XSeries-forum

Hi everyone, just registered onto your forum as I am looking at getting myself a E70 X5 in the near future but would appreciate some advice on what to look for.

I have previously owned a E53 X5 8 years ago, loved the relaxing drive and space but the car was an endless list of expensive repairs culminating in the dreaded gearbox failure. That car had a full service history and only 65k on the clock when the gearbox died which was the final straw after 7 months of other repairs I sold the car and lost a fortune  :doh:

That pain has now passed and I find myself drawn to the E70 version, I'm hoping to get a 2010> lci version but have read of transmission related faults on these as well, is it a common complaint? What else should I be looking for? Are the pre Lci cars more reliable?

I have a budget of £18-£20k.

Thanks in advance.

K.

Transmission issues with the gearbox are a thing of the past with the 8sp gearbox.

There have been issues with propshaft failures but these are significantly rarer than the issues that affected E53 gearboxes (by orders of magnitude!) - mine went at just 38K so I feel your pain!

If buying a car then it is easy enough to get play in the shaft checked, and if it is present then walk away.  There was a recall for 2010 cars and mine was fixed under it.

Overall the E70 is much more reliable than the E53 ever was, and LCI cars are more refined, more economical and cheaper to tax.  The on board electronics are better too. 

You do need to be mindful of tyres.  Using non’*’ marked tyres on vehicles with staggered set-ups is asking for trouble (as it seems to be on a number of Xdrive vehicles) regardless of using RFT or normal tyres.  Diffs and transfer boxes seem to be weaker than perhaps good design and materials choice would suggest they should be.

Thanks for that.