I just happened to see this pop up for sale in a local FB group I am in this morning and it has me intrigued.

We have a 2011 VW Jetta that just sits in the garage for the most part (it only has 32,000 miles on it). I’ve been thinking about replacing it with an SUV with all wheel drive and is a bit more practical for our needs.

This is a 2012 BMW X5 with 120,000 miles. It would likely also just sit in the garage but it would be more practical when we do need to use it (would sell the Jetta).

Am I getting into dangerous territory here with a used BMW? I would certainly get it inspected prior to purchase .. but how are these diesel engines? What about other things to think about?

They’re asking $14k which is a couple grand too high it appears. So would have to negotiate.

My recommendation is to jump on Yelp, find a reputable independent shop that specializes in BMW, and ask them if they work on diesels. Ask them what the typical service cost will be, and a sample of the types of repair costs you might encounter.

I like BMW. I haven't had many problems with the few I've owned, and I currently have a 2014 X3 that has been relatively trouble free. But, I like my shop and they charge reasonable rates for the few things I've had them look into.

I was looking at a 2018 recently (after inquiring, got an email that they had taken a deposit on it right after they noted it was incoming).

I've been looking for something that can tow a reasonable amount and still have decent fuel mileage.

I'm still looking, and evaluating my needs.

Looks beautiful, but I won’t be buying an old bmw. My neighbor has a 2012 BMW sedan and just took it in for brakes and once they fixed a few things besides brakes he was out 3K. He said this is his last BMW and is moving to Lexus.

quote:

Am I getting into dangerous territory here with a used BMW?

Yes. As modern BMW's age the repair bills go up and up. I wouldn't own one without a factory warranty. My neighbor's BMW SUV was recently in the shop for over a month, awaiting parts.....

quote:

They’re asking $14k which is a couple grand too high it appears.

Another sign to walk away.

Our family has a weakness for the X5. We had a 2014 (same white color as this one) and wife LOVED it. We traded it toward her current Yukon, and regret it.

I will say the rear hatch (automatic) broke on it, and it was not a DIY type repair. Over $800, IIRC. But hey, if you buy one, you know what comes with the territory. It's not a Ford.

Even knowing all of the above, I'm looking right now (for a gas burner, not diesel). Good luck!!

If you are looking for something a bit more practical, this wouldn't be it

Thanks guys.

I am gonna go look it over tomorrow and see how it looks in person. I’ll keep you updated.

I’d really want a thorough inspection done by a certified mechanic .. that’s for sure.

How cold does it get where you live? Diesels are a pain in truly cold weather.

I think this thing will turn into a money pit. I shudder to think what a BMW particulate filter costs to replace. Most if not all post-2011 diesels use one, or some other kind of afterburn strategy. And does it require you to use the exhaust fluid? As Scotty said in one of the Star Trek movies, "The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain."

Fun fact: the Lincoln Continental Mark VII was available for a time with a 2.4 BMW turbo diesel. Hardly anybody actually bought one, however. This was around the same time the GM auto diesels were having their notorious problems.

LOL. You have a 10 year old VW. Granted, it's not a Passat but still. Any old German car is going to start incurring huge MX bills.


My take: your low-mileage Jetta is worth more than a high-mileage X5. You'll have to deal with bullshit MX like window motors or rubber seals, the same as any 10-year old car. That 120K X5 is going to have an oil leak or an electrical problem that will make you wish you bought a Jaguar. (A joke).


Unless you absolutely need the extra space, wait...just my take.

Also sorry..I'm an Air Force guy so MX = maintenance.

The fact that you said it's mainly going to sit in the garage let me ask you this.

Why not just get rid of the Jetta and when you need that extra vehicle, rent exactly what you need?

Think about it, get rid of the cost of the vehicle, maintenance, insurance then use that money to rent a SUV, Van or Pickup when you truly need one.

Assuming you bought the Jetta new, you've only averaged 3200 miles a year on it......

quote:

Originally posted by sig77:
Looks beautiful, but I won’t be buying an old bmw. My neighbor has a 2012 BMW sedan and just took it in for brakes and once they fixed a few things besides brakes he was out 3K. He said this is his last BMW and is moving to Lexus.

If you goto a BMW dealer you get what you deserve. A couple years ago I bought an E46 330xi with 70k miles. I changed all the fluids and did whatever 80k/120k maintenance the car called for. Since then only repair I needed was a CV axle, emergency brake replacement and rear shocks. That cost me $800 which isn't bad considering the parts were about $600 of it. Recently I had my car in to the dealership to do an airbag recall and out of curiosity I asked them to quote me what they would charge to do the same work... $2,800. I had recently done front brakes/rotors. Total cost of the parts was about $170. BMW wanted almost $800.

I found the BMW is incredibly easy to work on and with online part dealers like FCP Euro / Pelican Parts it's easy to get OEM quality parts for a fraction of what the dealer charges. The key is to ID problems ahead of time and order the parts instead of being at the mercy of the dealer/mechanic.

I've been in plenty of newer cars and while they cost 3x what I paid/put into my used BMW they lack a lot of the features and ride quality.

I have a 2006 530I that had 70K miles on it when I bought it. It now has 80K miles and since I work on it myself it hasn't been too costly to work on. Battery was expensive, front brakes with new quality rotors and caliper bushing kits was about $300. I had a check engine light come on and traced it to vanos system. Cleaned two vanos solenoids and it has functioned perfectly since. That situation likely would have been a grand at a dealer.

The good news for me is I bought the car from my brother who takes excellent care of mechanical things, almost as good as me. He treated it as his baby and spared no expense. He'd have never sold it but his wife has an eye problem and needed big mirrors and modern driving assist electronics like lane change warnings.

I'd check at BMW dealers, they have some reasonable deals on used cars and lease returns. It looks like to me that BMW seems to have an attitude like only new cars are attractive because of latest features, and don't price used ones very high. BMW doesn't seem to market their cars on durability, long life, or low cost of ownership. Just a great comfortable driving experience.

I was real tempted to jump on this X5 M package, I would love to have that power from the bi turbo engine and I figured I could get them down a little bit with a cash offer. Then my sensibility kicked in, I know it will not be cheap to maintain and I am not willing to fork out top dollar just to have this:
X5 M

Don't know about diesels but the petrols are very simple to work on.

I had an '06 and '09 3 series and didn't have any problems.

my '18 430i F33 hardtop convertible was very easy to work on. brakes were under $200/axle (rears at 45k, fronts at 60k), oil changes are really cheap if you use FCP Euro's exchange problem. Spark plugs were simple (did at 65k miles). My '19 X2 M35i only has 8k miles so nothing's really been done other than an oil change.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
I think this thing will turn into a money pit. I shudder to think what a BMW particulate filter costs to replace. Most if not all post-2011 diesels use one, or some other kind of afterburn strategy.

We have a local garage that cleans out most DPF units, AND gives a good guarantee.

Over the years since 1978 we've had only Mercedes-Benz diesels, but not had them long enough to have problems with the DPF unit - we usually changed the car at around 80K.