E53 or E70??

[aep]

Hi all,

I'm after some advise! After a C*** Up with my E53 that I should have been collecting tomorrow I am left without a new car

I have had a couple of cars with iDrive and really like the functionality. REALLY want an X5 but have limited budget, the smart car for me is a 5 series Touring, but the X5 is calling

I currently have 20k to spend. I am only interested in going to a main dealer (yes, mad I know!) this will put in a in 2006 E53 no problem with a half decent spec. I can however put this off another 5-6 months and go to 28k which should put me in an early 2007 E70.

What would you do any why!

Thanks

[NewX5]

If you can wait do it, if not just find another car I am sure there are loads out there for your budget.

[slieverue]

Hi

If you can wait, get an E70.

If you're prepared to buy privately, there are some good examples available from around £24K.

Best of luck with the search.

Tony

[aep]

My thinking is the last of an established model will have been proven and **should** be the best they have made. Is there a higher risk going the the very latest, first off the production line car? I have not really seen too many reported issues.

Thanks

Andrew

[pvr]

Just be careful with the first range of the 2007 cars on the E70 as they fell in the high car tax rate (Diesel version).

[aep]

Thanks PVR, I did notice there was a window with the 2006 E53 and 2007 E70 where the tax was high. When was this dropped to the lower tax bracket?

[Sanj]

No aep - the car emissions themselves on the early E70 diesels were higher than 225g/km.

They will always cost more to tax. Any car registered after 23rd March 2006 falls into the new tax brackets.

Have a look here:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Ow ... G_10012524

[bonerp]

I was hoping to get an E70 but no way am I prepared to pay £28k on an 07 car. For that kinda money there is sooo much nicer stuff if you don't 'need' an x5.

I spent the best part of £19,500 with warranty and tax on a 53k m 2006 Lemans blue exclusive. I have also owned a 535d. 2 VERY different cars. 535 - loved the performance and economy. Didnt like the fact that it people didnt care about bashing doors onto it in the car parks etc. I chopped it for a 3 series in the end which I had for 12 months.

X5 - love everything except the MPG! Its ok on a run - terrible around town though. <20mpg.

Toys city - also have a sub box courtesy of x555 to go in, with focal sub and kickers amp.

Great drive. Really enjoyed drive down county lanes to Bournemouth last weekend - 65 mile trip. Very enjoyable.

Cleaned it up and a quick polsih with autoglym (not my usual polish) brought it up a treat. I normally use dodo juice or zaino (takes more time), but the paint wasn't claen enough. It needs a damn good mop then polish.

[aep]

[quote=""Sanj""]No aep - the car emissions themselves on the early E70 diesels were higher than 225g/km.
They will always cost more to tax. Any car registered after 23rd March 2006 falls into the new tax brackets.
Have a look here: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Ow ... G_10012524[/quote]

Sanj,

Thanks, what I wanted to understand was the E53 2005 was £245, E53 2006 £425. With the E70 when did the emissions go under 225 in the 3.0D making it £245.

What I was trying to say above was at some point between 2005 & 2008 the emissions of X5's went up above 225 g/km. If I wanted to get an E70 under 225 g/km when were these first registered.

Thanks

[pvr]

From memory, it was around october that they dipped in the lower CO2 class. Will have to dig around to find the exact date when BMW changed the engine in the E70 to the lower emission one.

[pvr]

oh - and I just renewed the M and it is £435 now ...

[aep]

Looking up random registrations from the used BMW site on

Oct 2007 is still £425.00

For anyone wanting to check the cost from the Reg Number of a car -

http://www.taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/

PVR Terrible another £10! Outrageous - Love the choc lab, sorry to hear about it. I have a Yellow that 2 and choc that's 3 months.

[aep]

Just checked a Nov 2007 car and that's £245. I will be pushing my budget quite a lot to get into one of these.

[CondorX5]

Personally, I'd go for the best late E53 you can buy for your current budget, taking care to stay under the £435 tax bracket, unless that's no issue for you. Save the £8K extra you'll have in a few months time and install an Ipod interface in the E53 with a few hundred ££ of that. There are some lovely E53s out there if you take care sourcing one, plus if you're buying main dealer you'll have the AUC warranty for a year and part of your £8K savings can pay for a further year AUC warranty. I know E70s are great cars, but I'm not smitten, personally, as I prefer the rear of the E53 to that of the E70.

[pvr]

One thing is for sure - the facelift E53 does not look dated to me at all, still happy with it whilst normally I would have long moved on to a newer model.