Buying tips wanted for a BMW X5

[benjijames28]

Girlfriend has always loved these cars and recently I've wanted one in black, full on drug dealer spec.

It will be the biggest car I've ever driven and used for mainly short journeys.

An X5 meets my needs for space, while still giving me an interesting car. It certainly will be interesting trying to navigate one down tight streets, but some people say bigger cars are easier.

Can anyone here give me any tips on what to look for or avoid etc....?

Budget is up to 6000 pound, I've seen them as low as under 3, but will be wanting the best quality for my money.

Any advise welcome.

[Big Al.]

You could always try this thread:-

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[benjijames28]

There's no x5 guide on that list.

[Denis O]

This is what you need.

http://xdrivers.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,14489....

Have a good look around the site. Loads of stuff to get your teeth into.

[Fox-]

£6k X5's are not very big, it's effectively an E39 5 Series Touring with higher ride height and 4wd.

I can't imagine a sub £6k one is anything other than a complete pain to live with now though, unless your favourite weekend hobby is fiddling around with broken BMW's.

[21TonyK]

Fox- said:

£6k X5's are not very big, it's effectively an E39 5 Series Touring with higher ride height and 4wd.

I can't imagine a sub £6k one is anything other than a complete pain to live with now though, unless your favourite weekend hobby is fiddling around with broken BMW's.

I'll go out on a limb here an tempt fate... I've had an E53 X5 3.0d from new, just hit 111,000 miles. To date (touch wood) nothing has gone wrong. Few perished rubbers on suspension, couple of front shocks and arms replaced but other than that just normal servicing. Steering is feeling a bit heavy so pump might need doing soon or could just be low fluid, not had the chance to check yet.

I suspect it will go on for a good few years more if looked after properly.

[roofer]

Gave 6 ish for this about 3 years ago, now on 110k and just needed a driveshaft gaiter and new rear camera. Heavy steering is common, but missus loves it.

Buy on quality, lots have been maintained on a shoestring.

[Fox-]

21TonyK said:

I'll go out on a limb here an tempt fate... I've had an E53 X5 3.0d from new, just hit 111,000 miles. To date (touch wood) nothing has gone wrong. Few perished rubbers on suspension, couple of front shocks and arms replaced but other than that just normal servicing. Steering is feeling a bit heavy so pump might need doing soon or could just be low fluid, not had the chance to check yet.

I suspect it will go on for a good few years more if looked after properly.

I suspect it will. The difference here is that you have owned it and looked after it well since it was brand new, having originally spent a large amount of money on it.

Sadly most £6k X5's are a long, long way from that.

[AudiSport]

We owned a 2005 X5 3.0d Sport years ago when they were fairly new, and loved it. We sold it after 4-years and regretted it ever since. We've owned a number of large SUV type vehicles since then and nothing compared to the X5. After recently looking at the E53 X5 prices I saw they had dropped significantly, and we decided to buy another. So a few weeks ago we picked up a Saphire Black 2006 X5 Sport with a great spect, 77k miles and full BMW service history for £6900. It is brilliant, and my wife is chuffed with it. Dropped it into the local garage for a piece of mind once over and they said there was nothing needed!

Seriously good value cars now, and while the comments above relavent - there are some good well looked after ones out there - you just have to find them, and haggle. Ours was listed privately for 8k!