XSeries-forum

We are expecting our first child at the end of this year and my wife currently has a 118d and I don't think it will be big enough to fit everything we need.

I have seen some nice x5 recently and the prices seem pretty good. We would have a budget of about 10-12k and Ideally we would want a diesel..

My questions

Is it worth trying to find a face lift model and what sort of milage should i try and get one with? We will be doing approx 12k a year.

Should I go for a sport?

How much does it cost to fill a tank and roughly how miles should I get?

How often do they need a service and roughly how much?

Anything I should look out for?

How many miles should I expect get from a set of tyres and how much are they?

Anything else I need to know?

Thanks for any help

Welcome aboard and congrats on your imminent arrival.

The facelifted 3.0D is in my view the better option as it comes with a more powerful 218bhp power unit, up about 40bhp on te pre- version.

Mileage wise you should be able to pick up an 'average mileage' example within your budget. Somewhere around 60k miles should be your target. Make sure you get a full history.

This thread may help you with options....viewtopic.php?f=8&t=25

The tank is 93 litres so these beasts cost a lot to fill. Approx £133 at today's prices. Mpg wise it will depend upon your driving style. Mine averages around 33 on a motorway run and 26 around town. 600 miles is probably your absolute limit under good circumstances, realistically around 530 miles.

My first set of tyres lasted 23k miles and cost £640 to change all four for the Michelin Diamaris that BMW fitted as standard. That probably means that they'll be about £100 a set more now.

Servicing is 'Condition based' and varies with driving style. Main Dealers charge upwards of £130/hr for labour with a good indy less than half that.

Things to watch for include electrics and electronics - check every switch and warning light works, check out any error messages. Window regulators are a known failure as are mirror units. All can be fixed by most people with a bit of knowledge and ability.

The biggy to watch for is the transmission. Though still rare, auto tranmission failures are another known weakness and can cost up to £3,000 to fix. An extended warranty is a must unless you have a bankload of money. Faukts usually show up in the form of reverse selection taking a long time and rough gear changes up and down the box. The 6sp is normally a very smooth box so rough chsnges need investigating. Some can be fixed by a firmware upgrade and by resetting the adaptive drive system to see if that clears the issue.

The Sport came with 19" alloys as standard rather than 17"s and has a slightly harder ride, which I prefer as my wife suffers from car sickness.

Options I would want, and this is a personal list, are Leather, Sunroof, SatNav, Pro HiFi (forget DSP), HID Xenon lamps, Heated Seats, Comfort Seats. Nice to have's would include rear sunblinds and sun protection glass, climate comfort screen, adaptive headlights, TV function and the movable load floor in the boot which makes getting things in and out a lot easier.