road trip - rent or take the X5?
 

We are planning a long distance road trip over the holidays to visit my parents in Portland OR and driving from the SF Bay Area. It's about 750 miles one way. I was planning to drive the X5 up in case we ran into any snow.

But just for grins I checking into rentals and I could rent a full sized car from Enterprise - Altima, Impala or Charger - for $200 for the week. Which would save me at least half of that in gas costs alone. So for $100 to save the wear and tear on the X5 may be worth it. X5 is racking up more miles this year anyway with my wife driving it for school car pool runs - I expect to do about 16K on it vs. 11K last year. On the other hand, what's another 1500 miles, right? I am slightly worried that I haven't swapped out the cooling system yet - I have all the parts to do the job but don't want to do that right before a long road trip. Been checking and all looks good. Expansion tank and upper rad hose were replaced 25K miles ago, but the radiator and water pump are originals. Tho I guess cooling system wouldn't be too taxed this time of year.

I just swapped on the winter tires and new brakes front and rear and planning an oil change this weekend. All service is up to date, even fresh fuel filter. So she's perfectly road worthy.

Of course I will be kicking myself if we take a rental and then end up hitting snow..... And the X5 would be a way nicer long distance road trip car. But damn the rental is so cheap it makes me think about giving the BMW a rest for the holidays!!

Thoughts?

BMWs don't need rest. Strong like Ox. :)

I'd say as long as your coolant level is healthy and you're running on a fresh oil and filter change, you're good to go.

With those potential options, I would take my/your X without thinking twice...
AWD, built like a tank, you know the car, the gas diff is unsubstantial, it will
run in snow/rain, etc. Those cars you listed aren't dawgs, but which one do
you want to be 'in' if some idiot comes your way?
My 50Cts.
GL, mD

ya - no doubt I would far rather be in the X5, plus it is about the safest vehicle possible for such a trip with potential for rain / snow - especially with the pirelli scorpion ice and snows on it...... I'll probably just go ahead and take it.

Yes, yes I think you will grasshopper.

Funny you say that actually. I dissuaded my mom from taking her 4.6is on a road trip to ohio. about the same mileage as you say... I didnt want her to put the wear and tear on it..

but then again, these cars are meant to be driven, and you obviously take care of the car! whereas, i cant really be sure what my mom and dad do to it! (my dad used the rough edge of a kitchen sponge to try and get tar off the rear hatch..OUCH. took me 2 hours and a random orbital to fix that one.)

yes - I take care of all my cars rather religiously... :dunno:

me too. I think i may be that "kid who keeps his car really clean" at school.

hey. not a bad title to have

Go out and enjoy the car for the drive, when you accelerate on the highway, you'll remember why you chose it.

If you're considering renting, you should sell the x5 b/c this kind of trip is why you buy the SAV in the 1st place

:iagree: 100000000%

I am actually looking forwad to have time so that I can do a long road trip with my 35i. Its like marrying a super model but afraid to f--- her. ;pimpdahoe;

when given the chance, never hesitate to give a supermodel a DNA shower.

likewise, never cheat on your X.

HA - too funny guys. I agree!!

Actually, if it was summer, I would rec'd taking your Vette!

hard to fit all 4 of us in the vette...

But ya - any non winter road trip for 1 or 2 would be in the vette for sure. I drive that one as much as possible - it's no garage queen!

I say take your X5. I always ask my parents why they pay to maintain such a vehicle and then not trust it for only 1500 miles? That was the mindset when we drove down to the BMW Performance Center down in SC (1500 mile round trip also) with our X5 which hasn't had a cooling system overhaul. In preparation, we topped off the oil and coolant, check tire pressures and looked underneath for cracks in the CV boots. The X5 fared fine after days of highway speeds.

hehe

You obviously take great care of your car! That is the entire reason you would propose renting a car vs taking your X!! Haha. I totally understand where you are coming from with this decision.
In my opinion, take the X!! You bought the car to use it, so use it. You have all the appropriate equipment (all wheel drive and winter tires) for if you run into weather. It sounds like your X is in excellent repair and wont let you down on a road trip.
Take it, love and enjoy the trip in your X. I remember when you bought it and talked about how much you enjoyed the road trip driving it back to CA! Just thought I would throw that in to remind you of how fun the X's are on the road!!
Happy holidays and safe travels, X or no X!

:thumbup::thumbup:

Taking the X out to stretch her legs in the highway is reallly satisfying...
downshifting and accelerating is just pure joy!...

Yes - that was a great 4K mile trip that I did half of and enjoyed every mile. I suppose with my wife driving it so much lately this would also be a good chance to spend some time behind the wheel myself!! Between the two of us we have logged 17K trouble free miles in the last 1.5 years on top of what was put on to get it out to CA from KY. And just since school started in mid august it's seen 6K. So I guess 1500 miles is nothing!! :rofl:

Anyway - ya, she's in fine shape right now - could use a fresh set of thrust arm bushings and probably a full set of shocks, but that will probably wait until after the school year is over and I have some time to take care of that work. Nothing urgent there, just normal age related refresh and the 1.5K miles of freeway driving won't effect that much.

i agree with motordavid for the safety issue alone. a guy just recently killed his wife here when he let her get into the cavalier that he was driving and turned left in front of a half-ton truck.

the truck had a small dent in the bumper. the cavalier driver survived and was released that night from hospital. come to think of it, he made the decision about the value of his wife's life when he bought that small car...

be the truck, not the car!

See you in Portland :cool:

The drive to/from Northern CA and Portland is fabulous. I flew there and picked up my X5 in Portland in early November and that drive home was absolutely positively killer.

I've done it many dozens of times. It's a bit long, but it is a nice drive except for the long section between Redding and Vacaville that is dead straight and no scenery. I like to hit that one at night when I can crank up the speeds to get it over with :thumbup:

The other thing I enjoyed was .. Oregon's roads. Miles and miles and miles and NO POT HOLES!!! I don't get it .. where are the potholes??

Don't rent a yawnmobile. Take the X5! We're looking forward to taking our 123k-mile X5 on our 790-mile (one-way) road trip next week.

Take the X. Why have it if not to drive it?

ya - good points all. I'm taking it!! I will enjoy the trip so much more that way vs. a crappy rental sedan since I hate those things!!

My best friend and I drove my X from Seattle to D.C. like we stole it.
In fact one day we drove through Zion then hit Sundown at the North Rim sped around to the South Rim had time to sleep and still made it for Sunrise. The X performed flawlessly even loaded down with gear and snowboards.

Oh make sure you have a Valentine One it saved our asses many times along the way.

oh-you-betcha on the V1. I have a hardwire already and will be sure to grab it from it's normal spot in my vette for the trip. I never travel without that!! :thumbup:

c4racer: I was gonna say if you dont take your X I want to rent your snow wheels! HAHA. Wise choice! You will enjoy the X much more than a rental!

I am heading up to Mammoth on Sunday and it looks like some serious snow is going to be coming down. I am running on the 255-55 18's with michelin mxv4 all seasons. I think I will have to pick up some chains! I am almost wondering if we should see if we can reschedule our stay in mammoth to mid week??

well that depends if you want to ski the pow - I shoot for the eye of the storm myself when my schedule allows it. You should be fine with those tires btw.

Oh course I want pow pow!!!! :) I think we will be getting in at just the right time. Sometimes it doesnt work out the best at Mammoth to be on the mtn when it is snowing because the winds get really high and they close a lot of the lifts.

Now the next question. Which X5 do we take? The 3.0 with all seasons or the newer 4.4 and put the all seasons from the 3.0 on that one because it is ridding on summers....haha

ah to have such choices!! Enjoy. I know what you mean about the winds - same deal at one of my favorite places Squaw. I am going to have to find a day to get up to enjoy some fresh pow next week tho. This weekend looks pretty dicey due to the winds. Monday / Tuesday may be pretty good. Sounds like a heavy storm coming thru at least up north over the next 3-4 days and maybe longer.

I have been watching the weather and it looks like a big storm for the next few days and it will start to calm down on sunday. Maybe a couple dustings on monday and tuesday but nothing extreme and the system will have passed through by wednesday!! I think our timing should be good! My friend is in Tahoe right now. I am not sure where he is riding but he is getting some great conditions!!

where in ohio? (lol sorry to get off topic)

Kettering, near Dayton. My sister works for GE out there for the time being.

I will go ahead and take the counter-point on this one. If you can rent a mid-size for 200 or maybe even use the BMW CPO Hertz discount code and rent a Forester or similar, do it! You'll be busy with family stuff probably and piling in and out of the car visiting Oregeon wine country (maybe sake too) and sometimes its fun to hit the road in something low profile and which you can, ahem, test the durability of. You'll save 1,500 miles of life on your expensive winter tires and save that tread-life for Tahoe! Everybody in OR drives too slow anyway and the hipsters in Portland will key your 4.6.

We had a preview for the trip over this weekend for a high school basketball game up in Sacramento. Spent 4-4.5 hours in the car, which is at least 1/3 of the trip to Portland. Drove the 740i. Encountered some nasty rain along the way, but that car with brand new all season tires is so well composed and stable in the wet that I hardly noticed. It was a nice drive.

I'm taking the X5 for 3 reasons:
1. I couldn't imagine doing 1500 miles over a 4 day window in a rental fleet car.... I am way too spoiled by BMW's for long distance travel now!

2. With all the wet weather we have been having there is a very good chance we will run into some snow in the mountains up past Redding. And no sense adding any drama.

3. plenty of room for christmas presents in the back vs. a midsized car trunk

:iagree: - made the mistake of taking our leased 2010 Corolla for a trip down to FL from PA to save some $'s for gas but regret the decision as body felt sore and tired after the long drive...

:D

I'm onboard with this. :)

In the summer, the wife's fam is in Chicago. We drove her 3KGT TT there as we were stopping by Indy on the way back for the 3000GT/Stealth national gathering. PA turnpike was a blast (on coilover suspension) but after 1000 miles I felt like I should have been inducted into the Iron Butt Association. In my car, (springs/oe struts) I'd drive it coast to coast and not mind being confined.

So now we're getting ready for 964mi (one way) trip from Va Beach, VA to Hollywood, FL to see the wife unit's family at their winter digs. The Michelin's were looking more like slicks than street tires, and I didn't trust them for the trip, so it was early Christmas present time for the X5.

RoadwayWholesaleTire.com - Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport - 315/35/20

Only $230.32 each! (Shipping wasn't crazy either.... right around $996 to the front door.)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...X5/X5tires.jpg

Got those fitted and oil changed, should be good to go. (Man those old tires got hard, the ride is so much better.) Anyhow, don't care what the odometer says, I'm always up for putting more miles on the X5.

Have safe travels, all! Don't forget to check spare tire pressure, etc. :)

ya - C6 vette has a very good highway ride, even with the Z51 package I have. You don't need a bone crushing suspension when the car is light, low and designed from ground up as a sports car. But there still isn't room for the family!! Perfect for trips with just the wife or one of the kids tho.

Agree on the Vette being a great trip car! We do week long trips regularly: 2 sets of clubs, soft luggage, etc.

We alsohave Z51 on our '02 C5, and other than the Borlas being too loud at cruise, and the heat generated through the armrest area, it's a helluva car. Not as sophisitcated as your C6 however.
GL, mD

update: We got back from the trip last night. All went well. Drove a total of 1400 miles including around town in Portland. Averaged ~17mpg and ~60mph for the entire trip. Experienced some wild weather all day yesterday with pouring rain, massive standing water, whipping winds in the range of 30-50mph, snow in the mountains down to 2500 feet, etc. The X5 performed flawlessly and carried my family quite safely through some amazingly difficult weather conditions. The scorpion ice and snows were a bit squirely in the heavy pockets of standing water, but not too surprising for a 265 width tire. For whatever reason the E38 is way more stable in wet weather driving. But the X5 was the right tool for this job with a good amount of snow on the road on both legs of the trip. Not to mention we ended up bringing more stuff home than we carried up there, and the X5 was loaded to the gills.

Tomorrow I head up to Tahoe for some skiing - figure I may as well go enjoy the fruits of the massive storm that I struggled through all day yesterday...