35d makes 2011 list of "Best Resale Value" vehicles
 

Best Resale Value: Large and Midsize Crossovers

2011 Best New Car Resale Values - MSN Autos

Makes me feel good about what my '09 35d will be worth in a few years.

Yeah, I remember someone starting a thread a year or so ago speculating that the Diesels would have poor resale value.

My experience with my diesel '04 Passat TDI was the same, last I looked it was still worth around 35% of what I originally paid, 7 years later with 95k miles on it. No surprise to me at all that the 35d would have a similar outcome.

makes me wonder if I should pay off the lease and keep the car... At the rate I am using my miles, I am going to be over 50K miles before lease end, might as well keep the car until 100K miles, and trade-it in for a 2nd year of the next generation X5 (model year 2015-2016)

Awesome! Great for trading in too!! :)

Consumer Report 35d Not Recommended
 

One source has the 35d best resale value. Latest CR Auto Review has it listed a "not recommended" vehicle. Probably based on 2009 model reliability I'd say.

It's interesting that BMW uses a lower residual rate on the 35d vs. the 35i for their lease terms.

I heard from my salesperson that a lower residual rate and higher money factor on the 35d are meant to compensate for the eco-credit.

I think it's awesome all the way around! I filled up today after 475 miles on a tank in 10 days. Couldn't do that with a 35 or 50i.
alex, I was thinking the same thing, pay-off the car, but the extended warranty to 100k and keep to at least 2015 or at least 1 year after the next gen comes out. Right now, my lease end coincides with the next gen coming out, end 2013-early 2014. Hate to get a first year of anything.

I would take anything published by MSN Autos with a bowling ball sized grain of salt.

The car that my X5d replaced was rated in MSN Auto's bottom 10 for resale not long ago. I paid MSRP, and sold it last month for 57.2% of that amount just under 3 years later; a higher percentage than 4 of the 11 cars in the subject article.

Predicting resale is guesswork at best. I figure they factored in continued increases in the price of gasoline and started leaning towards 'alternate' fuel vehicles. Not sure how the EVs and hybrids did.

From a personal viewpoint, I will say that I had never considered an alternative fuel until buying my X5D. I recall the diesels of the 70s and 80s. The whole electric and hybrid thing seems to me to be a shell game, hiding one type of environmental cost under the benefit of another.

If the German marques can maintain their diesel leadership here in the US (Europe is a moot point, or should I say a Won Game, with diesels appearing set to become a majority of vehicles on the road) and persuade more buyers to enter the fold, then this can take off rather suddenly, with diesels becoming true premium vehicles. Oil prices and consumer attitudes will make all the difference.

CR also is saying how bad German cars are in their latest 2011 reviews/reports. Yes, most German cars are not as "base" reliable as a Camry, Accord, Corolla or maybe an Altima, But, those "reliable" cars provide as much enjoyment and pride of ownership as a piece of tupperware!!

Over the years, we've had some BAD German cars, and not BAD in the good way!! :)

But, we had 2 virtually flawless E53s, A 2005 M3 that needed nothing, a 2007 750Li that never went in for service in almost 2 years, a 2008 S550 that went over 2 years without needing one thing, a 2006 and 2008 Carrera that went a combined 5 years without one problem, and Audi A6 that did not need one thing for over a year, a MBZ C280 that went 2 years totally problem free and many other German car that needed little attention.

So, Yes if going to the dealership 1-2x a year makes a German car unreliable....I'll take it. Going 200,000 with no problems on a Corolla or Camry is SO not worth it to me!!!

Singing to the choir, Deutsch. Of course we at this forum know whereof you speak. The odd thing about the car market today is the mantra of reliability has been so heavily sold (I hesitate to say 'oversold'... is reliability important? Of course it is, but at what cost?) that a large portion of the buying public -- and CR casts itself in the role of guardian of that flame -- values reliability above all else. They either don't get, or don't want to get, the concept that driving a car can be fun.

I almost bought an MDX before deciding on the X5. I now look back and thank the lucky stars that steered me away; I know I'd have regretted it. Instead I look for reasons to drive my X5 (driving up my fuel bills :( despite it being a diesel).

From the Jap brands, Infiniti is the only one that comes close to 'getting it'. But they more or less entered this arena by default, as Lexus ate their as-yet-uncooked lunch so badly in the late '80s that they didn't really have a chance to compete in the same space. So they evolved into the 'Japanese BMW', whatever that means.

I agreed to trade my wife's '10 3.5d today with 20k miles on it (original MSRP $73k+, paid about $63k net of eco credit, discounts, BMWCCA rebate, and Fed tax credit) for $55k to my BMW dealer. $8k in depreciation for 20k miles and 15 months on a $63k car is outstanding value in my opinion. We like the '10 so much, she's replacing it with an '11 3.5d. $78k MSRP ($68k purchase net of all the same discounts as listed above).

It is a special order so takes an extra 8 weeks.....I'll post pics when it arrives to see who can identify what the special order option(s) are.

Congrats, not a bad deal at all.
BTW looking at your cars list it would be hard to tell you like BMWs or X5s. :D