BMW X5

[BeemerMal]

Hi Nidge,

No I did'nt take extended warranty beyond the 3 years. The car is now 4.5 years old and it has only covered 31,000 miles. The only issue I had during warranty was a faulty reversing senser.

The battery also failed when the car was just outside the 3 years warranty period (it let me down at a crucial time while waiting to disembark a ferry from France) BMW were excellent, they replaced it FOC.

 

[cooky1]

Hi,Willy/Mal,Nidge, Do any of you have any thoughts on a pre facelift X5 3.0 petrol? I am thinking about getting an X5 but the diesels are a bit out of my price range or have high miles on them. I have read that most reports say to go for the V8 as it only does a few mpg less than the 3.0 but it is much more powerfull but higher tax and insurance.

Any thoughts.

Graeme.

 

[BeemerMal]

Graeme....A friend of mine bought a 3.0 petrol X5 on a 51 plate last year. He loves the car but he does not tow so i'm not sure about how good a tug it is!

I tend to agree that the older 4.6is petrol will be a good buy because they are cheaper than the diesel and you get most of the options as standard on the top of the range 4.6. I think the 4.6is was discontinued aroud 2003 and replaced with the v8 4.4 which I believe is more fuel efficient. The down side is fuel consumption on the bigger petrol engines is likely to be crippling.

 

[Willy_5041515]

Hi Graeme

If you are not determined to buy an X5, why not consider the 530d. Much cheaper and will happily tow 1500 kg at 85% and up to 2000kg max. Good nose weight too, 100kg. I have the self levelling rear suspension option which helps a lot. Never had any problem in muddy fields, etc., I guess because of the rear wheel drive.

On the subject of warranty (Nidge), mine expires next February even though I bought the car new in January 2001. I extended the warranty with Warranty Direct and have come out on top financially. I have to say that Warranty Direct have been difficult to deal with. They completely refused to pay for a failed turbo (which IS covered) because it hadn't completely failed. I protested and they agreed to send an assessor. He never turned up because WD changed their mind (without bothering to tell me). Eventually, after e-mailing the MD (he wouldn't speak to me on the phone)they did send the assessor and he agreed that the turbo had to be replaced as it had one missing vane. I won't be renewing the warranty but hope to keep the car for another 2 or 3 years as it only has 55,000 on the clock.

 

[cooky1]

Willy, I have a 2000 530d Tourer at the moment and tow a 1500kg caravan. Fantastic car but when I was in France this year it would not stay at 60mph in 5th, but constantly changed from 4th to 5th. This made for a fustrating drive. It has loads of power and will tow at French legal speeds but it is not comfortable in 5th. The car did have 5 full size peple in it and all the gear associated with them in the van!

When I towed the van a couple of weeks ago with only 2 of us and a porch awning it towed in 5th at 60mph easily.

I enquired about getting it chipped to 224bhp but my insurance company would not insure it!

I was thinking about the petrol X5 but I don'y know anyone who tows with one.

Graeme.

 

[Nidge1]

Hi Graeme,

Sorry can be no help regarding the petrol X5 as we have always had diesel's. Mal and Willy however have answered your queries.

I would have thought the V8 would be a fantastic puller but I bet you would pay heavily at the pumps.

Can certainly vouch for the diesel been a great puller, pulls our 1700kg Hymer with 3 people on board a treat.Never seems to hunt for gears even on a steepish incline.

Incidentally what is a facelift X5 ?.

Hope this helps.

Nidge

 

[BeemerMal]

Nidge....The Facelift X5 refers to cars registered after around October 2003. The "facelift" refers to minor modifications to the front end where they modified the grill, front lights, fogs and bumper/front spoiler.

It is difficult to recognise the different types and you actually need to have both the pre faclift and post facelift cars parked side by side to identify the minor changes.

The new X5, released in March 2007, looks similar to the earlier models but it is slightly longer to accomodate a third row of seats.....also more expensive,

 

[Nidge1]

Cheers for that Mal,

 

[cooky1]

Just been reading that dealers are not taking V8 X5's in part ex because they can't sell them. So there may be a few coming on the market.

Graeme.