The Hunt, The Purchase and The Ownership Review .... all in extensive detail !

[Haywoon]

This post is a detailed description of my experience researching, sourcing, purchasing and living with my X5 since October 2012.  I’ve put some titles in so those who don’t want to read all the build-up can go straight to the ownership review.

It is detailed and I'll probably have to post in two sections......well, I did say it was detailed 

The Research:

So, I guess like most of us on this forum, I came to the decision that I wanted to try out a large 4x4 and embarked on the usual scouring of the Internet searching for buying guides, reviews and the such like.  I always visit honest johns (writes a column in the Telegraph motoring section) web site and refer to the car by car breakdown section which I find to be a really useful starting point to cut the wheat from the chaff and also look at the other usual web sites - auto trader, piston heads, which, what car etc.

I came to the conclusion that I wanted a premium brand 4x4 so for me, that ruled out a lot of options.  Looking at the remaining runners I had the usual suspects - Range Rover, Land Rover Disco 4, Volvo xc90, Mercedes ML, Audi Q7, Lexus, and the BMW X5.

The characteristics of a car that are most important to me are good level of spec, reliability, running costs, the look of the car and performance.  Weighing up that list against the above offerings, the BMW X5 is clearly a front runner and for me, combines the best combination of delivery against my requirements.

I don't carry passengers very often so seven seats wasn’t a requirement.  My daily commute is a modest 11 miles each way with some additional miles at the weekend / evenings so fuel consumption isn't a primary concern but still a factor.  I’ve previously had an Audi S4 and Audi S5 so I’m familiar with 18 MPG territory and not keen to go back there right now.

After narrowing my choice down to the X5 I began to think about budget, spec, mileage and whether to go BMW approved used or via an independent dealer.  I set myself a budget of £26k and a limit of 60k miles on the clock.  I wasn't bothered about an M sport as I prefer the running boards but I did decide the media pack and dynamic pack were essential.  After much thought I decided that I wanted an approved used car, solely because of the BMW backed warranty - based on the fact the X5 is a complicated and expensive machine I felt that the approx 1.5 to 2k premium gave me the peace of mind that I needed providing I could get a sensible part exchange value against my current car and find a suitable approved used X5 at a fair price from a main dealer who treats customers as I treat my customers (that last requirement was clearly going to be a stretch!).

I have quite a lot of experience of the motor trade - I don't work in it but a very good friend of mine does and over the years I have picked up a huge amount of invaluable information from him.  Personally I'm not a fan of the main dealer in any guise.  Most of my experiences with main dealers have left me with a sense that my custom isn't valued once the deal has been done and my wallet left empty.  This includes Jaguar, Audi, Porsche and BMW amongst others.

So, with this somewhat jaded opinion of our friends in the silver shiny suits I set about my hunt for an X5.  Clearly I waited until month end to monopolise on any potential sales targets a main dealer may have.  I was prepared to travel for the right car as clearly the warranty would cover me at any BMW garage but as it happened I spotted a potential candidate at my local BMW dealership, Stratstone BMW in Derby.


The Viewing

The car in question was a '59 plate X5 3.0 SE in space grey with 45k miles on the clock.  Spec-wise it was adequate - it did have the all-important dynamic pack and media pack along with staggered 20" Y spoke alloys, arch extensions on the back, cd changer, sun protection glass, running boards and hot seats.  In comparison with other main dealers at the time the price was about right - it was on the market for £26k and the distance from where I live made it worthy of a viewing.

I never like to turn up on spec when viewing a car so phoned ahead to book an appointment to make my enquiry with a shiny silver suit.  Upon ringing and asking for sales I was promptly transferred to my salesman, a guy called Tim Twells.  Initial impressions were positive, Tim was pleasant and asked the right questions - we agreed a time and date to view the car.  Duly, the Mrs and I turned up and met Tim for the first time - a smartly dressed, down to earth chap in his late 50's.  We were shown the car and left alone to look around it whilst Tim sorted us a brew.

We were then promptly offered a test drive for as long or short as we wanted along a route of our choice.  On returning to the plate glass silver suit cage we sat at Tim's desk and started to discuss the finer points.  Much talk was made around the BMW warranty sir and all the wonderful things that Stratstone do sir.  Eventually we moved on to the important subject of the valuation for my car at the time - a 2010 Ford Focus ST-3 with Mountune upgrade (what can I say, I'm a boy racer at heart - makes the X5 an odd choice doesn't it!).

I was all prepared for the ensuing argument about how my car isn't worth anything and how Stratstone wouldn't retail it as it had a dead fly on the windscreen and the market has really dipped recently sir - I've dealt with many a silver suit in my time and was fully prepared for the mid showroom bust up followed by me storming out in cloud of abuse and drama finalised by a parting shot of me instructing my silver suited friend to insert his X5 right up where the sun don't shine. 

However, I was somewhat taken aback when I received the offer!  Tim offered me £500 over top book for the car - don't get me wrong, the car was mint - 12k miles from new but still, an offer over book from a main dealer?  How much profit is in this X5 I began to wonder or even worse, what's wrong with it!  As I said, I don't hold our shiny suited friends in high regard so am naturally suspicious when things look a little too good to be true.  In the blink of an eye, I managed to compose myself and respond with "oh that's disappointing, is that all you can offer".  "Oh" came the reply from Tim, how much we're you expecting?  I gave the slightly ambitious response of another grand on top of what I had been offered.  Oh right said Tim.  Tell you what, he went on to say, it's Saturday and I'll need to phone around for a better offer on your car - can I call you on Monday. 

It was at this point that I began to notice the discernible odour of bull sh1t in the air.  Deciding to play along with the "let’s get you out the showroom as you aren't serious game" I said yeah sure Tim, you give me a buzz on Monday and we parted company politely, but with me firmly believing I'm more likely to grow dreadlocks than he is to ring me on Monday (I'm bald as a baboons bum).

Low and behold, would you bloody believe it, Tim not only calls me on Monday, but with an increased offer of £500 against my car - not the grand I was after, but I was being ambitious.  So, we agree another viewing of the X5 long with another test drive and I hang up the phone to start contemplating how I'd like my dreadlocks styling.

Stick with me by the way, I will get around to the actual ownership review, I'm just setting the scene and giving a review of the whole purchase.

The Deal

So cutting out the finer detail, I return for a second viewing and to drink a few more cups of Stratstone’s finest tea and biscuits.  The second test drive goes well.  I’m convinced that yes, I do want an X5.  So I then take Tim around the car and ask him to note down all the defects.  A scratch on the boot, a dint in the rear off side quarter, a damaged near side rear door card, a broken speaker cover, missing Nav disc and a rattle on the climate control fan.  Tim duly agreed to get these issues rectified.  Finally I remarked on the fact this £26 thousand pound machine was missing floor mats – I know its not unusual for some dealers to sell on car mats to contacts to chuck on ebay and then charge the next customer for a new set of mats.  I asked for some new mats and was told yes - so the deal was done.  Or so I thought.

I then was then introduced to another younger guy who was going to try and sell me GAP insurance, wheel and tyre insurance and light damage insurance (dints, smart repairs etc).  I politely declined but could see that the guy was clearly under pressure by his sales manager to make customers listen to his sales speech.  Not being in a particular rush I told him I would listen to him if it helped him with his boss but there was no way he would persuade me to by any of these extras for one main reason.  £26k is top end for me.  I don’t buy new cars – I tend to buy prestige brand used cars not more than three years old and let someone else take the main dip in depreciation.  There was no way I was stretching my top end budget any further.  So after another 30 minutes of sales bashing we came to the mutual conclusion that I wasn’t buying what he was selling and I left the dealership feeling somewhat weary but looking forward to collecting my new purchase!

Collection Day

It took Stratstones around a week to prep the X5 for my collection.  I arrived at the dealership at around 3pm on a Friday afternoon to be met by a cheery Tim.  I had that feeling of excitement that I’m sure many of us get when picking up a new car and also mixed in was a small tinge of “bl00dy hell I hope I’m doing the right thing here”.

I was escorted out to my shiny new X5 by Tim and he proudly showed me around all the defects which had been rectified by the workshop.  The speaker cover was replaced with a new one.  I was told the satnav disc was in the drive – it was.  Perfect I thought.  The scratch had been polished out “as best they could”.  OK I thought, not perfect but it is a used car and its barely visible now, I’ll let that pass but I felt a bit niggled by this.  I was then presented with the “repair” that was carried out on the rear door card.  When I say repair, what I actually mean is half arsed attempt to patch up a large tear in the door card material by carrying out a smart repair.  I can only assume the guy or girl that does the smart repairs had brought his 8 year old child as part of a work experience day and let them have a crack at daddy’s work.  I think if I smeared nuttella on the door card and let my 12 stone Bull Mastiff chew it off it would have looked better.

I pointed out to Tim that this effort was not in any way acceptable.  I wouldn’t expect that kind of crap from a Ford dealer, let alone a national retailer of prestige brand vehicles.  Tim looked awkwardly at the repair and said he would have to speak to his sales manager.  At this point, I pointed out there would be no money changing hands if this was the extent of service offered by Stratstone.  Already, I began to think that yet again, the traits of the main dealer will NEVER change.  I went on to explain to Tim, I appreciate; this is a used car purchase.  I’m not spending £60k on a new X5 and it’s not going to be show room condition.  I would have been happy for the workshop to swap the door card over from another car or to source a used part of acceptable quality and fit it – after all it’s only a bl00dy door card and not a mechanical part.  Basically Tim, Stratstone are taking the p1ss out of me and I’m not standing for it.

We agreed this would be rectified one way or another and moved on to the testing of the climate fan which had been fixed – no more rattles – great I thought.  We then moved on to the mats we have put in for you sir.  I took a cursory glance and thought yep, they’re mats, they look pretty thick – ok yes job done.  The X5 had been valeted but not to my standards – no surprise there but not an issue for me – I enjoy valeting my cars so that was ok for me.

Inside we went to finalise the deal.  The young guy had one more go at the GAP pitch and was promptly dispatched.  A really nice guy, just trying to do his job but by this point I just wanted to get the keys and go enjoy my new purchase.  After another tea and biscuit, the handshakes were done, the money transferred and the X5 was mine…..AT LONG LAST.

I left the dealership with mixed feelings.  Tim Twells is a great guy.  Down to earth, treats customers with respect and talks to you like a real person.  Stratstone let themselves down with some of the agreed defect rectification.  Ill cover off more of that off later in my review as the car has been in a couple of times since then for some minor repairs.

4 Months of Ownership

I’ve lived with my X5 for four months now.  In the first week I had to commute to Manchester and back for two consecutive days so spent six hours in the driver’s seat each day.  This proved to be a great opportunity to give the car a proper test and also test my ability to park it in a multi-storey.

I was pleasantly surprised.  I stepped out of the car after a three hour journey feeling quite fresh.  I found the seats in the X5 to be excellent – very comfortable and adjustable to suit almost any driving requirement.  The hot seats are also excellent – and boy do they get hot – they are equal to the hot seats in my Audi S5 which are also great.  The quality of the leather on the seats is good.  They aren’t soft nappa like I have had in some cars but they are very hard wearing and clean up well.  I don’t have any noticeable marks on the leather after 45k miles and there is no major sign of wear other than a small amount on the driver’s seat bolster which unfortunately, due to the size of the car and positioning of the seat you have to drag yourself across.  I’ve since perfected the exit/entry technique to avoid dragging my fat ass across this area of the seat - anyone wearing jeans should be especially careful of studs against this area of the seat.

The boot is cavernous and easily able to accommodate our Alsatian and Bull Mastiff.  The rear seats split fold to further increase the load room and the small storage area under the boot floor is excellent for jackets, boots, jump leads etc.  The retracting parcel shelf cover is nothing more than a pain in the arse.  It seems poorly made, rattles a lot and generally, had BMW spent half the attention on the glove box and dedicated this to the parcel shelf cover they would have a much more acceptable solution all round!

Visibility as you would expect is very good all round.  I don’t have a reverse camera, but the rear and front parking sensors give me all the additional guidance I need.  Although clearly, the X5 is a very big car, it doesn’t feel to me like a big car when manoeuvring it around.  The wing mirrors are ginormous giving a clear view down both sides of the car and the auto dimming rear review mirror is effective and easy to adjust.  Occasionally the parking sensors are prone to water or debris getting stuck around them making them trigger.  This isn’t a problem I have had on previous cars, but isn’t a big issue to me as I know what causes it.

Ride quality is great.  Considering I’m running the bling wheels and don’t have the adaptive drive option, I really am pleasantly surprised at how well the X5 trams along the lanes and handles the motorway.  Don’t get me wrong, we all know it’s no sports car, but taking into account the sheer size, height and weight of the thing I personally thing its quite remarkable.

Fuel economy – the big question for many of us.  I went into this purchase as I do all my cars with my eyes wide open.  34 MPG is it on the official BMW claim?  Clearly that isn’t going to happen (Ill refer back to the dreadlocks analogy).  I always take off 2 to 4 MPG from the manufacturers claim to accommodate my “progressive” driving style.  At the moment, I average 24 to 25 MPG on my weekly runs.  Motorway/long runs at 70 MPH officer can easily achieve 28 MPG and higher but under normal mix of town, rural and motorway it’s 24 MPG for me.  A little less than I anticipated but certainly nothing for me to complain about.  What I take exception to is how our Government and bodies of authority let car manufacturers publish these blatantly misleading figures.  Clearly a case for Carl Pilkington’s Bull Sh1t Man if I ever saw one.


Continued in next post.....

[Haywoon]

The sat-nav is adequate.  It’s not the best I have used and it’s definitely not the worst.  Occasionally when there is a lot of route congestion the Nav will re-plan the route several times a minute which can become annoying, especially as it wipes the guidance line off the map – I’m guessing the re-plan feature can be turned off if needs be.  Talking of the Nav, that leads me on to another Stratstone niggle.  The road I live on didn’t appear on the map which was strange for a 59 plate car – my house was built in 2006.  Upon checking the satnav disc, Stratstone kindly provided me with an ’08 disc.  After checking to ensure there was an update for model year ’59 I contacted Tim who promptly agreed to swap the disc for a 2009 version.  Again, good response but I expected that kind of thing to be checked before the handover of the vehicle.

I have the business audio option as part of the media pack.  The sound quality from this is average at best.  I’ve since had a small powered sub dropped into the boot just to give the bottom end base a bit of a kick at a cost of £260 – this has helped but basically, my view is that you can’t polish a turd and the sound system is, in my opinion a large crusty turd.  In retrospect I would have waited to find a car with the upgrade sound system in as I really like my music.  Never mind – that’s my fault for not demo’ing the sound system adequately before purchase.  The worst sound system I have ever had was in my Jag XF and the best was in my Audi S5 which had a Bang & Oluffson upgrade and was truly, truly awesome.  The BMW is a massive improvement on the Jag but light years away from the B&O in the Audi.

The climate in the car is good.  The air con is great – very powerful and effective.  The heater does take a while to get the car hot enough on a cold day but combined with the hot seats I don’t have a problem with it.  One thing I absolutely hate about the climate (and again, this is personal preference) is the lack of ability to synch up the passenger and driver temp zones so they can be changed using one dial.  Pretty much every car I have had with dual zone climate has the ability to do this (even Fords!). 

Driving in the snow –there is much made of this topic on the forum and rightly so – this is a premium 4x4 and personally, I don’t want to look like a complete prat when the Mrs overtakes me in her Ford Kuga in the snow.  My own experience of driving in 4 inches of snow and on compacted snow this year with 20” staggered wheels is pretty much as I expected.  Will the car go?  Yes it will.  I live on a hill and it will go up the hill with no issues.  Does the car turn into a two tonne sledge when you try to stop or steer around a bend or brake when on a sharp incline?  Yes, sometimes it does and it does this with alarming ease if you are not adjusting your speed to the road conditions.  For me, it comes down to using common sense and not driving beyond my own ability, the ability of the car and the conditions of the road.  I have bought a set of used 18” alloys with winter tyres off the German eBay site along with the associated wheel spacer kits (40mm per corner at the rear and 25mm at the front) in order to space out the wheels.  Haven’t felt the need to fit these as yet and can’t see me doing so until next season now.

Talking of wheels, one thing to point out – ensure you check your locking wheel bolt key – the first time I came to use mine it was knackered and wouldn’t take the lockers off.  I went into Stratstone, spoke to the service department who said we need to order you a new one sir – that will come from Germany and take two weeks.  Two weeks?  Really?  The wheels I ordered off eBay from Germany arrived with me in two days – surely Stratstone is capable of achieving a better time than that.  No sir unfortunately not.  I asked them if they could mark the part order as VOR.  The service guy looked at me bemused at the fact that I happen to know if part orders are marked as VOR or Vehicle Off Road they receive priority service.  No sir we can’t do that as its BMW that supply the part and they make them to order.  OK – I accept defeat and wait my two weeks on the proviso that if I get a flat I shall be contacting BMW assist to come and sort the issue out.

Two weeks later to the day my locker arrives.  I collect it (we can’t send it direct sir, it’s a security risk).  I get home; test it out – no joy.  Some feckless idiot has used an air ratchet to put the lockers on to around a million foot pound of torque and I risk knackering my new locker yet again.  Undeterred I try another wheel – same problem.  Eventually it becomes clear why the original locker was knackered.  On the internet I go and 5 minutes later I order a set of McGuard lockers which I have had on other cars.  If it wasn’t for having 20’s on the X5 I wouldn’t have even bothered and just replaced them with standard bolts.  Needless to say, the X5 is going in to have BMW remove the lockers and replace them with the McGaurd ones – I’m not risking BMW lockers again thank you very much.

Personally I prefer the side steps on the car as opposed to a car without them.  Do they offer any benefit?  Well, they do help when cleaning the roof as I can balance on them – I’ve since learned it’s easier to stand on the rear tyre as you get a better reach.  The side steps are excellent for trapping dirt and covering your clothes if you aren’t careful when you enter/exit the car.  They are also a complete pain in the a55 to keep clean of tar and road muck.  Even after all that, I would still have another X5 with them on.  All down to personal preference I think and that’s mine.

The glove box - as the great Homer Simpson says “sweet merciful crap”.  What an over engineered design.  Mine rattles – not a lot and not all the time, but it definitely rattles.  If I can ever face the battle with BMW I’ll ask them to take a look at it as I hate rattles on a car.  I’ve also noticed I get a creek from somewhere around the radio/climate unit – my daily commute takes me through 5 miles of country lanes and its very noticeable.  I haven’t yet been able to pin point it but it bugs me EVERY time I hear it.  Perhaps in the summer it won’t be as noticeable with the plastics being warmer ….or maybe it will be worse!

I’ve looked into that common question of making the angel eyes more of a whiter light than the current amber glow.  I’m not prepared to pay £220 for a set of Lux V3’s to achieve this so instead have opted for the cheapskate £10 set of H8 brighter bulbs which so far, have proved to do the job adequately.  Clearly not up to the Lux standard and clearly not the same as the latest angel eyes but I just refuse to spend £220 to change the colour of the angel eyes – I don’t have that much disposable income!

I plan at some point to have the re-map which is much praised on this forum.  I think for the price and the reported increases in performance and MPG it’s going to be well worth the money.  I’m currently concocting a means of spending said cash without the Mrs detecting it.  I think I’ll be going for the option of purchasing the flash unit so I can remove the map when it goes into the dealers for any maintenance work.

Mechanically, I have had no major issues with the car in my four months of ownership.  It has proven to be reliable and consistent in terms of performance which is exactly as I expected it would be.  It’s also reassuring that it doesn’t fall into the £460+ tax bracket too – another reason I opted for the X5 and not a RR sport or a Q7.  One minor fault I discovered is that when the rear heated screen is activated it interferes noticeably with the radio reception.  I’m not that fussed about it as I know what it is and I rarely drive with the rear heated screen on – I’m guessing it’s because the FM aerial is built into the rear screen and there must be some kind of break in the insulation between the heated element and the aerial.

Jacking the car up is an event in itself.  With having run flats and no BMW jack, I opted to buy one of the jacking blocks off eBay to help and also had to buy a larger trolley jack from Costco which had a bigger jacking plate.  This now lifts the car up securely and as safe as could be expected

I find on cold mornings, the upward gear changes do take an alarming amount of time.  They seem to kick in far later, around the 2.5k revs mark which is way higher than I would take the engine from cold start – I’ve since started to use the manual gear change option on very cold mornings to avoid this issue.

I was impressed with the ability to lock/unlock the car via an iphone app – very useful if you ever lock your keys in the car and seems to work well.  I also like the ability to be able to track the location of the car using GPS (I think).  Reassuring for an insurance company should it ever get nicked.  To be honest though, if it does ever get nicked, I don’t want it back with the label of “stolen recovered” to shatter the used value on top of normal depreciation.  Another reason I have never had a tracker fitted to any of my cars – I’d rather pay the increased premium personally.

So, overall, I like the X5 a lot – it’s great at what it does and I get a good feeling about the whole driving and ownership experience – I doubt there is a better all-round premium 4x4 on the market that could match it in all respects.  Sometimes it’s a matter of preference for people and whilst I agree that others may find a RR sport or LR Disco or Q7 to their needs – personally, none of those options do a great deal for me for a variety of different reasons – looks, style, costs, brand image etc.

Would I buy another car from Stratstone?  Possibly, depending on what the car was and the circumstances around it.  They certainly wouldn’t be my first choice but nor would I totally discount them as an option.  I’d be a bit more specific around expectations next time and unless it was a specialised car (X5, M3, M5 etc) I’d be more likely to buy private or from a good quality independent retailer.  The salesman, Tim Twells is a great guy and I would happily deal with him again.  Were it not for him, I doubt I would have bought a car from Stratstone in the first instance.

Would I buy another X5?  If I needed another large 4x4 premium car then yes, it is highly likely I would and certainly the facelift 4.0 model.  If a Porsche Cayenne diesel fell into my price bracket I would consider it against an X5 at the time but my current thinking would lean me more towards an X5.

Hopefully this will be of use to others thinking about buying an X5.

[Reusch]

Bloody hell mate your fingers must be aching with all that typing  but ill tell you what that was a good read.

[X5Sport]

Very informative and thanks for taking the time to put it together....

Richard

[X Box]

Great write up that man!

So pleased you mentioned the cold engine / rev holding - I was tempted to ask if anyone else had that happen. Mine has done it a couple of times. Really annoying!

Not sure if yours is involved but make sure you check out the steering pump tensioner bolt recall. Mine is going in on monday for that.

[johnx5]

Thanks for a great read!!

[Benstan]

Top post and bound to be of real use to many people thinking about taking the X5 plunge.  Enjoyed the read very much - can't believe I am the first to say "this post is nothing without pics"!

Cheers

[MJim]

Yes great post, and very well written.  Welcome to the X5 club - and enjoy the ride!

[petert]

Nice read - thanks.
My 2010 35d also holds onto the gears longer when the temperature is low, until the engine/box are nicely warmed up.  And the temperature certainly gets low in Canada!
Peter T

[X5Sport]

The gearbox has two program's......cold and normal, and until the oil temp gets to a certain value then it holds the revs longer before changing.  My E53 did it, and my X6 with the 8sp box does it too.

Richard

[535dboy]

Welcome

good write up

Remap will invalidate the warranty that you were keen to search out !

[Haywoon]

Thanks very much for all the positive comments.

Writing a comprehensive review seemed the best way I could give something back for all the info I've gained from this forum.

Booked in today for the steering re-call and locking bolts removal.

[Black X5]

Thanks for the very entertaining and informative write up. You are right about the sales man being able to make or break a deal- glad they were helpful.

I do the same with the box when cold too, manually changing up- really feels as if the engine is being taken to places it does not want to go to at low temperatures!

Oh and welcome! )

[graemeX5]

Thanks for be informative read and it enlightens me as to what to wat out for when I change to the E70.

Glad you are enjoying the car and welcome to the forum

[Haywoon]

Small update:

Took the x5 into Stratstone on Saturday.

They carried out the recall work for me but were unable to remove the lockers - even their workshop kit couldnt get them off so its got to go back in in a couple of weeks for two days and they will get a company in to remove them (at their expense).

Also whilst it was in I asked them to look at the wipers which were over swiping on the drivers side and catching the door pillar, a piece of bumper trim had come unclipped and I also asked them to look at why the rear de-mist interferes with the FM radio.

On collecting the car, the wipers had been adjusted and a brand new pair of wiper blades fitted, the trim had been clipped back into place and when it goes back in for the lockers to be removed they are going to fit me a new rear screen to cure the FM interference problems.

All in all, excellent service from them - no quibble, no arguments.  I left the dealership feeling very happy with the experience.