OT: BMW owners question

I had an X3 which I bought new. After about a year, one day it started bellowing black smoke out of the tail pipe and then just as randomly, stopped. The oil light would go on while I was driving long distances, so I had to carry extra oil with me just in case. Service at the dealer never found anything serious and we had no idea why it was doing this. I traded it in for a Volkswagen. 

I have a 2016 640I Grand Touring and love it.   The car has X Drive so no issues with northern Ohio snow, is fast as hell and insanely fun to drive.  IMO the 640 Grand Touring are a fantastic looking car - my only issue with it is the low roofline which makes getting in and out a bit of a challenge to my 62 year old 6'4" body.

As noted by others maintenance costs are pretty steep (especially going through a dealer) but so far mine hasnt required anything other than the routine stuff all cars need.  FWIW I bought mine in 2017 with 12,000 miles so i let someone else take the crazy first year depreciation hit that all new Beemers face.  Bought it as certified new (so I had a two year bumper to bumper everything warranty through the dealer) at about 65% of what it cost new only 12 months previously.

Have fun - they are great cars!

I feel like this is a question that you would ask in a subreddit and not on a Michigan sports blog. 

Because titles here are often misleading, I clicked this one in hopes it was someone offering to give a BMW to a new owner.

Had transmission issues ( fixed under warranty) that are more complicated than need to be, and needing to switch out tires in the winter. They are wonderful cars to drive but will require expensive frequent maintenance and a good mechanic you trust (or a good extended warranty)

At that price/condition your BMW X5 is a good value unless you start racking up speeding tickets, lol. 

I refer to carcomplaints.com for pre owned buying.  Look at specific years not just make and model to influence decision.  There are definitely poor years for very good cars, ex. 2009 Camry burns oil.  They trend all the deficiencies, have links to Technical Service Bulletins, TSBs and recalls.  
 

another good resource is http://www.dashboard-light.com

Had a convertible Z4 for about 5 years, bought it used with 40K miles on it and sold it after adding about 25K miles on it for the same that I paid for it.

Very fun to drive, loved that car and would consider buying another if I was in the market for two- seater again.  But, every minor repair started at $500 and went up from there.  Had to replace a headlight (cracked) and that was about $1K.  The brakes were made out of cotton candy, and every time they were replaced (I had to replace twice and I'm not a hard driver) you have to replace the sensors, so $750 brake job.

Repairs all performed at a non-dealer who I have been seeing for years and who is very honest.  When I asked him what cars are the lowest maintenance, he recommended not to get a BMW again.  

I bought a 2013 BMW 5-series to replace my 2008 Lexus is250 which was totaled. I loved my Lexus and intended to drive it until it refused to budge. When I bought it in February 2011, it had around 28,000 miles on it. At the time it was totaled in August 2019, it had around 133,000 miles on it. During that 8.5 years, I had absolutely zero problems with it. I never had to take it in to the shop except for routine maintenance. And I didn't exactly baby it, either. I drove it from the Bay Area to Los Angeles and back several times, and it never once complained. I drove it from the Bay to Lake Tahoe and back (a tortuous drive with many fluctuations in elevation) many times, and never had a problem. I stayed in touch with the owner of the salvage yard that the insurance company had it towed to because I knew him from before, and he told me that when his guys started to take it apart, they noticed that the engine was in relatively good condition for a car with over 130,000 miles on it. To this day, I miss that car and wish it hadn't been totaled.

My BMW, on the other hand, is a different story. When I bought it in September 2019, it had around 89,000 miles on it. It now has around 105,000 miles. In just over 1.5 years of ownership, I have had to have this piece of shit fixed more times than I can count. I have literally lost track of all the repairs. The oil leaked from the engine. The coolant sensor went bad. The trunk latch broke. Several other sensors broke. And the car has so many bizarre design defects that it really makes me wonder whether the BMW engineers who threw this thing together were high when they did it.

For example, they took away the key-based lock in the trunk, so that when my trunk latch failed, I had no easy way of opening my trunk. I literally had to keep a gripper tool with me in the car and try to pull the manual release from inside the trunk (through the pass-through in the rear cabin). In the sound system, they took away the volume gauge. Consequently, there's no way to know how loud the volume is going to be when you turn your stereo on. Instead of having a unlock button on each of the front doors, they have a single unlock button in the center of the dash. That makes it very difficult to unlock the doors by reaching in through an open window because you have to lean all the way in so you can get to the dash. I could go on and on.

In short, stay away. Get a Lexus. They may not be as fancy or as pretty as BMWs, but no one in the world beats the Japanese at reliability. And among the Japanese, no one beats Toyota. Save yourself the headache. That thing they say about BMWs? "Break My Wallet"? It's 100% true.

If you are going to own an older BWM, you need to find a good BMW mechanic to service your vehicle at a reasonable cost. I currently own two Mercedes and have found a very good master Mercedes mechanic to service the vehicle at a fraction of the cost of the dealership.

I imagine they can help you get to the gym in less than a half hour.

My dad has driven BMWs for a while now, and as others have echoed, it seems like something is always going wrong with them. Everything from small issues, like a seat heating element dying, to catastrophic failure, when the transmission on his X5 completely seized, killing the car (someone else mentioned X5 transmission issues; thankfully his was leased...).

Despite the apparent reputation of German engineering, I would not call the cars he's had reliable at all, and it seems like he's had way more issues with his BMWs then the Hondas I've driven over that same span.

Without knowing what specific engine it has and what it's documented prior maintenance is, its hard to say what you're getting into but $5,500 is really cheap.  If you can do some of your own wrenching, are willing to learn what the common fix-its are on the E70 X5, and have some cash on hand to buy parts then you will have a great SUV for a nice price.  If not, expect to play whack-a-mole fixing all the little things that go wrong with a high-mileage BMW and you will end up hating it.  

I daily drive a 2001 740i Sport that I completely renovated engine-out and do all my own work on, plus I have a 2005 330i ZHP 6MT I am renovating, so I am very familiar with the foibles of German plastic and rubber.  TBH a 10-year old BMW with 120k miles is probably not a good idea for most people.  

The thing you gotta keep on mind with Bimmers is that you'll need to make sure the blinker fluid reservoir isn't always empty.  Very common mistake

Based on my friend’s experience with his BMW, I’ll never own one. He was fixing or paying someone to fix something on it all the time and the repairs were expensive as hell based on the numbers he would throw out. That and I think BMW’s are a poor-man’s sport car which I don’t see the point in buying.

Based on my friend’s experience with his BMW, I’ll never own one. He was fixing or paying someone to fix something on it all the time and the repairs were expensive as hell based on the numbers he would throw out. That and I think BMW’s are a poor-man’s sport car which I don’t see the point in buying.

Used car prices are crazy right now.  KBB is saying I could get like 18-20k for my 2017 Ford Fusion.  Which, I would do in a heartbeat except I have no idea what I could replace it with around that price.  

I’m going to thread jack here real fast and hope someone sees this that has Infiniti experience. Wife and I are looking at trading in an expedition for an Infiniti QX60. She wants to go back to an Explorer because of how it drives. Specifically in the winter. Anyone have any real life experience driving an Infiniti QX60 in snow and would care to share their experience?

We bought my daughter an X2 and it has been money no issues. I had a 5 series and a 7 at one itme and had nothing but issues.  Word on the Autobahn is that the smaller models, the 3 series and the small X's, are great, the big expensive ones are finicky like Range Rovers.

  2011 with 120k for $5500

That's a helluva steal right?

Right up until you realize any savings you're expecting to realize are going to get obliterated by how much it costs to maintain a German nameplate.

Run in the other direction.

I had an X5 that put my mechanic’s kids through college. 

I’m a BMW fanatic and a former employee. It’s a great SUV but as others are saying, maintenance costs will be high. On a performance oriented SUV of that age with 100k miles, you can expect 2-3k per annum of maintenance. 

If it’s garaged, you drive low miles, you drive it gingerly, etc. you may get away with 1.5k a year but don’t expect that to be the norm. 

I leased a new 2011 BMW X5 for 3 years.  I thought it performed poorly in the snow.  No maintenance issues during that time

BMW owners question?  Answer: yes, they're all d-bags.

Honda CRV gang

I owned a 2011 335xi for 7 years.  Car felt as solid the day I sold it as when it was new.  Yes, the cost of dealer service is higher than average, however, the quality of the service is very good.  Fixed any problems quickly and on the first try.  If you can find a local independent service shop, then you’ve got an option to reduce cost.

I had 3 problems which all happened during the warranty period and all fixed with no questions asked.  The motor in my car was famous for having the high pressure fuel pump fail.  I also had 2 fuel injectors fail.  The BMW Internet forums are good sources to find out about common problems.

I also own a 2001 Z3 and it runs great and looks great.  Built to last.

Awhile back I was looking at a used (2009?) BMW sedan. Car was awesome and in really great condition. Price tag was around $11k with 96k miles. Even the salesman talked me out of it due to the potential maintenance with that kind of miles. I was bummed, but it was probably for the better. 

I’ve owned a 2009 5 series since 2010. It is the most fun-to-drive car I’ve ever owned and for the most part has been very reliable. We have a good and honest independent mechanic who isn’t necessarily less expensive, but he finds ways to try to make the repairs, when they do arise, more manageable. He does joke that BMW means Bring Money With. 
 

The car has about 65k miles, but many of those are stop and go city miles which I think are much harder on the car. I’ve only been stranded once when the water pump failed without any warning. Otherwise, the issues have been things that could be dealt with in an orderly fashion. 
 

I do get concerned that I’m approaching and age/mileage where the need for repairs starts to accelerate, but when I contemplate replacing it, I struggle to come up with something I’ll like to drive as much. The car is probably worth $6-7k and I’m willing to put in a few thousand a year for upkeep. I know I’m just deferring the inevitable, but from a cash flow perspective it’s less painful than witting a big check for a new car. 
 

in your case, at the price they’re discussing, I’m pretty sure you could drive it for a while and still come out ok if you need to make the major repair and decide to flip it before something else goes wrong. 
 

The recommendation for a PPI is a good one. It’s a very small price for peace of mind. 

I had an 03 325i. Not a ton of power, but I bought it for 1800 a few years back and quickly learned how to work on it (luckily there a great community behind it). Items included (probably non-exhaustive)

• Belts
• Transmission and diff fluid and gaskets
• Head gaskets
• DISA valve
• Radiator and hoses
• Shocks and struts
• Transmission cooling line (that was a fun incident... Replaced the belts, back out of the driveway and the oil filter assembly blew, which caused a pulley to go, so the serpentine belt was spinning like a fracking whip in the engine bay, busting the transmission line) 
• Oil filter housing and gasket
• Cam sensor
• Thermostat x2 (first replacement went cheap Chinese and it failed in the CLOSED position, which is not supposed to happen since the wax is supposed to melt either by the heat element or engine heat)
• Radiator fan (went electric and deleted the clutch in the water pump)
• Water pump
• Tires
• Tie rod ends

Got all that done and sold it because the rust on the one of the jack points got so bad it was no longer safe to lift. Sold it to some teenager who drove it home on my plates and I got sent a ticket for him speeding on the Toledo highway and got caught on stupid speed cam. Luckily I forwarded it to him.

All that said, for being a relatively tame 2.5L slant six, it sounded nice and was fun to drive. Would get another bimmer, but not that one.

Bottom line... buy it, it's a steal. You can part it out for close to that even if the engine or tranny blow up the first time you start it up. Hell the cat converter is worth a grand on its own. 

2011 is out of warranty, so don't worry about the service shit. Just take it anywhere for routine maintenance. I owned a 740 series for 15 years, and this is just based on my experience but I loved my Beamer.