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We have the funding arranged ready to pull the trigger.

2011 or newer under 100,000 miles

Three different trims we are most interested in and have tricky to decide pro and cons.

35d 35i and 50i are the trims we are aiming for but the 30i if a killer price and I can confirm the performance is notable improvement over the 3.0i e53 we would not outright reject the idea.

The 50i caught me by surprise for sure! Every time I looked into the performance models they were 10k over our budget but I'm finding them within our budget even with under 100,000 miles.

Less miles more important than newer year but I also really really want active suspension (roll control I forgot what BMW calls it): not sure how to confirm the car has buy I will be VIN decoding before purchase.

So: the practical math;

50i about 15¢ per mile or $150/mo in gas

35i worked out to 12.5¢ ($125)

35d worked out to 10¢ ($100)

Another hidden advantage of diesel model is that when I buy premium not at discount it is 17% more vs. 7% more for diesel.

That means that $150 becomes $175 while $100 becomes $107.

This will be wife's car so it won't be pushed very hard.

I'm very interested to find out "gotcha" parts like the electric water pimp; which engine has the stupid expensive one and which is easiest labor to replace.

I've done that repair on 328xi and no joke the most difficult car repair I've done. 9/10 difficulty to get the hose between the pump and Thermostat connected!

I'm a little anxious about going to FI, but I've been monitoring e70 forum for over a year to prepare and I didn't see any horror stories to scare me away from any of the three power plants listed above.

I won't have a lot of choice in the matter of panoramic roof, seems like most candidates have it and I'm not a big fan but I know of the method to disable the back if/when becomes a problem.

I used to have z28 Camaro and it wasn't inexpensive but through my entire ownership period I used these phrase "worth every penny". I have a feeling I would have that same feeling with the 50i

Wife likes fast acceleration but is "ok" with 3.0i 2001 (about 9 seconds 0-60) so we do not need to go for the 50i any of the models above will be more than needed.

I'm really really really hoping the intermediate lever disaster from around 2004 is permanently resolved. I will be planning to change the "lifetime" fluids fairly soon after taking delivery as we will be buying young enough it should be well before wear problems occur.

I haven't driven e70 so I'm not sure if the front axle engagement is as obvious as 328xi but I'm not a fan of being able to feel the power shift that doesn't exist on our cars with the open dif transfer case.

Give me feedback on which powerplant I should prioritize and what to look for when test driving and how to find if the car has active suspension.

E70 is a great chassis Andrew. Feels like a space ship tech wise compared to the e53.

Personally, while the 30i may be "fast enough," it would't do it for me. Would stick to 35i or 35d. We loved our diesel... until the trans died @ 166000 miles. In the process of fixing that atm. The diesel has a mechanical water pump while the 35i has an electric. I agree with you, the electric pumps are bears to replace. LoL, but really nice when it comes to bleed procedure. So at least after spending 2 hours cursing fiddling with the artificial heart valve and lining up all the arteries you can sit back and have a beer while the car bleeds itself.

The diesels "gotchas" are all documented, and mostly relate to the emissions stuff. I've done the active tank rebuild on ours, replaced both NOX sensors, and done the glow plugs/module. All were relatively affordable and nothing out of the ordinary. If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to try and answer them.

BTW, your fuel calculations are SPOT on. :thumbup: Our 4.8is = 15c/mi and the 35d = 10c/mi as you said. That's over 30,000+ miles on the N62 and just about 30,000 miles on the M57.

That's some great feedback. I was pretty sure I'd be stepping stone via e53 06 before moving to e70 but wife was approved for a very generous SBA grant that is making a very very nice upgrade possible.

The $/mo when "away from home" may make a difference in our choice:

$125/mo for 35i becomes $137.5 but the $100/mo for the 35d becomes $107. The relative stability of the price at different stations caught me by surprise.

My gut says that diesel +turbo more robust than gas + turbo and especially gas + turbo + turbo. That said to have a rocket of a car again I'd definitely be ok with premium for that. "worth every penny"

Love the mention of have a beer while: one of my favorite YouTube channels, the guy uses "beer" as a unit of time e.g. (let that part soak in the degreaser for 1 to 1-1/2 beers). Amazing.

Hello andrewwynn,

Personally, I would avoid the 50i. Looks good on paper, but the timing chain and valve stem seals are deal breakers for me. My independent shop agrees. Too high risk-reward for my check book. New timing chains can run $15K to put right. Valve stem seals are also expensive to fix. https://bmwtuning.co/n63-engine-problems/

The 35i (N55 engine,) is much more reliable and cheaper to maintain. https://bmwtuning.co/n55-common-problems/

The 35d (M57Y engine,) solid choice. https://autospruce.com/bmw-m57-engin...s-reliability/

The adaptive drive is a nice, but be prepared. It will fail, and it will be expensive to fix. https://xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/...ive-drive.html

If you are tight on budget, Adaptive Drive, Air Suspension (3rd row,) and v8 should be avoided at all cost. Also be aware of those beautiful 20" or 21" wheels. Check the price of tires before falling in love with those. (Style 214 is my favorite.)

If money is no object, get a loaded 50i and don't look back! Awesome ride.


The 30i is a solid and reliable engine. But getting an X5 2011 or newer is a big improvement in electronics and subtle design changes that are well worth the newer model. '12, or '13 are the best E70 choices, in my opinion.

Curious how you are calculating the cost per mile, but not mentioning your fuel price. And, what MPG are you assuming? You are only paying $2.50 for premium fuel?

I have the 35i and average little over 20MPG in mixed driving, consistently. But I am also paying four-dollars for premium fuel. That works out to about .20 cents per mile.

Straight highway nets about 28MPG which puts me at about .14 cents per mile.

Fuel is not getting cheaper. Our prices have gone up twenty-five cents per gallon in the last month.

For me, it came down to the 35i or 35d. Options and color were the deciding factors. I think either is a good choice.

Best of luck in your quest. -YMMV

Great feedback. I've done timing chain replacement and know what signs to pay attention to avoid needing it also the 100k on the clock max is critical to the possibility of the 50i

Adaptive drive (anti roll) if the system breaks it reverts to normal roll anti sway as the system works by just twisting the anti-sway bar.

If the electronics fail, a normal day bar can be swapped.

I'm more concerned about m esoteric water pumps. I read that one of the e70 power plants has an exceptionally expensive pump. Id like to know which pump as I can determine from VIN which pump a candidate car has.

I've been paying $3 for premium when I fill up at Sam's club. It's about 3.50 at normal stations near me. Diesel is $2.80 @ Sam's and about $3.00 at normal stations.

I was using highway mpg for the cost per mile as 90% of my driving is between Racine and Chicago, also we do road trips.

If I can find active drive on 35d that might seal a deal but it's very difficult to determine from listings if the car has it.

I haven't seen anyone mention the transmission, but the 8 speed in my 35i is probably the biggest improvement for me. Great torque and acceleration with a good top end as well. At 180kph I've got less than 3k on the tach. The added complexity would of course add to the price of any needed repairs.

I do have to say, the feel of the interior on my E53 vehicles is much sturdier than the composition of the E70. Plastics feel thinner and there's more of it compared to the E53. Rattles as a result seem more common, but they can be tracked down and dealt with.

Good luck with hunt!

There are many threads on the E70 forum dealing with common failure items so I won't rehash them (I feel like I have lived them all.....).

Adaptive Drive is superb but is pricey to fix. I still have a set of rear shocks in the garage (on one of them the control valve seems to have lost continuity) after replacing them with a lower mileage set. Roll control on the AD is unheard of, it corners like on rails for the weight it has. (My e53 is also quick on the ramps but the sport suspension tends to shake my fillings out...:-)

We drove our 35d for many years and enjoyed every minute of it, especially last year's jaunt through western Europe, but keeping the SES light off became a chore with the emissions control needing constant attention.

The latest bit of fun seems to be the Bear/hella EGR coolers leaking internally and leading to engine fires, at least as reported in Germany. The other item on the diesel is failure of an injector leading to hydro-lock. (Mostly due to water ingress at the engine partitions.)

Still, if I were to buy another E70, I'd probably opt for a lower mile diesel and then deal with the entire system at 100k or 110k. (Engine out: reseal, clean DPF, clean intake, hamonics damper, vac system, etc.)

Looking forward to see what you will pick.

Have you replaced the timing chains on an N63? Google it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAnc3mHF7x0 (exactly the same procedure for the X5 50i.) Not exactly a weekend-DIY project.

The electric water pump median price is ~$500, includes pump, thermostat and coolant. Same pump used across the line. And easier to replace on an X5 35i than a 3series. Loads more room to work. Not the simplest of tasks, but easier.

35i electric water pump
35d has mechanical water pump only
50i and M50dx have both mechanical and electric water pumps.

If the Adaptive Drive is not putting you off, then the electric water pump should not either. Water pumps fail, it is a maintenance item.

To find out what options a vehicle has, you will have to run the VIN. Nobody's add will accurately list any options on a vehicle. One site shows every car for sale as 'natural gas.' Car sales people do not know the product they are selling. They know the people who are going to buy at their lot.

I've replaced the timing chains on m62 on two cars, the second involved removing the heads and replacing about 1/3 of the valves because the engine was running when the timing chain broke.

There is more hardware to remove on the N63 than M62 to get to the meat of the system but the process looks similar. I'd like to know if it can be done with engine in, I'll maybe look for that.

Most cases of chain guide failure trace back to loss of oil pressure or not replacing the chain tensioners so those would be replaced right after getting the car no matter which model we get.

I think it took me about a week of 4-5 hour shifts to do the chain guides on the m62tu. It feels like an extra day for either removing the parts or pulling the engine if needed.

I did almost all the work solo. The car owner removed all the intake and fuel supply hardware from the engine to save me some work but all the real wrenching was done solo.

I had to build a valve spring compressor to change the bent valves so definitely not a simple job however it's very freeing to have passed that hurried l hurdle twice even, so the job though a ton of work (I think I estimated I spent 28-32 hours), it's just a lot of simple steps that are not more difficult than R & R a water pump (which of course is one of the steps).

I'm curious to know more about VSS with n63. I've seen a lot about it with N64 and was a concern with my next car: wonder if there is any treatment that can reduce the chance of needing to replace them.

Back to the water pump; bought OEM pump and Thermostat for about $340 for n52 motor in the 328xi and absolutely that had to be the worst case scenario; if there is literally one more inch of space to work would drop the difficulty from 9 to 6! I'm just curious about which motor uses which pump as I've heard some e70 use that same pump I just described and some use one that is like twice the price.

The 328xi pump died at about 120,000 miles. I've read that is not uncommon to fail about that age but our M54 motors have original pumps at 190-195,000. (going on second and third thermostat though)

If we get the 50i it will have to be a nearly flawless test drive, not buying a project car, however the prices have apparently dropped like a meteor over the past couple years because 50i weren't on our radar at all until my wife not even knowing anything about the engine options sent me a link to a 50i model within our price and mile restrictions.

My two cents after having experience with a 4.8i, 3.0i, and 35i all e70 - I would go for the 35i or 35d WITH adaptive drive. While I have no experience with the 50i, the N63 is by all accounts a complete nightmare engine. I believe the 35d has the older ZF 6 speed transmission and imo, the ZF 8 is a much nicer shifting transmission. The ZF 6 always has its quirks while the 8 is bang on 99.9% of the time. The N55 in the 35i should be solid but I have seen reports (and a disconcerting number of vehicles, including E70s) of blown N55s. It seems like they have rod bearing issues as they age. I believe the water pump on the 35i and 50i will each be an expensive pain to replace.

A couple notes. Adaptive drive is worth it. I've had two E70s with it, a 3.0 and my current 4.8. While I know it can be problematic, the only issue I've encountered so far was a leaky electrical connector on a rear damper that caused a pin to rot off. We repaired that by splicing the wires and it's been fine ever since. The 3.0 has almost 150k miles on it and my 4.8 has 120k. The 35i doesn't have adaptive drive and not only does it not handle as well, the ride quality is significantly worse. Unfortunately 35is with adaptive drive are a bit of a unicorn.


Look for the "sport" button under the shifter.


The 35i has adequate power in stock form but a quick MHD tune will really wake it up. On "Stage 1," I'd say it drives similar to my 4.8 and delivers far better economy.

Other options to look for in general are the HUD (never knew what I was missing until I had it. If your eyesight isn't great, it's super helpful because the focus distance is about the end of the hood), comfort seats (AMAZING), heated steering wheel (plus rear seats if you have more passengers), premium sound, and the updated iDrive system in the 2010+(?) E70s.

It's also worth noting that the LCI (2011+) 35d had the N57 motor, as opposed to the M57 in pre-LCI cars.

The N57 is more prone to timing chain issues and the chain sits at the back of the motor which makes it an expensive task.

Having said that, you'll find a lot of N57 owners that have never had an issue, it's just not as bulletproof as the M57.

^ In the US all 35d's use the m57 and variants of the zf 6hp transmissions.

I learn something new every day!
Here is AUS, the LCI 35d got the N57 and ZF 8 speed. I'm guessing Europe was the same.

I put the VIN from a 50i into realoem and it showed a mechanical water pump. $170 OEM and the aux water pump only $73.

Very interesting on the different engine/trans on the USA 35d. I diff notice the 35d didn't have the 8 speed but it seems to do well enough without it.

It's tricky to find adaptive drive via on-line posts but I think I've seen a couple interior shots that show the sport button I just need a close up of one I know it's there to recognize.

I'm open to any of the three models especially now that I found the 50i uses mechanical water pump on the front of the motor!

I haven't realoem scanned the VIN from 35i yet to compare with the 328xi and see if it's the same one or the horror show model over read about.

If the 50i water pump is anything like the 48i, be warned they fail constantly, are a pain to replace, and the hoses and other parts are very expensive. Of the problems to worry about, the water pump would be at the bottom of my list. The N55 doesn't use the same water pump as the N52 (328xi) but it's a similar model. The N52 one seems to fail more frequently for some reason, but I'd take it over the N63 mechanical one.

The bigger issue on the N63 are all the hoses in the hot-v and its propensity to grenade. That and the V8s are not pleasant to service in general, so valve cover leaks, valve stem seals, valley pan (not sure how that works on the N63), etc are all a royal pain. I prefer the engine note and power, but HATE servicing the V8s.

This is still the best decoder I've found. One of the few (maybe only) that still works after BMW changed their VIN system last year. I used it EXTENSIVELY when shopping for the F15.

bimmer.work : VIN Decoder for BMW

That's the one I've been using but I can't tell yet how to tell if it's got adaptive drive.

I believe you will want to look for 2VA Chassis & suspens. setup"Adaptive Drive" on the options list. See attached.

From another thread a visual method for pre 2010 models:

The search is over. We pick up the new ride today. No adaptive drive. The original owner seemed to have picked every available option for the inside and none for the outside (has the base wheels: ouch). It does have self leveling suspension whew.

Also has four zone climate including rear seat heat and comfort access.

74,000 miles. Other than my z28 which I bought with 91 miles (it had 65 before my test drive), I've never owned a car with so few miles. I wanted to get as low of miles as possible to get ahead of those "lifetime fluids" etc. Mission accomplished.

We borrowed some cash to stretch our budget to make it happen. We would have had to go over 110,000 miles to stay under our original budget.

Reminds me of my advice for buying a computer or audiophile speakers: figure out the absolutely maximum you can afford and add 20%.

Details to come in my intro to e70 thread

Congrats! You're going to love it! Maybe I missed it, but what engine did you end up going with? We're also going to need pics :p

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...dd33c6e1df.jpg

50i. Very very happy. Absolutely a joy to drive. Faster than my z28 but 5+2 passengers!

Once the newness wears off, we can start to figure out what kind of mpg we actually will get.

"Show off mpg" just about 8.0.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...da72aeb717.pnghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a3188260e3.pnghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...af6fef6fa3.png

Pics or it didn’t happen.

Introductions are in order
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/top...ink_source=app

Congrats Andrew. Pretty vehicle. And v8 powa! :)