Considering buying my first X5, advice please...

[Poppin]

Hi all. I have been a BMW lover since my C reg 325i many moons ago, back when petrol was affordable for average Joes

I now drive a Land Rover Discovery 2 manual. the fuel economy is diabolical and I no longer need the extensive towing and off roading abilities, but I do still need to go across fields occasionally and tow a trailer now and then. I am considering changing vehicle and the options are Land Rover Freelander 2, or the car I have dreamed of owning for many years - X5! Ideally the M Sport but not essential.
(Either E53 or E70 depending on sale price)

I have heard scary stories of X5s being very expensive to repair, and needing a lot of repairs now that they are older. I can't afford anything newer than about 2010/2011.

Biggest question - can anyone give me real world MPG figures please?

I get 27MPG absolute best out of my Discovery, usually more like 23-24. I was told X5s can do better than that, is this true? I have had someone tell me they get 45mpg from their 3.0D M Sport on long runs (I laughed too!), versus others saying 25-26MPG is about the max.

Also, do they do manual transmission or only autos?

Grateful for any other thoughts or buying advice.

thanks

[Leslie]

Welcome All e70's are auto , manuals were rare enough on the e53 , id go for an e70 as they are a bit newer and the auto boxes are more robust . My e70 averages 28 mpg and you can often see 34 mpg on a run which is the official combined factory figure , you won't see much better than that and more like 20 mpg around town at best .
The e53 has quite a low tow limit from what I remember and the e70 is 2.7 ton , a rare factory towbar on the e70 brings this to 3.5 ton but its very rare if heavy towing is important.
The earlier e70's with the older m57 engine to about 2010 tend to give a bit less bother engine wise( timing chains /fuel pump) but 2007 cars are hammered with £700 road tax/ved and around 2008 it drops to £415 . around 2010/2011 then got the better 8 speed autobox. 8 speed is when the newer engines came iin

[Poppin]

Useful info thanks

[Poppin]

I like the look of this - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/405638366665
Any tips on what to check/look for would be appreciated. They really are a stunning vehicle in my view! (Ok, giving away my Land Rover history there )

[X5Sport]

For 2010 onwards you are just into the E70 LCI (Low cost impulse or facelift) with LED angel eyes. This is the easiest ‘tell’ for the LCI version. These came with more efficient engines (N57) and the ZF 8-speed auto (No manual as above). I have a 40D X6 (the twin turbo) and get around the mpg above on a run, 27 around town. The E70 is the same vehicle underneath.

All 7-seater E70s have a lower payload limit so if you need to tow then you are looking at a 5-seater. It’s due to the extra rear seats limiting chassis loading at the rear. The 5-seater can tow at up to 3.5T if fitted with additional cooling. Factory tow bars were either 2.7T or 3.5T depending upon options at build. The tow bar was a single standard, but the ‘additional towing capacity’ option came with an extra fan, and a cooling radiator in the near side front wing and the 3.5T increase.

LCI models are cheaper to tax as well.

Other changes included an updated idrive (7 buttons), larger in board hard disk (80GB) and Bluetooth music=c streaming instead of needing a ‘Y’ cable.

All BMWs are expensive to repair if they break, and that’s no different from most brands. You can get non-badged ‘OEM’ parts and there are good independent service agents out there. I use one in Milton Keynes and all his employees are ex-BMW (he pays better). That halves labour charges.

Have a mooch through the forum to find things to be careful about. The biggest is tyres. BMWs xDrive system is not as strong as that in a Landy. Tyres need to be the same pattern all round and usually changed as a set. Ideally you would be buying ‘’ marked (BMW Approved) tyres. You would be looking at £800 or more per set. You don’t have to go with Approved, but it tends to be safer, particularly with staggered wheel sizes found on most X5s. Tread depths with more than 2mm difference on any wheel can and has caused shattered diffs or broken transfer boxes. Just something to be aware of.

With the E53, it was common for the transmission to fail. That isn’t a problem for the E70 as they had a better version 6speed or the later 8speed. The latter is still in production and regarded as the best auto out there.

MSport is just a trim. The engine variants are the 30D single turbo, 30SD/35D twin turbo and 40d twin turbo, or the M50D with three blowers.

There is a thread running on here by sapphireblack who is looking for an E70. There are good ones, and a lot of chancers out there. Worth a read.

Good luck with your hunt.

[Poppin]

Thank you very much. And love the signature!
So it looks like all round the E70 LCI is the one to go for, reliability wise. I do worry about repair costs but as you say that applies to any of the options I am looking at. To be honest the safer/cheaper option would be a Freelander 2, but it's just not as sexy is it, and I have wanted a BMW again for so many years....!

[X5Sport]

I like the look of this - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/405638366665
Any tips on what to check/look for would be appreciated. They really are a stunning vehicle in my view! (Ok, giving away my Land Rover history there )

Spec looks OK and interesting about new timing chain. That’s an engine out job so not cheap (the chain is at the rear of the engine (no we don’t know why either, but that’s BMW engineers for you!).

Check all the electrics, service history (oil changes should be done every 12 months regardless!), transmission fluids are approaching second change (about £1,000 to do front to rear), parking brake servo - does it work, drive the car at very low speed on full lock both ways and forwards/backwards. Any uneven movement or jerkiness, walk away! It’s a good indicator of diff trouble due to tyres. Check the tyre type and tread depth. Any noise in the transmission could indicate expensive trouble. Ask about what sort of use the car has had? Short journeys will kill the Diesel Particulate Filter as it never gets hot enough to regenerate (burn the soot off). Have a good look underneath to make sure all the covers are there and no sign of leaks anywhere.

There are probably other things too that I’ve missed.

[X5Sport]

Thank you very much. And love the signature!
So it looks like all round the E70 LCI is the one to go for, reliability wise. I do worry about repair costs but as you say that applies to any of the options I am looking at. To be honest the safer/cheaper option would be a Freelander 2, but it's just not as sexy is it, and I have wanted a BMW again for so many years....!

I’m not sure any Landrover can be called a ‘safer’ option I ran a fleet of them (Discos) 25 years ago for my then employer. Never again!

Reliability wise the E70 is much better than the E53 was. I had a 2005 X5 which was a disaster. My X6 is 15 years old, had it since new and it’s much much better.

[Poppin]

Hahaha. To be honest the Freelanders are pretty cheap to repair COMPARED to X5s, and certainly compared to Range Rovers! Main point about cheapness is fuel economy, they shine there in this category.
Great info on checks to make thanks. It seems transmission is a BIG deal, glad I learned that before finding out the hard way!

[Leslie]

That car has comfort seats which are supposed to be much nicer , its a lot of car for the money but an earlier m57 engined car probably wouldn't have needed a timing chain Listen for the air compressor coming on at startup , its should only run a few secs , if it runs much longer there will be expense ahead either airbags or a new compressor .

[Poppin]

Ha, thanks!
You raise a good point. It seems if I hunt around I have the choice of the earlier one (M57?). Actually a bit cheaper due to being older, so I can get one with lower mileage. I am looking for the most reliable (first) and most economical (second), gizmos and modern fancy stuff really doesn't interest me. Nice if it's a free bonus, but I am not bothered by relative simplicity.
I read some people saying the E70 was 'better', mainly due to the 8 speed box. Is that just opinion and not necessarily true? I have a feeling I MAY be better off with the older one, what say you?!

[Poppin]

PS - This is the one I spotted - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/176931156985
Don't know if it's much of a 'dealer', but if they are indeed a company then I may have more comeback if it falls apart on the way home! Seems possibly even better value that one, but the comments about the LCI model being 'better' are giving me a dilemma

[Leslie]

That's an sd like mine , twin turbo and 286 hp which is 50 hp more than the single turbo version , a nice driving car and same economy as the single turbo. These engines are generally extremely reliable but they are all old now .Someone has put a more modern touchscreen screen in the dash by the look of it.
M57 is the older engine which this has , e70 is the car shape , and lci was the face-lift but still e70 where it got new engines and the 8 speed box.
Economy wise there is little real world between any of them as has often been shown on here and the tax is only a few quid cheaper 415 to 385 .
It's really personal choice so try and get the best condition one for the money but after 150k I'd expect some bills to be arriving as things wear out.

[Poppin]

Woah. That vehicle was £4750 this morning, now it's £5700. Did you tip them off to it being twin turbo?
Will ask about that but assuming I am still interested - I assume it goes quite a bit nicer being twin turbo! Does it jump up a lot in insurance or negligible difference?
Interesting about the screen replacement, gives me something to sniff into!
I read somewhere (on a forum) about prop shafts breaking on either these or the E70s, can't remember which. There was an HonestJohn article about it apparently, because they didn't do a proper Safety Recall, just some quality announcement or similar. Some say it's dangerous. Does this affect this vehicle do you know?
I will look into service history, grateful for any tips on specific things that are essential to see in its history (like diff services or whatever)
thanks again

[Poppin]

I know nobody has a crystal ball and any car can be trouble free or a string of problems. But 'on average', if I was buying an X5 M57 around 2008-2010, one with around 110-120k miles with good service history, should I be expecting to spend thousands on it in each year? I mean are they 'usually' in need of repairs in most cases? I see so many people moaning about problems (same with all modern cars), but also see many people raving about trouble free motoring. Just wondered what experienced folk reckon would be wise to 'expect', a complete guess of course but one that may help me decide. (And I am of course aware that EVERY vehicle purchase is something of a gamble - But i have the choice of private versus trade sales, and with the law as it is, trade gives SOME protection to buying a string of faults!)