Looking to move from my E53 to an E70. What should I look out for?
 

Hello All-
Title says it all. I have come to the end of my rope on the E53. Tons of repairs over the last few months and the time it's been laid up has me daily driving my F30. Luckily mostly DIY repair and now its time to let her find a new home. I am looking at a low Mileage pre LCI E70 3.0si with a solid maintennace history. Through searches I wasn't able to find as much info as in the E53 forums. What are the main things I'm looking out for and what is recommended as preventative maintenance to be done upon buying the new car? Based on the front page of FCPeuro it doesn't seem too different from the E53 with the exception of everything being 50% more expensive. Thanks in advance and I look forward to making my new home in the E70 forum.

Its probably the most reliable of all the E70s...

That's what I've figured so far and after dealing with the E53 and a friends 650 I'll stay away from 8 & 12 cylinder BMWs. Nice lineup in the driveway, we have similar tastes.:thumbup:

Don't forget to check if the pano roof is fully operational.

If it doesn't look like it was recently replaced, I would change the coolant expansion tank to avoid that from failing. I got a Berh tank for about $60. Other than that, I would replace the transfer case and transmission fluid.

Thanks. It's an '07 with 93k miles. I was planning on doing expansion tank, hoses and belts just to be on the safe side. Claims to have recent brakes, control arms, tires and a full dealer maintenance history. If the pano is clicking I'm walking away, I never use the one in the E53 unless my kids are in the car but they love it. Do they all have the air suspension? I went with the E53 initially to avoid it, and the example that I had was extraordinarily maintained until the expansion tank went in NYC traffic and I spent the past 4 months doing piece by piece repair on it now realizing I should've just torn the whole coolant system out at once. Winters here being a real pain only allowed me to work on it here and there.

Air suspension work is not bad, you can replace failed bags with Aarnot bags which have a lifetime warranty. The pump itself hardly ever fails

Some have rear air and 3rd row seating which might be occasionally useful since you have kids.

I don't think any of the e70s have front and rear air suspension though.

Welcome to Channel E70...

my only advice is to stay away from the N62 engine in the 4.8i X5 e70!! unless you are a DIY person with advanced mechanic abilities and a lot of money and time :)

or maybe a 3rd party warranty lol