forget off lease or high mileage vehicles, i posted a while back about an odd sound and was told its likely the wastegate. so i brought it back to my dealer, mind you the car was a VIP demo and has just under 7k miles. in addition to the wastegate i also mentioned that it shifts oddly between the 1st and 3rd gear. cant put my finger on 1-2 or 2-3 but just feels odd in that frame. its a 2013 with the M-perf package (3.5). long story short i dropped it off on saturday, yesterday called and asked how its hanging and was told the foreman and techs are still scratching their heads at the shifting and havent event gotten to the wastegate. moral of the story it doesnt matter how long you own one, how you treat it or how new it is, if the original product isnt well put together you end up with problems. but they are just so darned fun to drive that we like suckers keep coming back for more. its a bad marriage and we keep seeking counceling, albeit expensive one

That isn't vintage. Built in 1997. Photo was taken when I bought it in 2000. It had 2400 miles on it then. Had to sell it when I moved back to Canada because it wasn't vintage.

I agree with most of what you wrote; unfortunately with BMW's sad "low maintenance" requirement schedule, you have to far exceed the manufacturer's recommendations in order to properly maintain these cars. And frequent oil changes will never stop these lousy cooling systems from grenading themselves.

BTW, I was in Vancouver last year and was quite impressed with the area.

OP: OT question for you, please. I was considering an R8 last year, but folks that I've talked to said that it draws a lot of attention, and I'd rather be a bit more discrete. What's your experience been with it, and how has it been as far as reliability, service experience, etc.?

I've never had a cooling system failure over the last five BMW vehicles. On our X3, I changed coolant at four years, and our tap water is very soft, with no dissolved minerals. Oil and filter changes at 22,000 - 24,000 km, no oil consumption. Oldest of the five is now 7 years old. Runs like new. Oil and filter; coolant; wiper blades; a battery at seven years; plus one electric rearview mirror (didn't hold adjustment any longer). Original brakes. I do have one broken rear coil spring that I will change out this year or next. Corrosion right at the end of the spring, common X3 issue. It has been amazingly cheap to run, so much so that I am reluctant to trade it for a newer model X5.

Hi mjb, it's a great fun car. Just FYI it's a weekender for me so I can't comment on how they are if daily driven. The only real issue I've had was with the navigation unit, it would always reset while I'm driving and then one day flat out died. The dealer replaced it no questions asked and the unit hasn't acted up since. Mechanically there have been no problems with it at all (12k miles).

The R8 does draw a decent amount of attention where I usually drive it (NYC/DC) but it's the good kind of attention from car enthusiasts and little kids, seldom gold diggers or street racers. Our bright yellow/loud Ferrari on the other hand draws way too much attention. There have been times when people have followed us around just so they can give us their business cards. Gold diggers hound on us constantly. We also get a "You wanna race?" at least once from every kind of car ranging from Honda Civics to Dodge Vipers every time we take it out.

All in all I would highly recommend getting an R8, you won't regret it. Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions. And let me know if you're ever in the NYC/DC Area, I'll let you take it out for a spin. :thumbup:

Cheers,
Art

I'm on X5 #4 since 2001, never been stranded, never broke down. I guess I'm lucky.


(and now that I've tempted fate will probably feel the wrath of the car gods at any moment)

I am on my second X5 in 8 years and NEVER had any sort of problem. I had a low tire warning last night and it was right on the money... rear left was low on air. On the other hand, my Aston V8V had tons of electrical and clutch problems. So there, X5s are as reliable as any other car but you might have one in that 10,000 that is a lemon.

Our old DBS and Rapide had electrical and transmission issues as well...our most recent AM, the Virage was fairly reliable though.

1999 Saab 9-5 V6 ... when i think of my X5 going through oil too much, i think back to the misery days of the Saab.

ya.. i've owned my 07 E70 for 2.5 years and have had to get it fixed double the amount of times as my E46.. was going to put it up for sale today and it decided to leak coolant after a short drive.. leak looks to be coming from the base of the expansion tank .. almost out of warranty and almost at 200k km's so it's time to go.. will give BMW another chance but not an X5.. looking at an M6 but haven't got to research much on them yet