Howdy

[jdwright590]

Hey guys and gals,

Long time lurker here, but finally decided to take the plunge and sign up. I'm not yet the owner of an X or indeed any BMW but I'm gearing up to buy a second hand SUV and the X5 is pretty high on my list (along with the XC90, ML and RX)...know that it's probably going to be a tad biased here but hoping to get some good advice prior to any purchase 

James

[snipez999]

Welcome. What about a Q7?


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[X Box]

Welcome. Hope you find the right car for you.

[jdwright590]

Ah I'd love to be able to consider a Q7 (or an E70 X5), but alas my budget won't stretch that far...I'm looking to spend about £8k, so probably going to have to be a higher mileage car around 2005. I'm only just 23 too so insurance is going to be an issue

[B1GGM]

Welcome, on my 3rd BMW now and my first X, only initially bought a BM as a 6 month stop gap but have owned them for 3 years now

P

[X5Sport]

[quote="snipez999"]
Welcome. What about a Q7?
[/quote]

This is a BMW forum, watch your language

-------------------

X5 (E53) is in my opinion the best of the options you're looking at.  Looks & Handling are better than all the others listed.  If you do go down the E53 option then read the Buyers Guide as it gives a lot of tips etc.

.........and 

Richard

[jdwright590]

Thanks for the advice guys
I've done lots of online reading but think I need to actually take a test drive of an X5 at least, then I can take another look at my sums. I'll post any updates on the E53 forum...hopefully with some good news!

[SoapSuds70]

[quote="jdwright590"]
Ah I'd love to be able to consider a Q7 (or an E70 X5), but alas my budget won't stretch that far...I'm looking to spend about £8k, so probably going to have to be a higher mileage car around 2005. I'm only just 23 too so insurance is going to be an issue
[/quote]

Welcome to the forum. Have you priced any insurance quotes yet out of interest? At 23, you're not going to find this cheap going! (although I'm happy to be proved wrong)

[jdwright590]

I check insurance quotes a few times a month at least (clearly I need something better to occupy myself with!). Last time I checked I was getting quotes of about £1400 with Bell, who required me to have one of their black boxes fitted. That doesn't really appeal as I leave for work at around 5.30am and not sure if they penalize for unsociable hours etc, but the next cheapest was £1600-ish.

Having said that though, I have just done a quick check and prices have gone up by a couple of hundred on both counts For comparison an ML is about £1500 whether a black box is fitted or not, and an XC90 is only £1000. Last year I paid £700 for my Astra's insurance so I could easily cope with anything up to £1200ish, but anything over makes me think twice  :blink:

[Lee4.8is]

Welcome to the forum  & good luck in your search, another big fan of beemers here! 

[535dboy]

Out of those to mention the X5 has to be the best.

Good luck

[AW8]

Hi jdwright590 & welcome,

Due to your age and age of car likely purchased insurance & running costs will be significant. A well driven E53 X5 is capable of being piloted with some pace and precision but plenty of other cars out there IMO would give more smiles per mile for less or similar £'s

Any particular reason why you want a large SUV/SAV 4x4 ?

[shadrack]

I got my first x5 age 23, im now nearly 28, but my insurance has always been with admiral (same company as bell) and was cheapest, paid £1300 down to £800 when I sold the second x5

[jdwright590]

I'm a massive lover of cars of all types, but I have always wanted an SUV for as long as I remember (I think it has something to do with a Matchbox Jeep Cherokee when I was tiny haha). I have considered getting a smaller SUV like a CR-V or an X3, or even going down the opposite route and getting a E46 3 Series convertible. But even my mum says I should get one just to get it out of my system...or as I like to think get my foot on the ladder!

I was with Admiral for 3 years and am now with Elephant (the same company too I think), so I think they are probably the ones to go with, although interestingly the next cheapest quote after Bell was Diamond.

Shadrack, as a 23 year old how did you find the running costs of an X5? Am I just kidding myself that it isn't going to be that bad?

[shadrack]

if you get the right car (well looked after) the running costs will be ok, day to day fuel etc they realy arn't that bad, if your handy with the spanners they are ok for parts to.  I had a petrol/lpg first which I would say was marginally cheaper to run than the diesel but I preffered my facelift diesel as it was easyier, my old x5 is back for sale by the person who bought it 3 months ago, that was a good car, nothing needed doing in 40k miles.  As for running costs etc depends on what job your in etc it never affected me.