bmw x5 4.4i sport review

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Picture courtesy of Henrik Ohm Eriksen.

Average Ratings

Performance	9/10
Practicality	8/10
Reliability	1/10
Value for Money	5.5/10
Reviewer Rating	6/10
Overall Rating	4.6/10

50% Recommended1 out of 2 Reviews

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By JMaldenham on 5th Sep 2007

JMaldenham's Ratings

Year Manufactured	2000 to 2006
Length of ownership	18 Months
Doors	5
Performance	9/10
Practicality	8/10
Reliability	1/10
Value for money	2/10
Overall value	3/10
JMaldenham's recommendation

Good Points

Tremendous handling.
Great performance.
Good steering feedback.
Practical 5 door estate configuration.

Bad Points

To quote an independent professional IE What Car ---- " ferociously expensive to own" I would agree entirely & add the following to qualify my comment.

On the question of very poor transmissions/gearboxes. Mine was too urgent when pulling away from stationary, then shutting down & going into safe home mode on an intermittent basis. Two BMW dealers failed to diagnose the problem. One BMW dealer stated that there was a communication problem between the traction control & the gearbox but could not pin point the problem.
The other BMW dealer that they could not find the problem & keep driving it. Sadly the gearbox failed shortly afterwards quite dramatically & dangerously. Cost £4600 from BMW, around £2000 from a UK reconditioning companies.

I have learned from forums in the UK & USA & UK Gearbox re-conditioners that there are problems with the ZF gearboxes. My car had a full BMW service history, had covered 70 odd thousand miles when the defect started to occur & failed at 80000 with collapsed bearings & other premature wear issues. There is an upgrade available to the rebuilders ie that of bearings etc & enough evidence on this site & other forums to act as third party comment.

Suspension maintenance costs are beyond comparison with any other 4x4 I have had ie Range Rover or Lexus. The cost over the last 18 months & 10 000 miles has been over £1000 & yes the parts now are on "Back Order" I am advised by BMW so more down time!

General Comments

I am a qualified Mechanical & Non destructive Testing Engineer who went on to be a board member managing procurement on a 57,000 vehicle fleet in Europe & have many years experience in global transportation, manufacture & maintenance facilities.

Over the last 15 years I have owned/been the daily user of the following cars:
1 Alfa Romeo Saloon, 3 BMW saloons, 1 Mercedes Coupe, 1 Lexus RX300, 1 Lexus LS400, 1 Range Rover & 1 Audi A8 & I have never had such an unreliable car that cost so much to maintain as my BMW X5.

In summary:
1.Some of the BMW X5 gearboxes have real reliability problems
2.Dealership service standards are appalling when compared with Audi & Lexus.
3.BMW X5 maintenance costs are to quote What Car Magazine again "ferociously expensive to own"
I'll pay another suspension bill tomorrow that will be in the region of £500 to £600 for it to pass an MOT!
Then I'll advertise the BMW X5 & go back to driving my Lexus which hasn't failed on a thing despite being 10 years old!

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