To buy or not to buy?
 

I'm debating if I should get an 01-03 X5 or not. I can afford to buy the car, but I don't know about the up keep. I've loved them since they were new and now that I can finally get one, I don't know if I should. Is the maintenance cost going to a whooooole lot? I need honest answers. And If I should, what specifics should I look for? Whats the highest milage I should look at? 3.0 or 4.4? Are some years better than others? Even though their the older model, this is like a dream car and I don't want to end up hating it and writing BMW off for life, although of course, I never could...lol.

Any advice is welcomed.

THANKS!

P.S. - If I don't go with that, I've been thinking about the second generation Lincoln Navigator.

I have had my 04 X for 3 years and I have spent $8000AUD on maintenance, $3000 were repairs due to poor build quality rather than wear and tear and I also had a tranny rebuild which praise the lord was covered by warranty. I also have faulty side mirrors which have already been replaced once under warranty, and need to be again to the tune of $1000. I also have problems with sunroof but Im not bothering spending an arm and a leg on repairing sub par tech which breaks quickly.
My car is now burning oil, fingers crossed on that one. My boot rattles constantly. Power steering oil is leaking. My cluster is now unevenly lit being very dull in some spots and really bright in another and I am leaking power steering fluid. Unfortunately in my experience the mechanics have a replace rather than repair policy, or replace rather than diagnose.

My car has been well treated and was purchased with well under 100k km and was bmw approved.

some common issues tmk:

Cv boots
Transmission Issues
Excessive oil consumption
Air suspension
Rough idle/start, intermediate levers
Cooling system
side mirrors
Rear tail light connections melt
Squeaks and rattles abound
Clusters issues
and the list goes on....

Don't get me wrong, I love this car...but Im being honest as requested. I'm hoping this car lasts another 5 years without anything too major and by that time I will either buy a porsche cayenne turbo or an Infiniti suv if they are any good (not out here yet). My experience hasn't been great so naturally I'm going to shop around and experience other brands as I'm not old or brand loyal.
Running costs are critical to one working out whether they can afford something, its a rich persons car that comes with rich persons bills!

Unless you tackle some of the fixes yourself I would recommend against it. If you can find a car that has a lot of the common trans/engine fixes done you are in good shape. If they are coming up or you cannot verify the repairs then you might be looking at spending the price of the car in maintenance in the 80k - 120k miles interval. Cars that get pushed in to the trade seem to often have problems, that is why they get dumped.

I have owned my 03 since 45k miles and I just did the trans and valley pan at 95k myself (took quite a few weeks since so many competing items out there for spending time...). Previously I swapped the waterpump, three CV boots and a CV joint. I am planning to do the chainguides and vanos when it gets colder again in the fall. All of these fixes would add up to 5 or 6000 at an indy and over 10 at the dealer.....in essence a pre-facelift X5 with 100k on the clock is a "total-loss" as the repairs equal or exceed the value of the car :-0)

I know that is an extreme view but a lot of the Outposters have gone through all/some of these fixes at some point. The AT is less frequent and at varying mileage but they do fail. My wife is slowly starting to argue to let the '03 go, I just might do that but not quite yet.

there are some members with 300k with virtually no problems what so ever so it might be a matter of luck.i have an 02 X5 3.0I.i spent about $3000 in repairs and services, however a lot of it looked like repairs that were needed due to the abuse of the previous owner.its only been 1,000k since i got it all fixed up,but im really loving how it rides now.being handy with a wrench will help a lot if you do decide to buy this car.

I wouldn't say that (are you referring to wally?). The X5 is not a low maintenance car, and every 100k-150k miles you will run into major repairs (cooling system, transmission, suspension, engine gaskets), and you will have some smaller repairs along the way (window regulators, burned pixels, C.V. joints, electronic gremlins, etc.). Most of us here love the way they drive and are willing to deal with those problems, but DO NOT expect it to cost you what a Toyota would over the same time stretch.

-Cyrus

bit on the random side but did you get those rims from discount tires direct?how do you like them?

I think I'll have to end up going with an 2004ish Volvo XC90. I love the X5 and would buy a new one in a heart beat if I had the money, but I don't want any million dollar surprises on an early model. My aunt has an 04 325xi and around 90k she had to spend like $2-3K on a big repair. And for a while she a loaner almost every other month. Hopefully I can get a brand new 2017 since that'll be about the time I can afford it.

Thanx for the advice and even tho I don't have one I'll visit on here often. I love seeing the pix and hearing the stories.

Any advice is still greatly appreciated.

Well, to start X5: Great car, great comfort. However, that comfort is spending you alot, I have now come to conclusion that X5 is not a expensive car because it costs alot or something, It's an expensive car because you have to own it. Over in my countrey, where labor prices are few bucks compared to those in any other US/Europe countrey, It has cost me 4-6k$. mine is an 00. Right now, just after replacing fuel pump, vanos guide broke and have to take engine apart, repair it and sell it. I won't be in countrey for few months, and by the new years thinking to get X5 again 06 4.8is that will be. Just because I know more now and I will choose better cared one, and will fix what has to be fixed when it's time comes and not when it fails totally. that's my opinion.
Now, about Volvo: I would not reccomend it as my friend had it. It's parts also are expensive and besides the car is just tooooo heavy and has alot of exxxtra weight on it!

Is there any SUV 2002+ in the area of X5, Volvo XC90, Lincoln Navigator that someone would recommend? Every car I think of has some kinda reliability problems. Maybe that's just the downside of a nice car.

A 2002+ will be 9 yrs old - any SUV of that age/higher mileage is going to need parts replacing ...it's just that there is more to go wrong in the X, Volvo etc. and they cost more to repair both in parts and labor.