BMW X5 advice

[Wrigley]

I am looking in to buying a bigger car and like the look of an X5, (something the spaniel can jump in and out of).

I have about £10k to spend and there are some good looking ones around that are around 10 -12 years old and have done between 100 & 140k miles.

I know virtually nothing about cars, apart from what looks pretty and are nice to drive, so I was hoping someone could tell me particular pitfalls to look for, or what to avoid.

I am mainly driving around suburbia, to and from the airport frequently (about 45 minutes to an hour away), and around a dozen long motorway journeys a year.

Help appreciated as always.

[Willy Nilly]

Just keep in mind you are buying a high mileage executive car that was probably 50 grand new for nearly new Fiesta money. It's going to be an expensive car to run. Look for an independent BMW specialist would be my advice.

A colleague bought a 56 reg 525i a few years ago with 110,000 miles. It looked the part for about 18 months then pretty much fell to bits, partly, I suspect, because he wasn't particularly looking after it. Again, exec car, Fiesta money, but old exec car bills.

[mOrtt]

You should be able to get something with much lower mileage than that within your budget.

I'll be selling my 4.8 V8 soon which has 60k miles on it for under your budget so there must be others out there.