XSeries-forum

Hello guys and girls my name is ben

Currently an owner of an e46 m3 but time has come to let it go as it no longer practical for my job so i have decided to buy an x5 4.6 or 4.8 I have had a look through the buying guide and problems which occur do have a couple of concerns however I'm still going to buy one lol .. can't be much more expensive to fix compared to the m3 potential issues (subframe/brakes/etc) slightly worried about the auto box as I had the cog of death in a previous e46 330 club sport hence why I went for a manual m3 .. only other couple of things from what I have read is the plastic timing chain guides and also the air suspension ... I'm not on a tight budget have around 10k to spend and looking for something under 80k miles wise .. unfortunately can't stretch to a 2007 onwards ATM ...

Any one had many issues regarding the problems listed above with their x5 ?? 

Thanks ben

Welcome Ben,you will get plenty of advicd in here 

Hi and welcome to the forum.

The key is buying the right car with good history and maintenance is essential with these as a good car is great a bad one is or can be expensive.

The buyers guide covers a lot, the earlier 5 speed auto box appear to be more fragile than the later ones. Also diffs can fail. Timing chains on the 4.6 have been known to stretch. Also air suspension the bags can go, which is not too bad but the front air suspension can play up esp sensors, so do the check display on the dash to see if any issues. Sat nav units can play up and the screens can go.

One member even took his code reader and lead and asked to check if any faults when buying which given the age and price of repairs is probably a sensible move.

Water ingress can happen where door plastic membranes are broken so check carpets front, rear and also boot well, or from the pan roof. Check all the electrics and if it has a pan roof check it several times as the rear section can stick open and they are approx 2.5k to fix.

The cars can eat batteries esp if only short journeys and it will throw up multiple errors. Some people.have had excessive rear tyre wear and usually down to camber and or bushes in rear.

Apart from that it's the usual check for any car and if you find a good one it's possibly worth considering a warranty as for some it has been a I've saver, other just put some money in the bank.

Good luck with the search.
Graeme