X5 Mk3 Long Term Reliability
Discussion
Evening ladies and gents.
With an ever growing brood (soon to be x3 kids under 5) i’m looking at options for a bigger car which can accommodate all 3 plus associated paraphernalia in comfort. I totally despise people carriers so am doing all in my power to avoid them!
amongst the options is a Mk 3 X5 (2014 - 2018 I believe) with the optional 3rd row of seats. We’d probably go for the 3.0d in M trim, and our budget would place us in a 2015 / 2016 car, with around 50k miles.
I have no idea as to the long term reliability of these. Granted tyres, brakes etc aren’t going to be cheap, but are there any potentially ruinous costs I need to be aware of? Appreciate any feedback from existing or past owners.
Cheers!
With an ever growing brood (soon to be x3 kids under 5) i’m looking at options for a bigger car which can accommodate all 3 plus associated paraphernalia in comfort. I totally despise people carriers so am doing all in my power to avoid them!
amongst the options is a Mk 3 X5 (2014 - 2018 I believe) with the optional 3rd row of seats. We’d probably go for the 3.0d in M trim, and our budget would place us in a 2015 / 2016 car, with around 50k miles.
I have no idea as to the long term reliability of these. Granted tyres, brakes etc aren’t going to be cheap, but are there any potentially ruinous costs I need to be aware of? Appreciate any feedback from existing or past owners.
Cheers!
Believe they are more reliable than the previous E70, although the E70 never had many major issues. Timing chains were a problem on the facelifted E70's and the F15 as well, basically any car with the N57. There were issues now and then with the timing chains, PITA to solve any issues as they are on the back of the engine. Rare problem however.
Servicing is standard BMW prices, doesn't ruin the bank and can be reasonable, but depends on what you get done there. I recommend a fully serviced BMW dealer history, but to keep it up just do oil changes at the dealer to get the stamp. Entirely up to you to get further work done at wherever you want. At the 10 year mark air suspension bags need replacing, standard with any air suspension car. All 7 seater models get air suspension in the back from the extra load, makes it handle much better however, better ride etc.
Tyres do break the bank but can last a good while if tracking and air pressures are meticulously maintained. Expect at least £900-£1000 for a full set of tyres, and they really have to be star marked tyres (which are OEM BMW tyres) as the xDrive system gets upset and causes problems with transfer boxes and gearboxes etc. Have to change in pairs as well, makes it rather annoying. Tracking went because of some horrible potholes and took out the rears after we had the car for a year (new tyres on when we purchased ours) but the fronts are coming up to 3 years old and are only now showing needs for replacement, have done at least 30K miles.
No other major issues to report however, rather solid drivetrains and drive really well. Be wary of DPF but that is entirely up to miles covered, if you do less than 12K a year consider a 50i or a 45e as the 50i is marginally worse on fuel in the real world (heavy cars no matter which engine) and the 45e is rather good, albeit I don't think they are in 7 seat versions. M50d is most powerful diesel and it is very fast, whilst giving almost same MPG as 30d (again, weight). 40d slightly more reliable as strain on turbochargers is spread over two, rather than one in the 30d models. Check EGR recall as well, but that is for any BMW nowadays! Expect around 30-35mpg combined for the diesels, and 25-30mpg for petrols. About 550-600 miles from a full 100L tank.
Must have options are at least the professional media package, upgraded stereo (never have the standard setup) and fully electric seats. Nice options that I recommend are heated seats front and rear, M-Sport package, backup camera and full driver display. Harder options to find include Active Cruise, full Adaptive Drive system, HUD, heated steering wheel, 360 degrees camera, LED headlights (note these are expensive to replace Comfort seats, rear dual zone climate and rear entertainment.
Servicing is standard BMW prices, doesn't ruin the bank and can be reasonable, but depends on what you get done there. I recommend a fully serviced BMW dealer history, but to keep it up just do oil changes at the dealer to get the stamp. Entirely up to you to get further work done at wherever you want. At the 10 year mark air suspension bags need replacing, standard with any air suspension car. All 7 seater models get air suspension in the back from the extra load, makes it handle much better however, better ride etc.
Tyres do break the bank but can last a good while if tracking and air pressures are meticulously maintained. Expect at least £900-£1000 for a full set of tyres, and they really have to be star marked tyres (which are OEM BMW tyres) as the xDrive system gets upset and causes problems with transfer boxes and gearboxes etc. Have to change in pairs as well, makes it rather annoying. Tracking went because of some horrible potholes and took out the rears after we had the car for a year (new tyres on when we purchased ours) but the fronts are coming up to 3 years old and are only now showing needs for replacement, have done at least 30K miles.
No other major issues to report however, rather solid drivetrains and drive really well. Be wary of DPF but that is entirely up to miles covered, if you do less than 12K a year consider a 50i or a 45e as the 50i is marginally worse on fuel in the real world (heavy cars no matter which engine) and the 45e is rather good, albeit I don't think they are in 7 seat versions. M50d is most powerful diesel and it is very fast, whilst giving almost same MPG as 30d (again, weight). 40d slightly more reliable as strain on turbochargers is spread over two, rather than one in the 30d models. Check EGR recall as well, but that is for any BMW nowadays! Expect around 30-35mpg combined for the diesels, and 25-30mpg for petrols. About 550-600 miles from a full 100L tank.
Must have options are at least the professional media package, upgraded stereo (never have the standard setup) and fully electric seats. Nice options that I recommend are heated seats front and rear, M-Sport package, backup camera and full driver display. Harder options to find include Active Cruise, full Adaptive Drive system, HUD, heated steering wheel, 360 degrees camera, LED headlights (note these are expensive to replace Comfort seats, rear dual zone climate and rear entertainment.
The N57 is very reliant on regular oil changes. Stick to the long life nonsense and you will have chain and crank bearing trouble. They need an oil and filter every 10'000 at the latest if you want it to get to 150'000. You may not do that many miles, but an oil change is cheap enough these days. Cheaper than another engine!
Buy it from BMW and get a 2 year extended warranty or get one from the indy with under 60k miles and put on a BMW extended warranty - a must in IMHO. The suspension, egr, brake squeal, window rattle have all been cover by the warranty for me.
Its unlikely that you will get one that's had the servicing every 10k miles - I've only had 3 services in 75k with the next due in 11k
Apart from the timing chain and egr problems, electronics may play-up , electrics issues with windows/seats etc, possible climate problems, squeak and rattles . NB these problems are fairly rare so don't be put off by these
It worth having the egr electronically disabled and an ecotune put on to stop carbon build up and vastly improve fuel economy.
Its unlikely that you will get one that's had the servicing every 10k miles - I've only had 3 services in 75k with the next due in 11k
Apart from the timing chain and egr problems, electronics may play-up , electrics issues with windows/seats etc, possible climate problems, squeak and rattles . NB these problems are fairly rare so don't be put off by these
It worth having the egr electronically disabled and an ecotune put on to stop carbon build up and vastly improve fuel economy.
tleefox said:
Evening ladies and gents.
With an ever growing brood (soon to be x3 kids under 5) i’m looking at options for a bigger car which can accommodate all 3 plus associated paraphernalia in comfort. I totally despise people carriers so am doing all in my power to avoid them!
amongst the options is a Mk 3 X5 (2014 - 2018 I believe) with the optional 3rd row of seats. We’d probably go for the 3.0d in M trim, and our budget would place us in a 2015 / 2016 car, with around 50k miles.
I have no idea as to the long term reliability of these. Granted tyres, brakes etc aren’t going to be cheap, but are there any potentially ruinous costs I need to be aware of? Appreciate any feedback from existing or past owners.
Cheers!
If you have the third row of seats you won’t have mich room for kiddie paraphanalia will you? With an ever growing brood (soon to be x3 kids under 5) i’m looking at options for a bigger car which can accommodate all 3 plus associated paraphernalia in comfort. I totally despise people carriers so am doing all in my power to avoid them!
amongst the options is a Mk 3 X5 (2014 - 2018 I believe) with the optional 3rd row of seats. We’d probably go for the 3.0d in M trim, and our budget would place us in a 2015 / 2016 car, with around 50k miles.
I have no idea as to the long term reliability of these. Granted tyres, brakes etc aren’t going to be cheap, but are there any potentially ruinous costs I need to be aware of? Appreciate any feedback from existing or past owners.
Cheers!
Thanks for the input thus far.
We probably would get a roofbox too for when we do need to load up.
tjlees said:
or get one from the indy with under 60k miles and put on a BMW extended warranty - a must in IMHO.
Didn’t know you could do that? Would the warranty only be valid up to 60k miles if we did that?TTmonkey said:
If you have the third row of seats you won’t have mich room for kiddie paraphanalia will you?
The 3rd row would probably be used for when the eldest wants to bring a friend somewhere, not for general day to day use.We probably would get a roofbox too for when we do need to load up.
rayyan171 said:
Check EGR recall as well, but that is for any BMW nowadays!
Is is possible to check whether work has been done under a recall?Edited by tleefox on Monday 22 April 08:01
Andeh1 said:
Just worth mentioning, I had similar concerns to you OP and we ended up with a very high spec, 1 year old, Ford S Max titanium X with their higher power 210bhp.
Still leans towards MPV, but it is a stylish beast and rides & drives very reasonably for what it is.
This is her preference as a close friend in the same situation ended up with an S-Max. I had a Ford a few years back (ST220) which was an absolute lemon and I swore I’d never had another Ford again.Still leans towards MPV, but it is a stylish beast and rides & drives very reasonably for what it is.
tleefox said:
This is her preference as a close friend in the same situation ended up with an S-Max. I had a Ford a few years back (ST220) which was an absolute lemon and I swore I’d never had another Ford again.
S-max and galaxy is rather good, practical cars and good on fuel. We rented an automatic diesel Galaxy in Germany, it was very practical and had a rather large interior. Was bigger than our X5. Good spec too. However, considering it had around 3K miles, the gearbox was rather lumpy and never shifted smooth. I have heard of issues with the power shift DCT gearboxes, in general I think ford have issues with their gearboxes in the long term. Best to go manual if you want one of those. Also the Diesel engine had a rattle, but that could be down to rental car abuse. tleefox said:
amongst the options is a Mk 3 X5 (2014 - 2018 I believe) with the optional 3rd row of seats. We’d probably go for the 3.0d in M trim, and our budget would place us in a 2015 / 2016 car, with around 50k miles.
3rd row will probably mean you have no choice but M-Sport, given the % of M-Sports to non.I avoided the M-Sport as I wanted the same size tyre all around with all-seasons fitted, as the M-Sport rear tyre size is frankly absurd, and expensive to replace, and wear out quicker. Greater comfort as well.
The MK3 as you describe it, is more commonly referred to as the F15 X5.
we have pretty much the car that you describe;
2 years in and its still entertaining
third row of seats is useful - you can get some bits and bobs in the back when the third row is up - and a double buggy.
We're a tall family, but still need a step to get to the roof box !
just had its first service - not exactly cheap - main dealer, so bear that in mind.
tyres are circa 50% worn on just under 20K miles; so not bad at all.
that's for 'average' driving
lots of toys onboard, but I believe that most are options (ours was a dealer 'pre reg' so had no choice in spec; luckily it was pretty much perfect for what we would have specced ourselves, but massively cheaper)
Doesn't drive as well as a Cayenne, but other than that its pretty damn good.
2 years in and its still entertaining
third row of seats is useful - you can get some bits and bobs in the back when the third row is up - and a double buggy.
We're a tall family, but still need a step to get to the roof box !
just had its first service - not exactly cheap - main dealer, so bear that in mind.
tyres are circa 50% worn on just under 20K miles; so not bad at all.
that's for 'average' driving
lots of toys onboard, but I believe that most are options (ours was a dealer 'pre reg' so had no choice in spec; luckily it was pretty much perfect for what we would have specced ourselves, but massively cheaper)
Doesn't drive as well as a Cayenne, but other than that its pretty damn good.
Had an M50d from new (3rd X5 we have owned). It's now 37k miles and 4 1/2 years in, and its needed nothing but regular servicing. Fantastic car for carrying around 3 kids and clobber.
We chose 7-seats and its surprising how often they get used - kids always have random mates coming and going and its a real plus being able to put up the rear seats and carry them all in one car. Thoroughly recommended.
We chose 7-seats and its surprising how often they get used - kids always have random mates coming and going and its a real plus being able to put up the rear seats and carry them all in one car. Thoroughly recommended.
Just a note, but if you are considering a F15 X5, I would also consider a RRS 2013 onwards, as they are a bit better in the tech department in some cases, and are priced similarly. If you can afford to run a X5, you can afford a RRS. We may change to one in two years time from the X5, but only time will tell! Bear in mind that they don't drive as well, but somehow weigh as much as an X5 now, compared to before when they used to weight as much as a cruise liner.
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