1 year on
Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 12:48 pm
Well I have now owned my X5 4.4 for a whole year, and the following is what has happened and how we feel after a year of BMW ownership.
Just over a year ago we sold our Horse lorry and brought a horse box so a decent tow car was needed. We looked at many possibilities Range Rover, Landrover Disco, Merc ML, Landcruiser and the X5's. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a car that would have limited use so we set a budget of £6k.
The search threw up some anomalies, (1) A Landcruiser with more miles than the Starship Enterprise was on average £2 to £3k above our budget??? and they are not well equipped. (2) Range Rover and Disco's again were about £2 to £3k more expensive for a comparable year/mileage.
The car we chose was on a local forecourt an 02 X5 4.4 with LPG and full BMWSH (my wife loves the sound of a V8) I checked forums (including here) and websites for information and horror stories. The most common seemed to be around the suspension bushes and as the car was at what seemed to be the critical 80k and creaked a bit part of the deal was the rear suspension bushes were changed. Deal done and the car came home to it's first test, off to a horse show not exactly arduous for the X5 with only a snotty gateway and wet grass to cope with. So test 2 I load up 2 dogs and my guns and off we go to Derbyshire for some grouse shooting. For the last few years a trip done as a passenger in a friends TD6 Disco. The trip went without a hitch the X going everywhere the Landrovers and Disco's went without any problems at all I was chuffed with my BMW. The big plus filling up with LPG £40 while my mate is at the next pump putting £140 diseasel into his Disco, I used a tank of LPG going up and a tank coming back so cheaper to run than a Disco, brilliant.
I started to use the X everyday and eventually sold my daily drive AMG CLS. Throughout the shooting season the car performed faultlessly in mud, snow and ice and continues to do so.
1 year on what has it cost and what issues have come up, well having had the rear suspension re-bushed I decided the front would need doing as well. By recommendation I found a BMW specialist not far from us and after talking to him booked the car in for a full service, front bush replacement and Fluid change for the gearbox, transfer box and diffs.
I got fed up with having to put a divert code into my mobile every time I got in the car (or forgetting closer to the truth) and after exploring a blue-tooth upgrade (BMW cost just silly) I changed the headunit for an after market one and gained Bluetooth, Digital TV, Ipod connection, DVD player and easily upgraded full European sat nav for less than the cost of a secondhand BMW blue-tooth unit.
So I have spent around £1600 including a set of Grabber UHP tyres, my personal view is most of this was preventative maintenance and personal choice, I could have reduced my spend by just having a basic service but possibly would have spent the money in the long run anyway.
To put it in perspective it's about the same as a service on the AMG. The car sailed through it's MOT with no advisories and after a summer of dragging a horse box around is ready for another seasons shooting (Off to Yorkshire tomorrow).
This has to be one of the best cars I have ever owned for a number of reasons, firstly it does its job with ease, second it's reasonably economical to run and thirdly all up we are still inside our original budget.
Is there are down side? Well after 11760 miles its ride isn't as refined as a Range Rover or Disco and I do miss the shattering power of the AMG that's about it though.
Looking forward to another year.
Just over a year ago we sold our Horse lorry and brought a horse box so a decent tow car was needed. We looked at many possibilities Range Rover, Landrover Disco, Merc ML, Landcruiser and the X5's. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a car that would have limited use so we set a budget of £6k.
The search threw up some anomalies, (1) A Landcruiser with more miles than the Starship Enterprise was on average £2 to £3k above our budget??? and they are not well equipped. (2) Range Rover and Disco's again were about £2 to £3k more expensive for a comparable year/mileage.
The car we chose was on a local forecourt an 02 X5 4.4 with LPG and full BMWSH (my wife loves the sound of a V8) I checked forums (including here) and websites for information and horror stories. The most common seemed to be around the suspension bushes and as the car was at what seemed to be the critical 80k and creaked a bit part of the deal was the rear suspension bushes were changed. Deal done and the car came home to it's first test, off to a horse show not exactly arduous for the X5 with only a snotty gateway and wet grass to cope with. So test 2 I load up 2 dogs and my guns and off we go to Derbyshire for some grouse shooting. For the last few years a trip done as a passenger in a friends TD6 Disco. The trip went without a hitch the X going everywhere the Landrovers and Disco's went without any problems at all I was chuffed with my BMW. The big plus filling up with LPG £40 while my mate is at the next pump putting £140 diseasel into his Disco, I used a tank of LPG going up and a tank coming back so cheaper to run than a Disco, brilliant.
I started to use the X everyday and eventually sold my daily drive AMG CLS. Throughout the shooting season the car performed faultlessly in mud, snow and ice and continues to do so.
1 year on what has it cost and what issues have come up, well having had the rear suspension re-bushed I decided the front would need doing as well. By recommendation I found a BMW specialist not far from us and after talking to him booked the car in for a full service, front bush replacement and Fluid change for the gearbox, transfer box and diffs.
I got fed up with having to put a divert code into my mobile every time I got in the car (or forgetting closer to the truth) and after exploring a blue-tooth upgrade (BMW cost just silly) I changed the headunit for an after market one and gained Bluetooth, Digital TV, Ipod connection, DVD player and easily upgraded full European sat nav for less than the cost of a secondhand BMW blue-tooth unit.
So I have spent around £1600 including a set of Grabber UHP tyres, my personal view is most of this was preventative maintenance and personal choice, I could have reduced my spend by just having a basic service but possibly would have spent the money in the long run anyway.
To put it in perspective it's about the same as a service on the AMG. The car sailed through it's MOT with no advisories and after a summer of dragging a horse box around is ready for another seasons shooting (Off to Yorkshire tomorrow).
This has to be one of the best cars I have ever owned for a number of reasons, firstly it does its job with ease, second it's reasonably economical to run and thirdly all up we are still inside our original budget.
Is there are down side? Well after 11760 miles its ride isn't as refined as a Range Rover or Disco and I do miss the shattering power of the AMG that's about it though.
Looking forward to another year.
- like said, that's what we always hear because that's when ppl write to get some help.