BMW X5 E70 - Being anti-PistonHeads
Discussion
Update again. The EGR thermostat nipple (
) decided to leak heavily 10 miles from home, and allowed for all the coolant to leak out. Filled with water and drove it home, was fine luckily. Called out RAC next morning, who agreed with me, and proceeded to try and get it repaired. BMW were booked out till next week, and Darren Wood Specialists were booked out for the next three weeks, so the RAC man kindly decided to go the extra mile. A cup of coffee later and it was replaced for the grand sum of £40, no extortionate £320 labour charge for what was actually a 3 hour job due to having to remove parts to get to it.
Other than that, hit 120k miles. Front tyres still good after 2 years and 30k miles. Right side air suspension bag in for replacement next week at BMW, that totals £1000 on suspension alone on the car, but they are consumables after all and have lasted the right side of 10 years.
Repairs aside, drives like a dream.
) decided to leak heavily 10 miles from home, and allowed for all the coolant to leak out. Filled with water and drove it home, was fine luckily. Called out RAC next morning, who agreed with me, and proceeded to try and get it repaired. BMW were booked out till next week, and Darren Wood Specialists were booked out for the next three weeks, so the RAC man kindly decided to go the extra mile. A cup of coffee later and it was replaced for the grand sum of £40, no extortionate £320 labour charge for what was actually a 3 hour job due to having to remove parts to get to it. Other than that, hit 120k miles. Front tyres still good after 2 years and 30k miles. Right side air suspension bag in for replacement next week at BMW, that totals £1000 on suspension alone on the car, but they are consumables after all and have lasted the right side of 10 years.
Repairs aside, drives like a dream.
Yet another update.
Car showed messages of a low battery, with 'imminent shutdown!' being flashed on the iDrive in the usual German way. Decided to use BMW to change the battery as I wanted it done properly due to them being AGM batteries that need coding. Had heard of improper installations leading to leaking battery acid, which we didn't want. The replacement was £320 total.
Williams BMW coffee is nice though, as well as their cakes.
Car showed messages of a low battery, with 'imminent shutdown!' being flashed on the iDrive in the usual German way. Decided to use BMW to change the battery as I wanted it done properly due to them being AGM batteries that need coding. Had heard of improper installations leading to leaking battery acid, which we didn't want. The replacement was £320 total.
Williams BMW coffee is nice though, as well as their cakes.
0a said:
They always seemed a bit small on the inside compared to the outside to me - not as bad as the X6 though!
Interesting that you say that. When we were looking for a 7 seat SUV, we looked at the discovery, GL, X5 and the Q7. We found the X5 to overall feel the roomiest, other than the GL (this had the most space, but too old of a car) and we surprisingly found the Q7 to be small, even though it is the size of a bus. You are right about the X6, especially with the low roofline.
MOT update:
The car binged and bonged and asked for a brake fluid service. 2 recalls arrived as well on our doorstep, as well as it needing a MOT, so we decided to use the main dealer for the MOT. To our surprise, it actually failed the MOT because of excessive play in the front suspension arms, as well as cuts in the tyres on the nearside only. Very annoying as they wanted 5 hours of labour for the suspension arms, and way too much for tyres, so we gathered it up and took it to a well known independent of ours.
Suspension arms were done, but took about a whole day, so glad we didn't use the dealership for it. Tyres that failed were replaced with part-worn tyres as the other side at the front was already quite low. The garage owner is very good, he owns a E70 himself and understands the situation with tyres as well. Astonishingly, he sourced part worn star marked tyres of the exact same brand, of which the rear used tyre had only lost about 1mm of tread. Luckily, solves the issue of tyres in the rear in that they have to be changed by axle, so in the future we will put a new pair of tyres on the front. Original fronts had lasted 3 years/36k miles which is extremely impressive for the car, but the rear tyres were only 1 year old so that was rather annoying. All in, saved about 60% of what the dealer wanted, all whilst using OEM parts. New front star marked tyres are rather cheap at Costco, so we will be using them in the future for new tyres.
Overall, it still soldiers on, despite an abusive MOT. Certainly would have made people who didn't know too much about these absolutely quiver, the dealer bill was the cost of a reasonable car. Could be worse however, it could be a Q7! Which is slow! :P
The car binged and bonged and asked for a brake fluid service. 2 recalls arrived as well on our doorstep, as well as it needing a MOT, so we decided to use the main dealer for the MOT. To our surprise, it actually failed the MOT because of excessive play in the front suspension arms, as well as cuts in the tyres on the nearside only. Very annoying as they wanted 5 hours of labour for the suspension arms, and way too much for tyres, so we gathered it up and took it to a well known independent of ours.
Suspension arms were done, but took about a whole day, so glad we didn't use the dealership for it. Tyres that failed were replaced with part-worn tyres as the other side at the front was already quite low. The garage owner is very good, he owns a E70 himself and understands the situation with tyres as well. Astonishingly, he sourced part worn star marked tyres of the exact same brand, of which the rear used tyre had only lost about 1mm of tread. Luckily, solves the issue of tyres in the rear in that they have to be changed by axle, so in the future we will put a new pair of tyres on the front. Original fronts had lasted 3 years/36k miles which is extremely impressive for the car, but the rear tyres were only 1 year old so that was rather annoying. All in, saved about 60% of what the dealer wanted, all whilst using OEM parts. New front star marked tyres are rather cheap at Costco, so we will be using them in the future for new tyres.
Overall, it still soldiers on, despite an abusive MOT. Certainly would have made people who didn't know too much about these absolutely quiver, the dealer bill was the cost of a reasonable car. Could be worse however, it could be a Q7! Which is slow! :P
Some pictures. Really do like the Black Sapphire, really adds to how menacing this can be to someone in the outside lane. Also a big fan of the brushed aluminium, many people opt for the black shadowline but it is actually high quality aluminium used and not fake chrome (Audi are good at that!).
My goodness, 375bhp is a lot! Previous owner mapped ours to 315hp/500 lb-ft of torque but that is some crazy figures. Had the exact same thing happen to us on our wing mirror, what a silly thing to happen. Undoubtedly cars that can do it all, you are right that there are few cars which are good enough replacements.
Glasgowrob said:
absolutely stonking with 375 bhp, custom map courtesy of those nice chaps at ecotune
if your pockets are deep enough for hybrid turbochargers you can be well over 400 bhp and 600lbs/ft
keep pointing out to my Dad his is a bit on the slow side still and needs uprated turbos chargecoolers and a power figure starting with a 5
its at this point he normally points out that my Omega still has an output starting with a 2 and offers to race me towing his caravan
I would pay money to watch that race! if your pockets are deep enough for hybrid turbochargers you can be well over 400 bhp and 600lbs/ft
keep pointing out to my Dad his is a bit on the slow side still and needs uprated turbos chargecoolers and a power figure starting with a 5
its at this point he normally points out that my Omega still has an output starting with a 2 and offers to race me towing his caravan
Glasgowrob said:
i really dont fancy taking him up on it tbh,
as much as my Omega is a cracking bit of kit in its own right 240bhp tweaked 3l v6 with a few choice mods its a n/a with well under half the torque of my old mans X5 he would eat me alive 26ft caravan or not.
Most certainly. These cars are true 'Bahn-stormers' and, when at high speed, feel like they are doing half of that speed. We took a trip down to Southampton, and took the M6 toll. Never experienced a car that handles the motorway that well, and we have a E39 as well as an Audi A6! Dare I say that the X5 is more confidence inspiring in the twisties as well. Masterful engineering in the chassis for these cars.as much as my Omega is a cracking bit of kit in its own right 240bhp tweaked 3l v6 with a few choice mods its a n/a with well under half the torque of my old mans X5 he would eat me alive 26ft caravan or not.
The saga continues!
We used BMW for the last MOT as there was an oil leak that we wanted investigating, but the state of the suspension put the oil leak on the backburner. With major work done there (took the independent garage about a day to do the work) we sent it back to BMW to solve the oil leak, as even our trusted Indy wasn't too confident on tackling it as it is rather complicated to do so.
They did a lot of diagnosing and it came down to the crankcase breather, so they repaired that alongside a few inlet manifold gaskets and I believe they did the crankcase gasket as well. Cost much more than it should however they were good with diagnosing. Disappointing that they wanted £60 to reset the brake indicator however, someone seems to have forgotten to reset it as the health check at MOT showed 80% of pad material left.
There is no doubt now that this is a well kept example of an older X5, the majority of these do like to get neglect when owned by people who can't afford the mass of repairs these throw at you sometimes. A specialist could have done many of the repairs, but they aren't exactly cheap in our area and ultimately the difference is marginal.
Interesting to note that this is a year older than the A6, and about 50K miles more in mileage too, but the folder for the service history for the X5 is bursting, whereas the Audi has had nothing other than a Thermostat. Considering the Audi is just as complicated, with a high performance petrol engine and Quattro etc, there has been no real issues at all with that, touchwood.
We used BMW for the last MOT as there was an oil leak that we wanted investigating, but the state of the suspension put the oil leak on the backburner. With major work done there (took the independent garage about a day to do the work) we sent it back to BMW to solve the oil leak, as even our trusted Indy wasn't too confident on tackling it as it is rather complicated to do so.
They did a lot of diagnosing and it came down to the crankcase breather, so they repaired that alongside a few inlet manifold gaskets and I believe they did the crankcase gasket as well. Cost much more than it should however they were good with diagnosing. Disappointing that they wanted £60 to reset the brake indicator however, someone seems to have forgotten to reset it as the health check at MOT showed 80% of pad material left.
There is no doubt now that this is a well kept example of an older X5, the majority of these do like to get neglect when owned by people who can't afford the mass of repairs these throw at you sometimes. A specialist could have done many of the repairs, but they aren't exactly cheap in our area and ultimately the difference is marginal.
Interesting to note that this is a year older than the A6, and about 50K miles more in mileage too, but the folder for the service history for the X5 is bursting, whereas the Audi has had nothing other than a Thermostat. Considering the Audi is just as complicated, with a high performance petrol engine and Quattro etc, there has been no real issues at all with that, touchwood.
Saga continues yet again. Had a handbrake motor failure, the car decided to scream and not move. 2 RAC guys later and the cables were cut. Did decide to fix the box, was reconditioned and now we just don't use the button anymore. It did have a bargain price oil change from the main dealer, really was very cheap at £129. Need tyres too, the rears are around 1 year old but they are actually very good for tread right now. No new Bridgestone duelers around right now so ended up going with Pirelli P-Zero's on the front. I hope we haven't upset the tyre gods, but so far the car still drives like a train.
MedwayMonaro said:
An interesting thread as we'll be seeing our S max very soon and wife has decided she likes these, although we'd want one with 7 seats. As soon as it stops raining for more than 10 minutes the S Max will be for sale and I'll start looking at E70s. I hadn't realised the tyres were so wide and therefore expensive!
Pleasant cars, will certainly reward. Always remember that they are £60K cars from the beginning, once these are treated that way they are in much better condition.Reboot!
It's been running fine so far. A few tyres were needed, as they were pretty worn down. Rear fog lights keep on flashing up on the dash but they work fine, putting that down to age. Ticking close to 140k miles now, dangerous territory for large and slightly old SUV's. One of the driveshafts was leaking, so that was changed - maybe the driveshaft issues are present on the pre-LCI cars as well. Few recalls here and there, but nothing much otherwise. Starts and drives every day - as you would expect it to do. Needs a good detail though, will put pictures up when it's cleaned.
It's been running fine so far. A few tyres were needed, as they were pretty worn down. Rear fog lights keep on flashing up on the dash but they work fine, putting that down to age. Ticking close to 140k miles now, dangerous territory for large and slightly old SUV's. One of the driveshafts was leaking, so that was changed - maybe the driveshaft issues are present on the pre-LCI cars as well. Few recalls here and there, but nothing much otherwise. Starts and drives every day - as you would expect it to do. Needs a good detail though, will put pictures up when it's cleaned.
scz4 said:
Had the same. Bulb holder was corroded, could be temporarily sorted with some sandpaper and bulb, but only lasted a month or so. Sorted by buying this bulb holder and changed out in 5 mins.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-GENUINE-BMW-X5-E70-...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-GENUINE-BMW-X5-E70-...
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