Its not just 4.6s. It took me 3 months to find a 4.8iS that was under 70k and worth buying. These vehicles are rare to begin with and like others have said most of them are driven hard by multiple owners and outside of this forum/community alot are not taken care of. It's the same reason e39 M5s are what they are in remotely good condition.

I guess I just miss the good ol days when BMW made such amazing and RELIABLE cars. I work at a BMW dealership and to be honest the new cars just suck especially the new X5. They have no soul and are comparable to a grand Cherokee when it comes to the drive all because of the people who buy them.

02 BMW X5 4.6is sport

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/cto/4830588139.html

A few for sale in the chicagoland area. Not low mileage tho. They look pretty clean.

It's funny how people add extra power and call the engine alpina when they try to sell the car.

You don't see many of the 4.6iS because the 4.8iS is better :nanana: :D
Now that we both work from home, both the E53 and the E39 //M5 will see limited driving. I try to drive each at least once a week. We bought a Honda Odyssey for our weekly trip to NC to save mileage on the others.

Mine is on life support right now... at the mechanics:( Normally I DIY but this one I don't feel like taking on. 97k 4.6is Estoril Blue. Bought it two days before Christmas. Two days after Christmas the problems started. Most recently the PCV failed blowing out the VCG. Well while the mechanic is in there, we are tackling a lot of things. Valley pan on up, including OSV and hoses, vacuum lines, gaskets etc. I'm hoping that after this I can at least enjoy the car for a while before something else breaks :rolleyes: I knew it was rough around the edges but didn't expect hell to break loose all at once. When I get it back I will be tackling the gauge pixels. I bought the ribbon, just haven't tried to install it because it's been at the shop since 1/10.

Dont forget timing chains and guides and all associated parts

Holding off on those for now. I did bring the question up to my mechanic and he said that it did not sound / seem that there was any reason to replace these at this time (I do know the interval is 100-150k) and he said it was not really that worthwhile because only the VCG project would overlap the timing chain stuff. I would go ahead and just do it but I haven't gotten to drive the car enough to know if say the tranny is just gonna blow up. Id hate to drop an extra $1500 right now and possibly have the whole car be worthless in a month. I know some people would do it differently but this is how I'm gonna go about it for now.

Mine is going into the shop on Thursday for help on diagnosis. 2002 black 4.6is with 103k. Already went through the whole suspension and took care of all the seals, no leaks:) Overall in great shape, though started making a slight "turbo" type noise when taking off from a stop. Looks like the dreaded torque converter problem. No noise when cold, comes on as the tranny fluid warms up or so I think. We will drop the pan and see what it looks like. I also have a B5 S4, so I'm used to the headaches. Have had Jeeps and SUV's, but not as fun as this, so the issues are a nice hobby and the wife puts up with it. So long as I keep her in a new car without issues.


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Bought it new, driven it near 114,000 miles. Very very few problems that weren't normal wear. Have done many mods but none that can't be removed to take it back to stock. Have never kept a DD longer than 4 years until my X5. Love it!!

A 4.8 is not faster than this 4.6.