My X5 5.0 has required $35,000 in repairs in 6 years

[spmd11]

I am posting this as a warning to those considering purchasing a 2011 X5 5.0 used or for those with low mileage 5.0's thinking of buying an extended warranty.

If this doesn't get anyone's attention, I don't know what will. I have been a staunchly loyal BMW owner for 20+ years. I have only owned BMW cars during that period and I have purchased more than 20 BMW's new in that time. I'm also a shareholder. I have gone to Europe 3 times to the Welt receiving european delivery vehicles. I have sold dozens and dozens of BMWs for my dealership at my place of work because I have always had the reputation of being the "BMW" guy. We bought our X5 brand new in the Fall of 2010. I'm an airline pilot and a stickler for maintenance. I changed the oil every 7500 miles, paying my own interval and the car has been babied. We have replaced everything attached to the engine and even the transmission failed. It has been a shocking experience. Six months ago, without warning, the drive shaft fell off the car. I have everything working at the moment but currently my car burns two quarts of oil every 600-700 miles.

I have kept a binder now with all of the maintenance records and I have all expenses in an excel spreadsheet. If anyone wants to know what has failed on my car, shoot me a PM and I'll give you the run down. $24,000 in repair expense has been incurred for miscellaneous failures associated with components of the engine and ancillary components. $10-15K I attribute to the BMW customer care program that was conducted on my car, putting it out of service for 5 weeks. The 10-15k is a wholesale number and likely at the low end.

In the last year I reached out to BMWNA regards the required repairs and the dismal reliability of my car. They couldn't give a rip. They called me back and listened to my concerns and said have a good day, we can't help you. It is what it is. We can start a poll, we are looking to replace the vehicle later in 2016. Which brand would you choose so as not to repeat this situation? I think once in a lifetime is enough... or would you gamble on BMW again?

[canonguy12]

Sorry to hear that. X5 50i is known for reliability issues.. But $35K is a lot of money on repairs even for a 50i. After such an experience I wouldnt buy a BMW again but my experience with BMWs is not so bad so I would stick with BMWs even after reading your story. I would definitely look the other way if I am in your shoes

[jiggz]

Wow, those repairs are pretty excessive I have a 2012 50i and haven't had any issues at all - been an awesome vehicle. BTW, it's not a Mustang...why all the '5.0' talk on this forum...the badge reads xDrive50i (it's a 4.4 liter). Sorry, the '5.0' references are kinda annoying

Looks like you fly for UPS?

[socale39]

I'm a little confused here. Brand new these cars come with 4yr/50k warranty assuming you drive about 10k a year that puts you about two years outside of warranty. I'm only ball parking 10k as I have a family member who is an airline pilot and he doesn't put many miles on his car because of his travels. Anyways, my point is that these additional expenses seem rather high giving the fact that most of the life of the vehicle should have been under warranty or covered by BMW in some capacity of a technical bulletin or recall. Sounds like you didn't opt for the extended warranty and unfortunately most of us know that's a gamble from a long term ownership perspective. Don't get me wrong there are plenty things that make me wonder why or how BMW messed up. Unfortunately German engineering isn't known for reliability. At some point I would have sold the car before incurring too many costs but that's just me. In the end, I can understand your frustration and why you'd want to switch brands.

[-c-]

Before we bought ours I had the service advisors and life long BMW enthusiast tell me to steer clear of that model v8, it was used in the 7 series as well but the dealer told me it is one of bmw's worst and it's just a matter of time so I listened and went smaller displacement . N55

Just to add to that as I was at the dealer a 2011 x5 with the v8 rolled in and was complaining of an oil burning smell and his oil light came on and he was their for maybe 4 minutes and this is what was left! Turned out he had over 8k in repairs needed even the valve guides needed replacement.

Easy decision for me after that. I'll be happy with my somewhat slower n55, at least their problems are somewhat smaller in scale.

[racermp]

Yea after researching the n63 motors, I decided to stay with one thing BMW does right, make inline 6's. N55 has been proven reliable with no major faults so far.

[Poppyboy]

No problems at all with my '11 N55.

[rennis]

Your poll isn't broad enough. I just traded my 2011 X5 50i for a Ford this weekend.

I had a very similar experience as you did. It was, by far, the WORST vehicle I've owned. Loved driving it, loved looking at it. But it was a piece of crap. I had all the same problems you did - broken prop shaft and new tranny. Burning oil like crazy. new turbos. new injectors 3x. new spark plugs. stuff I can't even remember. All in about 30k miles of driving. Unbelievably bad reliability.

My wife owns 2 BMWs and I love both of those cars. Both are naturally aspirated.

It will be a very long time, if ever, before I'm back in a BMW.

[spmd11]

Originally Posted by socale39

I'm a little confused here. Brand new these cars come with 4yr/50k warranty assuming you drive about 10k a year that puts you about two years outside of warranty. I'm only ball parking 10k as I have a family member who is an airline pilot and he doesn't put many miles on his car because of his travels. Anyways, my point is that these additional expenses seem rather high giving the fact that most of the life of the vehicle should have been under warranty or covered by BMW in some capacity of a technical bulletin or recall. Sounds like you didn't opt for the extended warranty and unfortunately most of us know that's a gamble from a long term ownership perspective. Don't get me wrong there are plenty things that make me wonder why or how BMW messed up. Unfortunately German engineering isn't known for reliability. At some point I would have sold the car before incurring too many costs but that's just me. In the end, I can understand your frustration and why you'd want to switch brands.

We currently have 113.5k miles on the car. We drove it 22.5k per year for the first four years. The breakdowns began in the mid 60k range and reached a climax at 90k where they all came at once pretty much.. the worst from 90k to 100k

[LeoBurr]

Can I ask where you've been getting your car serviced outside of the warranty period? BMW of Austin has gotten progressively worse IMO - There's a new BMW dealership opening in South Austin soon that'll bring some much-needed competition to the area.

I've been using Luxury Auto in Cedar Park for regular maintenance on my 135i and '11 X5 35i - quality of the work is better than the dealership, and the best of the dealership techs have moved on recently, some at Luxury since they pay techs salaries and not by the hour.

I was looking at a 50i since I'm used to the power my FBO 135i puts out and wanted something a little more entertaining. The 50i looks like it's rated at 0-60 in 5.3. With a terrible 60-foot time (due to not brake-launching the car and just stomping on it), and a dyno tune from Cobb in Plano, I managed this. Maybe an X5 with an N55 is an option, if you like the car otherwise?

[Dchl21]

sorry about that... but when you buy it new don't they cover everything for awhile ? why don't you have warranty ?

as of brands ... ive been a benz guy then turned into amg ... they need repairs but nothing remotely close to what happen to you.

[StatenEye]

I wouldn't buy any car without a warranty.

[bmwx5er]

To be fair, some of the OP's gripes have nothing to do with the 50i itself - transmission, drive shaft, etc. are common with the 35i as well.

My 2012 X5 50i has had it's share of repairs - just got back my car from a valve stem seal replacement @ 48.5K miles (BMW good-willed 95% of the total cost of $4500). A couple of weeks before that was the valve cover gasket repair, which Route 66 paid 100% of $2100 (both times, I went in for the same complaint of some nasty odor through the cabin vents; the vcg repair didn't fix it, so they dug deeper and found that the valve stems were leaking). I fixed a lot of issues during factory warranty itself (evaporator leak - $2K+). Despite these, I LOVE my car, and will consider a BMW for future purchases as well. I admit that the reliability is not very good, but IMO, BMW has done right by me so far (and much of it depends on your dealership - BMW seattle has been good to me).

Moral of the story - don't own these without warranty coverage beyond factory warranty.

[ChiTownM]

I am also that BMW guy and actually emailed Mr Willisch about some different topics, the response was so aloof (obviously written by one of the staff members) that I am equally turned off by the brand as you are. Good news is that there is so much more choice now that 10 years ago. Luckily, this is just a car!

[spmd11]

Originally Posted by bmwx5er

To be fair, some of the OP's gripes have nothing to do with the 50i itself - transmission, drive shaft, etc. are common with the 35i as well.

New transmission case and labor was around $4k I think, but the other $31k was all engine related

[Cattivo]

I've had my 50i almost 2 years now, besides adding a quart of oil every few thousand miles it's been pretty bullet proof

[spmd11]

Originally Posted by Cattivo

I've had my 50i almost 2 years now, besides adding a quart of oil every few thousand miles it's been pretty bullet proof

Once you hit about 60k, watch out

[socale39]

With that mileage I can now see how the repair bills have added up. Sorry to hear of your troubles.

[Cattivo]

Originally Posted by spmd11

Once you hit about 60k, watch out

It's at 65k

[spmd11]

Originally Posted by socale39

With that mileage I can now see how the repair bills have added up. Sorry to hear of your troubles.

components began to break at 65k, but most of the occurrences were between 90k and 100k

[spmd11]

Originally Posted by GeoffS

Can I ask where you've been getting your car serviced outside of the warranty period? BMW of Austin has gotten progressively worse IMO - There's a new BMW dealership opening in South Austin soon that'll bring some much-needed competition to the area.

I've been using Luxury Auto in Cedar Park for regular maintenance on my 135i and '11 X5 35i - quality of the work is better than the dealership, and the best of the dealership techs have moved on recently, some at Luxury since they pay techs salaries and not by the hour.

I was looking at a 50i since I'm used to the power my FBO 135i puts out and wanted something a little more entertaining. The 50i looks like it's rated at 0-60 in 5.3. With a terrible 60-foot time (due to not brake-launching the car and just stomping on it), and a dyno tune from Cobb in Plano, I managed this. Maybe an X5 with an N55 is an option, if you like the car otherwise?

I go to Hill country european autoworks for my Indy repairs

[heatmizr]

Very sobering. Sounds like you got all the known (and maybe some unknown) issues all in one single vehicle.

I've had my '12 for one year, and haven't even had to add oil to it in that time. Did get a free battery change though...

I've been of the mind to take my chances with no warranty after my CPO runs out... The truck only has 32k miles on it and seems pretty perfect. I could change my mind...
If only we had crystal balls to see what's coming.

Thanks for the post and offering your experience.