Looking for X5 - NEED Advice - Reliabilty ?
 

New here and need advice. I am looking @ 08 and 09 X5's. I pretty much know what I want but i am a little concerned about the reliability of these great looking SAV's. I have scoured these posts and have read the issues that people have. I am seeing the money it takes to keep them fixed and running and this makes me nervous. I always thought BMW were reliable machines but I am unsure now. Maybe I am over analyzing all of the information but I need a SAV that is reliable and does not need much more than regular maintenance. I have always had US made cars. Outside of tires breaks etc i never worried about the electronics, electronic water pumps etc that go out or leaks that are expensive to repair. SO please reply back and let me know what my real expectations need to be when I am looking at these machines. Also, should i favor an 09 over the 08's?

TY IN ADVANCE FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP!!

Attached is the service history for the 08 X% i am looking at. It is a CPO until Jan 2014. It has the following:
Sport
Premium
Premium Sound
Comfort Access
Navigation
Cold Weather
20" Wheels
Space Grey Metallic with black interior

Thoughts?

Pass on that. Looks to be a lot of suspension work.

I'm with BGM...
brakes a few times, suspension glitches, the usual other gremlins, and that list goes on and on, and... weird with two new tires, and then a set of four new tires soon after.

There are posters here with very few probs on their E70s, and there are some with a similar or worse litany of problems, fwiw.

My '01 E53 has a list of stuff about 1/4 that long, and most of that is simply maintenance work over the last 11 years. Whew, the E70 has too much stuff and too many gizmos, imo.

I would rec'd to keep looking, and find a used E70 with a CPO or a solid aftermkt warranty.
These are not soccer mom/dad vans...
GL, mD

Would. It change our mind since this has a cpo until 1/14

Good God! That is a LOT of issues... Don't walk. RUN away

Have you read the CPO 'what is covered', 'what is not covered', boilerplate and then read between the lines? And, considered that you are a neophyte to the BMW situ vis a vis any relationship with the selling dealer, as CPO stuff 'covered' seems to be partially/often contingent on how many cars one bought at that dealer, how many doughnuts one brings in, who tips the fookin SA the most, etc., etc.

Maybe all the stuff that should have broken, or would have broken, is fixed now. Maybe not...

It's your decision, as none of us can really counsel you on 'is that a good buy'.
I would take a Pasadena, but that is fwiw.
GL, mD

As many people say, "BMW" stands for "Break My Wallet."

There are lots of reasons to buy a BMW, but reliability and low cost of ownership is not one of them.

Personally, I would not buy a used BMW, I go with a cheaper, more reliable vehicle and would save my money until I could afford a new one, but that's just me.

I have been looking for a used E70 and what I'm finding is that a TON of them on the used market have a litany of problems in the service history. I have seen countless "Computer module checked" and "engine module checked" multiple times within a few thousand miles and then its for sale. Seems to me that all the problem ones are dumped back into the market and slapped with a pretty useless CPO warranty.

I don't think those are necessarily bad things--they usually check the diagnostics this way as it's the gateway for the whole car. It really depends on the work that was actually done as more of a concern.

Here's a perfect example of what I'm talking about:

08/13/2010 13,851
Tire condition and pressure checked
Computer(s) checked
Drivability/performance checked
Maintenance inspection completed
Oil and filter changed

12/03/2010 18,125
Front wiper blades/refills replaced
Transfer module/computer reprogrammed
Drivability/performance checked
Computer(s) checked
One tire mounted and balanced
Maintenance inspection completed
Tire condition and pressure checked

03/22/2012 33,649
Pre-delivery inspection completed
State emissions inspection completed
Fluids checked
Computer(s) checked
Drivability/performance checked
Battery charged
Maintenance inspection completed
Four tires mounted and balanced
Washed/detailed

04/11/2012 BMW
Certified Dealer
Westbury, NY Offered for sale as a
BMW Certified Pre-Owned Vehicle
Silver exterior
Gray interior

As I was saying that's just normal diagnostics.

Def not normal diagnostics. Drivability/performance checked along with Computer(s) checked re-occurring over and over tells me that there is an underlying issue that the dealer cannot solve and most likely tells you is normal operating behavior. Bear in mind this was just one sample that I found within 1 min of looking. IMO I would not call this normal diagnostics, I would call it a problem vehicle that I would want to avoid.

Again, this is normal diagnostics. If there was something replaced or broken then it would show what was done. This car has been in only 3 times in 33K miles and is a problem ? There's no red flag at all on this one especially compared to the service of the one that was listed earlier.

I'm not going to settle and what's ok to you may not be for me or anyone else. I see the same faults within a few months and then again later in its life. That could mean the owner just put up with it for a year. How do we know? I'll give it to you that the sample wasn't so bad compared to others i've seen, this was one of the "nicer" examples. I just wanted to highlight my point of things to look out for. The OP original example is way worse, I agree.

There are no guarantees on any used car even if it was in one time for just oil service. If you are that concerned just give the VIN to a dealer and they will pull up the detail of what was done.

I am going to agree with CT on this one...multiple return visits for driveability issues make me nervous IN THE ABSENCE if other evidence. The whole trans/lage thing comes to mind. As we ALL know, the stock BMW line is 'no problem found'

It is NOT, an indictment of ALL x5s. as he seems to indicate earlier in the thread.

Driveability issues can be anything--they might have put too much tire pressure in it and was riding different or something similar. Just need to get the actual invoice of what was done on it from the dealer.

I disagree. I'm siding with BGM. That all looks normal to see. I remember my service tech saying they are required to check both things each in-service

so i took everyones advice and passed on this one. I did just find another 2009 x5 black with everythig less the sport package. It has 44800 miles and one owneer. I can pick this up around 33800. i am going to pick this puppy up. i will get the rims i want and add the aero package to trick this out. I feel a little more comfortable with this one. Thanks for everyones feedback.