4.8is and high mileage?

[Sit]

Evening

Obviously as the years tick by the mileages on used X5's creeps up making them even better value for money for those of us who aren't blessed with loads of cash.

I am looking for a second car, family holidays away, day trips, use on my rest days but everyday I will be commuting in a little C1 which literally runs on fresh air. As the car will be stood up for 4-6 days each week I can't justify sinking 10k into one however there arena number of X5 4.8's which are 6-8k but with relative mileage on, say 95k upto 130k. I won't be piling more miles on either which is a good ting and clearly fuel won't be a massive concern for the limited use it will see.

What I would like to know is how these engines take their miles?? For instance I have seen one example which is a 1 owner car from new with full BMW history, however it's done 125k.

Would really like some input on this before taking the plunge.

Cheers

Si

[Username]

Hi,
I did have a 2001 E53 4.4 sport, not a 4.8 but close, we owned it for about 6 years and did about 6k per year, my wife was the main driver during the week and used by both of us at weekends and for day trips or camping hols in UK. We both loved the car, with a great spec, cost us 18k in 2005 and took it over 48 month payments. Only thing I recommend is to get a warranty either from dealer or buy one online for about £450 per year, defo worth it as an older X5 can cost a fortune if anything big goes wrong. During our 6 years of ownership we had to replace rear suspension air bags - £250, bottom wishbones every 2 years, these cars seem to eat them £200. An annual servicing from independent for aprox £400 per year.
The failures we had was the gearbox lost reverse gear at 100k which cost £1700 but overhauled under warranty with £150 excess & water pump / viscous fan bearing failure again repaired under warranty. Air mass sensor £100. We loved the car and apart from silly things like when hovering the car keep the engine running as the battery would go flat if doors were left open for 15mins sometimes, common fault I think with so many elec gadgets switching on when doors opened, we would recommend. The 4.4 was pretty quick to giving an average of 19mpg or 22on long run. Good luck and make sure if you take the plunge shop about for a clean one with lots of spec.

[Horizon]

I think the mileage on the engine is the least of your worries buying a 4.8.
The self leveling suspension will be your main concern, then the diffs then the gearbox.
The engines are quite reliable infact, more so than the 4.6 which can suffer with cam chain tensioner guide issues wrecking the engine., also panoramic roofs are more popular with the 4.8 which can be expensive to repair
Good luck in your search, hope you get a good one

[Sit]

Thank you chaps that's really helpful, I realise from reading up the airbags can cause some grief but have also seen that if this is an issue they can be swapped out for normal shocks is that correct??

In respect of the suspension on the 4.8is is it a complete self levelling system that adjusts itself or does it have preset heights? I see there is an up/down next to the steering wheel and wondered if it was self levelling what the purpose of the switch is?

Will have a look into an aftermarket warranty although you tend to hear nothing but moans and groans about these companies who take people's money but get out of repairs when they are required - I am prepared to change my view of them if people can tell me otherwise.

I have always wanted an X5, drove friends Le Mans model several times and was a passenger frequently and they are such nice places to be. I have never been in the position to buy a diesel and so many scare stories about turbos, gearboxes etc. I figure as a second car ownership proposition a petrol has to be the best compromise.

The comments about gearboxes - are these relevant to the 4.8, I thought it was more a diesel issue?? And in terms of diffs - is this specific to the 4.8 or E53's in general??

Thanks

Si

[Horizon]

The rear suspension can be swapped out for springs, but not the front, it's the front trust that are the expensive bits. £ 400 /500 a side.
Diffs and gearboxes are the same as diesels realy but more HP in the 4.8 but same torque really. As for aftermarket warranties, they only cover partial costs on higher mileage cars.
Same as any car, get good ones and bad ones.
Can't beat the sound of the V8 though, and it's only a weekend toy, so MPG isn't that important.
Shop around though as there are a lot of X5s out there that have been run on a budget and poorly maintained.
Not trying to put you off, I had a 3.0 d and it never missed a beat or cost me a penny other than servicing.

[gobiman]

My 4.8iS is now at 94k.
Every year (for the last 3) I've thought about buying a new one. Quite fancy an F15 50i.
However, each time I look at it, I can't justify dropping £60k on a new car with questionable added value over what I have already.
My car still goes well (with a remap some years ago from Jason) and returned 21-22 mpg on a recent ski trip to Austria (with large roofbox) whilst (on the way back) covering 400 miles in 5 hours.
As others have commented, the drivetrain is pretty sound. I'm still on the original battery.
My main problem was the suspension which is the weak point. However with some fantastic help from Raj on this forum, I replaced it with a KW coilover kit about 3 years ago which has solved that problem. Ride is firm but I like that and on 18s with winter tyres it is surprisingly comfortable. From memory it cost just under £2k and I got around £500 back by selling the bits on ebay. I will need new bushes this year too.
Don't have pano roof.
My advice is that (excepting the suspension), they are pretty robust. However do look carefully at the suspension and, worst case, have a reserve to fix it if required.
I'm aiming to keep mine until the F15 facelift (end of 16?).
Good luck

[Sit]

Thanks Gobiman that's very encouraging, I think as you say its a big lump and robust with it but power and weight being transferred through wishbones and busheseans they become a regular maintenance item. It's interesting you say about your skiing trip as I would likely be heading to the Alps once or twice a winter, I am guessing as far as passenger comfort goes it doesn't getich better! Out of interest on that trip what sort of range were you getting from a tank of fuel?

The suspension cost is good to know, is that something you changed straight off knowing the problems or did you encounter issues with the air?

Have you found a good Indy to take care of it or have you remained with main dealer?

If I go to look at the example I have seen are there any ways I can check the gearbox, suspension and bushes or does this require a garage to properly look?

Cheers

Si

[drmotorsport]

Hi, my 4.8is (for sale btw) is on 104k has been utterly reliable in the drivetrain department.  The engine has a good reputation for being reliable (as any unstressed v8 should be!) Yes it likes a drink (around 23mpg on a run) but i've heard that the diesel's are not much better than that in the real world, and i prefer the lovely v8 growl from my beast. 

Weak points as mentioned by others are the suspension bushes but that's the same for any big heavy car.  The pano roof is nice but while mine works perfectly i dont use it much - but the daylight is nice.  Otherwise the only real concerning thing to watch out for is the gearbox - but again the later cars with the 6 speed item seem to be more reliable.

PS the height button adjusts to normal (middle) automatically over a certain speed.  You can pre-set it to lower (loading) or higher for a bit extra ground clearance but the total difference between the extremes is pretty small (around 40mm)

[gobiman]

On the skiing trips to Austria, I do it a couple of times a year. If  I really push it, I can get just over 400 miles range but normally rely on 350 miles. On this last trip, I went out via Belgium and filled up in Luxembourg (250 miles from Calais) at 82p a litre and this got me (via Munich) to Austria where the petrol is 88p a litre.
Had some great cruising at 100 mph + on the unrestricted autobahn although with the roofbox I didn't fancy pushing much more.
I like having a big range in the car. I also have a new Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV which I thought about using but its tank is 35 litres which means a range of less than 200 miles. Also someone who did a very similar trip to me (with roofbox) reported 24 mpg - I'll stick with a V8 thanks.
On the suspension replacement, I think all the air stuff just comes out but the control module stays - it controls some other things. I think there are simple coil kits available now which are a bit cheaper than the route I went - seen them advertised on ebay.
I use a garage called Specialist Cars in Shrewsbury (Dave) who are excellent. My Mother lives there so generally combine it with a trip to see her.
On the suspension checks, look at the car cold. Flick the ignition and see if there is any hissing or movement in suspension. Use the button by the steering wheel to see if it raises and lowers correctly. Any fault should show on the dashboard message albeit it doesn't tell you precisely what the fault is. That is the main issue with the car - diagnosing where the fault is can be very difficult.

[drmotorsport]

ooh don't forget that if your testing the air suspension - to have the doors closed (it wont move otherwise) - took me a while to figure that one out!

[andym3]

I personally don't worry about mileage to much on these motors!
As long as they've got a good service history and been well looked after that's all that counts!
125k is nothing to these cars, they will easily do more than double that if looked after! 

[Sit]

Thanks for all the posts chaps, it seems like if you go into it with your eyes open and keep on top of things they should be good for some time yet. I might give the dealer a ring tomorrow who has the one owner 125k exams and have a chat about the full history. I personally prefer full history to be invoices etc rather than just stamps in a book.

Depending on what they have then it might well be worth a view I reckon. The other thing that struck me was whether it would be worth considering a 4.6is instead to eliminate the suspension issues and I believe also the diff as a little giggling suggested the 4.6 didn't share this???

Si

[kkx5]

If You can buy 4.8is, don't bother with 4.6is. Its much better car in every aspect.

[Raj]

As others have said really, the 4.8 is a robust and superb motor. Yes there are problems but tbh they span all the range and are not generally restricted just to the 4.8. Even the 3.0d as well as the others have rear air suspension so issues with pumps and others ancillaries are still common and require sorting.

The air suspension is all round on the 4.8 and is adjustable and self levelling. The switch in the cabin next to the steering wheel will adjust the suspension to one of 3 settings. Lowest is comfort access, so drops the car down by about 1.5 inches but is only for when you pull up and stop and drop it down to get in and out. As soon as you drive off it will automatically rise to the middle position (which is standard ride height). The highest position is for 'off roading' or going through water logged roads etc and raises the ride height from standard position up about 2 inches.
If you have an issue with the air suspension and want to bin it off then you can no problems. The fronts as well as rears can be swapped out for normal dampers and springs. As gobiman pointed out I swapped his out for KW V3 coilers but then that was pretty much the only option back then. There are a number of kits out there now and the Bilstein kit with their shocks and Eibach springs can be had for around the £800-900 mark. The only bit of the air suspension you can not remove is the control module itself as it also controls the DSC, 4x4 and other systems too.

The pano roof again is a known issue but again there is a workaround diy fix for the rear vent problem.

Things like bushes etc are just normal wear and tear but there are plenty of options out there from the likes of ECP etc.

Only main thing with the 4.8 is valve stem seals. Let the car idle for a while and then rev it hard and of you get a load of smoke out the back then it's most likely the valve stems gone/going. Very expensive issue to sort but in all honesty if it's only at idle you get smoke then it's liveable as just means you burn more oil.

Gearboxes are another mute point but full rebuilds can be had for about £1300 and will then be sorted for your ownership. But then I've had no issues with mine and I'm now on 135k miles. You can get the oil changed and this should help longevity. I had mine done at 120k miles and Zf themselves did it and said the existing oil was black but fine.

Good luck with your search.

Raj

[Sit]

Thanks Raj that's super informative and goes someway to putting my mind at rest for sure. Normally I wouldn't even be able to consider buying a 4.8 but it will be used purely as luxury family transport, days out, holidays etc which keeps the use down and in turn the wear and tear.

I have now seen a couple that interest me so got some calls to make tomorrow I think. In terms of the bushes etc I am guessing if they are shot this will be obvious on test drive in terms of knocking etc??

The suspension kits sound good, although I do love air - been passenger in a couple of air equipped cars and it's lovely so with the massive runs and tiny tyres a cruise to Euro Disney will be semi comfortable.

Keep you posted but it could be coming soon.......

Si