. I give my word that I will be subjective and unbiased. The looks, I will never like, but thats a matter of personal taste. On the other hand if it, as a vehicle which competes directly with the X5, is as good as some people believe it is, I will admit it. But if you don't like my findings you will have to respect that that is my opinion.

Very well but I doubt the dealer will let you take the car mildly off road :)

Here was my response to another when considering a MDX versus a X5;

I think the essential difference between the two cars is in the lineage. The BMW is derived from a company committed to building sports oriented vehicles. BMW automobiles have always put the emphasis is on performance and handling. The X5 is built with no less in mind. The MDX is built by a company whose lineage is vehicles for the masses with an emphasis on economy. The MDX may be a fine SUV, but to those who notice, it does not posses the soul of a BMW. As it is important to also protect the contents of the car, the X5's ability to avoid a dangerous situation is superior to the MDX.

This is a stupid comment. My X5 is my second BMW and I love 'em . . but I also love my 1994 Toyota MR2 Turbo and 2007 Sequoia. The Sequoia lacks some soul, but the MR2 has loads. 200 hp, 2657 lbs, mid-engined, LSD, with a stick shift that extends a mere 4 inches above the transmission tunnel. It's much more of a driver's car than my 2001 325i or my X5 ever were.

Plus, the MR2 community is just as active, if not more so, than the BMW community. There is a local cooperative MR2 skunkworks, where MR2 owners chip in to rent industrial space with a lift and tools. Enthusiasts can use the space to experiment with welding up new suspensions or experiment with wedging a supercharged truck engine into their MR2. The older enthusiasts support the younger kids with parts and time and expertise. If that's not soul, I don't know what is.

Oh, wow! I thought MDX owners were calmer and more peaceful than X5 owners...

The new MDX and RL are not the typical Japanese cars. I have driven them and they are different. Not saying better than BMW, but they have come a long way.
See review by a X5world member here

I've had Acura for the last 10 years. Starting with a 98 4 door Integra GS-R, a 04 TL 6MT w/ nav, and a loaded 05 MDX. Still own them all! I have also had a fare share of BMW in my family, 81 320i, 95 525i, 07 328xi. All sold and left with only the X5 as far as BMW goes.

My X5 parks next to my MDX everynight. The vehicle that I primarily drive is the X5. I have had and still have my fare share of warranty issues, more than all of my Acura's put together. Having said that, I can't think of any other vehicle I'd rather drive on a daily basis than my 4.8is! (and my acura's when BMW doesn't have a loaner for me)