Mrs VA wants a new car! We like the Disco 3 but I think at present it's just out of range. She likes the BMW X5 can anyone give us any pros & Cons of the X5? We want a 03 3i sport at about £26,000, leather interior, Sat Nav, Running boards 30,000 miles. What should I look out for, what should I be paying? Let me know if the X5 is any good as a basic girls car, school runs, shopping and dog walking.

Thanks

VA RRS 2.7 TDV6 HSE Zambezi silver,Alpaca.
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You'd get a nice RS4 Audi for that

Paul RRS TDV8 - Stornoway Grey, Irory Leather with Dark Zebrano, Privacy Glass, Tow Pack.

For the school runs and stuff like that the X5 will be ok, I had one as my previous car and would recommend one.  Its out there somewhere. Second V10 Treg on the drive at the moment.

Absolutely no problems recommending an X5 either. It was really only the internal layout of the RRS and the slightly better value that kept me from buying one myself. I was never buying a car for its offroad abilities - that's a nice bonus as far as my use of it goes. 

isn't the X5 around it's 5th year in production? -- that's a long time in dog years and car years too. besides, the new X5 is scheduled to arrive later this year.

True, but doesn't mean it's a bad choice of car especially if it's to be a second car. In fact, sometimes buying into a car just as it's replaced with a new model is going to get you bargain. 

X5  Martin

"The preceding posts will now be censored in line with forum policy"  

Yup - deleted  Martin

Sorry Martin but if you can find me a Disco3 at £26,000, leather & Sat Nav I'll buy it - but then I guess so would you. RRS 2.7 TDV6 HSE Zambezi silver,Alpaca.
On Order - LRX expected 2010
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True

They're still a bit new to be coming down to ~£26k Martin

VA,

Have you considered the new Jeep Grand Cherokee? For £25K you can get the new shape 3ltr diesel auto with only a few thousand miles on. A quick search on www.autotrader.co.uk has shown one with only 10 miles on it for £24,775!!

This is what we were considering before buying the Sport. We test drove one twice and I have to say, they are great to drive - very very fast. The only downside is that the interior plastics are poor, but they have lots of kit and are very good value. They are so much better than the previous Grand Cherokee. Matt
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RRS ownership for 1 yr, then D3 for 2 yrs. Then cut back to old bangers and working my way back up through two Peugeots in 6 months. Now got Saab 9-5 2.3t and enjoying the performance!

VA..
My brother in law has an X5 3.0d Sport on an 02 plate with the same spec as you described. I also helped some clients buy a couple of used X5's recently, and they are bargains.£25k-£27k will get you a good low miler (under 40k miles) and with the spec you are looking for. By using a private broker like the one i reccomended to you, it opens up the field for private vehicles which you may beable to get slightly cheaper. Although this will mean you have to sell the mini private which shouldn't be a problem but is a pain none the less.

I drove the X5 on sunday over abotu 40 miles. Haven't driven it since i bought my RRs so was good for comparison. Interior is very high quality and work well as expected, sat nav is a little dated now, but still functions more then well enough for school runs and occassional use. The steering feels quite heavy in comparison to the RRS but the ride is stiffer and more sport orientated, the air suspension on the RRS is superb compared. The X5 is more punchy off the mark and gets up to speed quickly and efficiently, although the noise the engine makes (which i never really noticed before , is not as refined as the 2.7TD that we have got used to).
Build quality is superb and the look although quite common nowadays is still a status symbol and attracts a lot of admiring glances. If i was you i would probably pick one over the Disco going on price etc, and for what else is available? Toureg? Shogun? Merc ML? Bmw X5 all the way in my book.

Get one with sat nav running board, Xenons and Privacy Glass etc. Plus make sure you get a sport model, SE's don't hold anywhere near as much value as the Sports and loose quite a bit of spec, and if mileage and consumption isn't really that high then a 3.0 petrol will cost you a lot less then a diesel model right now.

I was actually thinking, after i have had my next spate of cars and have to settle down a bit and reduce my expenses, a nice used 4x4 around the £25k mark maybe coming my way soon too.

My brother in law didn't bother renewing his warranty, as he never had any issues with the car during its warranty cover, but he did have a major incident with the turbo charger, it blew up causing quite a bit of damage to the engine and rendering it useless (car has done 20k miles) this was rectified by Bmw completely and since then no problems. If you can find a 03 plate or newer apparently they rectified this problem completely.

www.bm3w.co.uk has quite an active X5 forum if you want to read around some issues forum style. Past: Bmw M3 Coupe 57, 335d Coupe 56, Audi RS4 06, RR Sport TD HSE 05,

Current:
57 Bmw 730d Sport,
56 Merc S320 CDI L,
57 Merc Viano L 2.2CDI,
05 Audi A8 3.0 TDI Quattro,


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mpwox11 - I've looked at the Grand Cherokee as we had one of the old ones, loses money quicker than a drunk in a lap dancing club! The MPG on petrol is laughable what about the diesel? Nice looking car though but I havn't driven one yet, is it like the old model in that it wallows a bit? Also looked over the smaller Jeep - Wrangler I think it's called. I can pick up a new one for £23,000 but the interiors a bit dull. Generally with Jeep I'm worried about the depreciation.

Kam - drove an X5i sport yesterday and liked it, will never go off road in it except in M&S car park. RRS 2.7 TDV6 HSE Zambezi silver,Alpaca.
On Order - LRX expected 2010
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Quote:

isn't the X5 around it's 5th year in production? -- that's a long time in dog years and car years too. besides, the new X5 is scheduled to arrive later this year.