BMW approved car and warranty

[graemeX5]

I am considering updating the E53 and buying an E70 and given The mileage I do is 2-3k a year in it at most it's a toy.

So thinking sell the E53 private and also the 135i convertible and buy an E70 X5 and poss a 4.0d or poss the petrol M version

The question is should I buy a car from BMW as an approved car with the benefit of their comprehensive used car warranty over a a similar car from a car dealer whether a specialist with a warranty as either car circa £30k can go wrong and BMW bits are expensive ?

[X5Sport]

It may be a case of reading the small print of the actual warranties and seeing who excludes what.

Knowing how expensive faults can get I personally would go main dealer as IMHO I would be more likely to get problems sorted properly and quickly, where an Indy might struggle.  It's a tough call as some BMW Dealer's Technicians are pretty poor and cannot work beyond the info given (or often not) by the fault analysis system.

[dgm]

The prices of the cars between a BMW dealer and other dealers isn't that great and in many cases they're the same.  At the price bracket you're talking about for a 40d my preference would be for an AUC with a two year BMW  AUC warranty built into the deal.  I've done this with two X5's and an X3 this year and I reckon it gives decent peace of mind.  On my 40d it paid for the replacement of the leaking air con evaporator within 2 months of me buying it, full dash out job with the associated high cost.  If I needed any convincing that AUC was the way to go then that was it.

[graemeX5]

Thanks X5Sport and Dom for that I do think the warranties are generally better and I know when I bought the 135i from another dealer BMW didn't really want to help a friend fortunately I did have an extended warranty but it didn't cover it all.

Given that it's a 30k car I think if I can go main dealer and get a good warranty esp if it's a dash out job I know one warranty I had only covered labour cost to £75 per hour abouhalf the BMW rate.

I think i will take my own advice and take time and find the right car possibly from BMW if I can. Saying that seen a 4.0d at a BMW dealer and an X5m at another dealer but it's technically over the revised max budget but saying that I guess it's best to buy once and get the one you want.

Thanks again and will keep you posted

[entropy]

We currently have a 2001 X5 and contemplate moving up to a newer model but I can never make my mind up if its a big enough jump.

I think our 2001 model has aged quite well and I think the facelift version of ours goes up to 2008? So i'd be spending 10-15k for essentially the same car as the interior looks identical to me.

What model are the 2010 X5's as they look like they would be quite a noticeable jump in terms of exterior styling and interior equipment i.e. better technology.

What do other people who've gone from 2001 model how do you find the newer cars?

[X5Sport]

E53 finishes in 2006.  E70 starts in 2007 with a facelifted version from 2010 with 8-sp gearbox, cleaner, more efficient engines, better iDrive, Bluetooth audio streaming.

If you can go to a 2010 onwards version you may find that meets your needs and is a bigger (better) jump than to a 2007/8 example.

[dgm]

I went from a 2005 3.0d to a 2011 40d, for me the difference is substantial.  I really enjoyed my E53 for three years but there is a huge leap forward in terms of overall driveability and a more than decent increase in internal space.  The 40d has some respectable performance and makes the 3.0d seem pedestrian in comparison but even the 30d in the E70 has noticeably increased performance.  For me a facelift E70 would definitely make you feel as if you'd upgraded and keep you happy.