BMW X5 E70 as next car - Yes or no?

[1Mpg]

Hi everyone,

My family needs a 7 seater so we're considering the X5 E70.

Could I please get your honest feedback/advice on the car in regards to reliability, running costs and which year/spec?

Our budget is around £13k.

At the moment I've asked on another forum and the general consensus was very negative towards the car.

(We've owned new BMWs before including a F15 X5 and also a BMW M3. They were pretty reliable, but want to own one outright now, not on finance or lease).

[Chriss312]

I’ve run 2 x E70’s. One 30d over 6 years and 120k miles and the second was a 40d over 9 years and 115k miles. Both from new. On both cars the electronic hand brake failed after about 100k miles and cost about £1k to repair. On the second car the EGR valve failed after about 8 years and cost about £750 to fix. Apart from that the cars were faultless and I never bothered extending the warranty once it ran out. Both had 20’’ wheels and tyres are a bit expensive but I got about 15k miles out of them. So from my experience there is nothing to worry about with these cars.

[scz4]

I ran a 2011 X5 30d for 4.5 years. Bought at 38k miles and sold at 80k miles 1.5 years ago.

No major problems at all. Needed one rear suspension airbag, panoramic sunroof reset that was it. EGR valve was replaced under a recall. I had a BMW warranty for the first 3 years, then stopped it. Waste of money. Car did have a new diff under warranty, but that wasn't the problem in the end.

Go for the facelift (LCI) model with ZF 8 speed auto.

[Uncle Meat]

Had a 40d for 4 years and it was faultess.
As above, get the facelift (2010 onwards I think). The 8 speed with that engine was a very nice place to be.

[drmotorsport]

Currently owned a 2007 3.0i SE for the last 8 months. I've also had a E53 4.8is and E60 550i and while this is a larger car, it feels 'cheaper'. Plastics are getting brittle with age (seat runner covers and seat trim all chewed up, bonnet badge actually fell off while driving, interior door handle soft plastics gone all sticky etc). Steering feels unnecessarily heavy compared to modern cars, maybe because it's only an SE but suspension feels under damped, handling is very sensitive to tyres (runflats) and from what I hear needs frequent alignment corrections. Yes it's a big heavy car (and feels it) but on a long motorway cruise can only manage 24mpg and will chew through brake pads and tyres surprisingly rapidly.

Overall it's 'nice enough' (mine is just a temporary tow barge) but spend time looking for the best spec, there's some nice factory toys to be has such as the heads up display, comfort seats, dynamic suspension and steering. IDrive/sat nav can be fairly easily upgraded to later units or wide screen Android etc. Obviously because BMW they all leak oil sir.

[Aluminati]

Put 160 k hard miles on a 2012 4.0d. Apart from Tyres and servicing, never had to spend a thing on it. 8 speed is a must.

[keith333]

We've had ours X5 30D M Sport from new (2013) and its been faultless (quickly touching wood!). 90,000 miles at a very steady 30mpg. We get around 20k on the tyres mainly A road and motorway use. Fronts wear on the outside and rears on the inside always, but that's just the way they are setup.

We have seven seats which we used a lot when the kids were younger, but less so now. Takes loads of stuff with the seats folded down.

Keep thinking about replacing it, but will more than likely keep it.

[g3org3y]

drmotorsport said:

Currently owned a 2007 3.0i SE for the last 8 months. I've also had a E53 4.8is and E60 550i and while this is a larger car, it feels 'cheaper'. Plastics are getting brittle with age (seat runner covers and seat trim all chewed up, bonnet badge actually fell off while driving, interior door handle soft plastics gone all sticky etc). Steering feels unnecessarily heavy compared to modern cars, maybe because it's only an SE but suspension feels under damped, handling is very sensitive to tyres (runflats) and from what I hear needs frequent alignment corrections. Yes it's a big heavy car (and feels it) but on a long motorway cruise can only manage 24mpg and will chew through brake pads and tyres surprisingly rapidly.

Overall it's 'nice enough' (mine is just a temporary tow barge) but spend time looking for the best spec, there's some nice factory toys to be has such as the heads up display, comfort seats, dynamic suspension and steering. IDrive/sat nav can be fairly easily upgraded to later units or wide screen Android etc. Obviously because BMW they all leak oil sir.

Interesting you say that, as I feel the interior of our X5, nice as it is, isn't as good as the similar age 630i. X5 is a bit more creaky and just a small step down.

Agree about the steering, it's a bit heavier than expected (again compared to the 630i) but I think that's because the 630i has the servotronic PAS as standard and it was an option on the X5.

Ride and road noise is much better since going for non RFT 18s.

[Shuff4]

Did you get any further with this?

I’m looking myself, but may end up with the 35d pre LCI.