Need your advice please, prospective buyer!!
 

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At that price point you could be buying more of a liability than an asset, so you'll need to shop carefully. There's not much difference in economy between the petrol six and the V8 despite the superior performance of the V8. The consensus however is that the six is cheaper to run and more trouble free. If you go for a six with the manual 'box (five speed up to 2004, six speed thereafter) you'll also bypass the problem of the auto box failure.

If you do a search on this site you'll find lots of threads on the various auto boxes. Six cylinder petrol always had a five-speeder, pre-2004 V8 also had a five-speed while post-2004 V8 got the six-speeder.

Both the petrol and diesel sixes were available with a manual box (five or six speed, as I mentioned) but they are not very common.

Hey Mate,

I have owned two X5s, a 4.4 and 4.6, both 2003 models. The 4.4 has 94K miles on it which is equivalent to the 150K kilometers you mention. Here in the US you can find a clean 4.4 with 75K miles for 13,000 to $20,000 US$ depending on the year. Not sure what they go for down under. I would definetly go for the 4.4, fuel economy will be similar betwixt that the 3.0 but you will have more towing capability with V8. Try to find one with a towing package already on it cuz you will spend a few $ to install one on it.

Peruse the forums for the usual suspect items that need replacing. Expect to start replacing things like CV joints and other front end components, cooling system items. I have had good luck with the 4.4 so far (knock on wood) but the 4.6 has been a lot more costly. For safety, and other issues you mention the X5 is a tank. Good luck.

Unfortunately they are way more expensive. FYI a new X5 50i will set you back A$133,400 while even the cheapest X5 (the 30d, a single turbo diesel not sold in the US) will set you back A$92,100. These prices are before any options or any on-road costs such as government taxes, registration etc. That's why second-hand X5s are much more expensive. And, all this despite the fact that the Aussie dollar is close to parity with the US dollar.

In the USA we have soft recall on the instrument cluster, due to ribbon cable contact oxidation. What BMWNA does is to pitch in some of the cost of replacing the cluster, not sure about Aussie policy.

You either remove the cluster, clean the contact with alcohol or get a new instrument cluster (around $700 US here in the USA).
Good luck.

pixels like this courtesy of M5 james .

Purchased!
 

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Great looking car! Good luck and enjoy.

Looks very tidy. And the towbar is a bonus as they aren't cheap to fit. Good luck with it.