I'm starting to worry about the CCV system in this vehicle...

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Um...so yeah...found quite a bit of oil in some of the spark plug holes. Not surprised, but for some reason was numb to the possibility of that shorting out the plugs and causing dead cylinders. Off to purchase a wet/dry vac in the morning and do the soda straw trick to suck all the oil out before I replace the gaskets, which will hopefully be here by Weds.

This is by far the most depressing thread on this forum.

Not really the 'WORST", sure there are some problems, but on the whole these are complicated machines, they break......but, if you have never owned a Brit or Italian vehicle...you aint' got a clue....

Yeah my forum title might have been a little harsh and fueled by anger and alcohol. I should know by now that if you own a BMW, you better like tinkering and problem solving and have something else to drive on the side. However, I do get a great deal of satisfaction when I fix something on the X and it runs better.

I think they are very well built machines, but as with anything high tech, they don't age well. Take a look at a laptop computer, you can buy the newest, greatest thing on the market and in 6 months it's outdated. The X5 is like a high end computer on wheels. Mechanically they are tanks, electronically they have issues that come with age and mileage.

My X5 has 148k miles on it, when all is well it runs and drives better than most brand new cars from other manufacturers. After 10 years the interior still looks new, the paint is flawless and it drives like it's on air on the expressway, engine is smooth as butter. Can't say that about many other cars.

This post worries me. Guess I better set aside a 'maintenance fund,' though I expect it will be much less trouble than the dodges and the Fix Or Repair Daily I owned :P

You'll definitely have less problems, but the problems you will have are going to be more expensive.

I think a turkey baster might be a cheaper & better solution to getting a couple of ounces of oil out than a wet/dry vac. You'd be smelling oil every time you ran the vac thereafter.

The title of the thread does not make it true---do you believe everything you read on the internet?

E53 X5s are many years old. More often than not they have been driven more than 80,000 miles. Stuff is far more likely to wear out or break. The environment the X has been in, how it has been driven or how well it has been taken care of can easily be contributors to more problems. The threads are also about a variety of years and engines and may have nothing to do with what you own.

Pick almost any product to ask a group of people to make a list of the positives and negatives they can think of about that product--the list of negatives will always far exceed the list of positives. That is a truism and simply human nature.

This is a forum where members are often trying to figure out what is the cause of a problem they are having or how to fix one by DIY. I contend, even if it wasn't about the problems or DIYs, the negatives would far exceed the positives anyway.

If I were to take to heart what I read here it would be hard to be positive about any X5. As it is it is not unusual for me to imagine I am having a problem I have just read about. I constantly have to remind myself to maintain a realistic perspective.

FYI-I have owned my X since it was new. I have driven in a very spirited manner. I have done many engine modifications stressing everything more than the norm. I have driven it 110,000 miles. I take very good care of it. Ask me about a problem you are expecting will happen because of thread you have read. It is unlikely you can think of something that wasn't normal wear. This is by far the longest I have ever kept a vehicle. That is because I still love everything about it and it has always been extremely reliable.

Finally, I wouldn't be trying to help OP if I thought he really meant the title of his thread. I would tell him that his best course of action is to rid himself of the pain and suffering--or before long he will be beating his dog.