Manual or auto box?

[Dawggone]

Newbie here so hello all.
I'm thinking of buying a 05 facelift diesel for the wife to haul horses about. Will also take me and dogs for the shooting season.
Manual box or auto?
My brother is totally devoted x5 fan for ten years and has untold problems with auto box, but now is eventually content with a new 4.0d.
What I need is a workhorse that will give minimum downtime.
I have sourced an x5 manual six speed manual box in Paris that has fbmwsh with 120km on the clock.
Buy?? Or not??

[X5Sport]

to the forum.

Manuals are rare here in the UK, and yes there are known issues with the auto box though not everyone suffers from them.

The manual will quite likely be heavy on its clutch, but that's cheaper than a transmission rebuild.  It will cerainly tow horses but watch the maximum weight limits on both the car rating and more especially the tow bar, especially if it is not an OEM type.

Richard

[Dawggone]

Thanks. When you say heavy do you mean usage or difficult to depress clutch?

[X5Sport]

Not particularly, more wear and tear with towing on the friction plate.  Plenty of folks tow with the auto and have no problems.

Richard

[Dawggone]

Any known weakness with dual mass flywheel? Or is the older "ordinary" flywheel?

[X5Sport]

Not seen any reported, but the manual is a rare car here.  Twin mass flywheel.

Richard

[Don Coffey]

as Richard has said, not aware of any issues, but remember that at resale time most will want the auto box.  So unless the price is right you maybe better off sourcing a low mileage auto.

Don

[Dawggone]

€11000 is the price. Full bmw service history. New tyres, clutch, brakes and discs, two new drives in front etc.

[AW8]

Regardless of the auto vs manual debate for normal use - Automatics are supposedly preferred for towing.

Flywheels can still fail on the manuals albeit cheaper than a new auto box or overhaul.

If it was me I would look for an auto equipped car.

If I wanted reliability and off road towing ability I might consider a land cruiser instead. 

[Greydog]

My reason for buying an X5 were exactly the same as yours, moving me and the dogs around on shoots and towing a horse trailer. Our Horse lorry wasn't getting enough use so we made the decision to sell it and buy a 4x4 and horse trailer.
We looked at all the usual marques Range Rover, Land Cruiser, Jeep, etc and of course the X5. Here in the UK Land cruisers were stupid prices and several we saw had more miles than the Star ship Enterprise, Jeeps were to wallowy in the ride and RR was on average 3k more than an X5 with similar spec and miles. We ended up buying a V8 X5 Auto.
We choose a Bateson Horse trailer as they are light (under 900kg) allowing 2 16+ hands horses to be towed and still well inside the cars and tow hitch capacities.
4 years on would we do it again? The answer is yes, the X's (We are on our 2nd) has only cost what I consider normal maintenance, suspension bushes front and rear I would change and get the alignment checked twice a year much cheaper than tyres. Auto box on both has been smooth and (so far) faultless as  said by Richard and Don manuals are like Rocking Horse poo here so not much to compare. Plus personally the only manuals I have driven since the mid 1980's are holiday hire cars abroad.
Make sure it has all the equipment you want make doubly sure everything works as it should and if you buy it make sure you have a good warranty then enjoy it.

[Dawggone]

Agree. Land cruiser are crazy money here.
Got a trial of a v8 diesel Range Rover for a month and it's a nice car but crazy thirsty.