Year: 2005
Make: BMW
Model: X5
Price: $8000
Mileage: 139000
Color: Black
Private or Dealer Listing: Private Listing
Location (State): OH
Transmission: Automatic
Drivetrain: 4WD & AWD

Apologies for the long post, but since I'm moving out of the country and need to sell by the end of the month, I wanted to include every detail I could.

I have driven this SUV daily since 2011, including multiple long-distance family trips, and towing to track events. It has never left me stranded, and I would have no hesitation on continuing to drive it if I was not moving out of the US.

This is a very rare "mid-model" X5 in black / black, made only for three years (2005-2008), only 28 of these are currently listed on Autotrader nationally.

Overall, the SUV is in great condition for the age and loaded with every factory option the e53 series came with + the towing package and the desired comfort seats. It has been meticulously taken care of it over the past four years of my ownership.

Exterior (9 / 10) – very good shape, never wrecked, always garaged, and detailed regularly. It has age-appropriate road wear, few door dings, and two rub marks on rear bumper, which can be seen in the pictures.

Interior (9 / 10) – very clean, non-smoker, detailed regularly and driver-only occupied for 95% of its use (back / forth to work for me & the previous owner). No rips or blemishes in any of the interior other than some wear in the driver’s side seat and a scuff in the passenger seat, which can be seen in the pictures. Three imperfections in the interior are 1) Some dead pixels in the navigation screen, 2) Driver outside door handle is starting to fail, and 3) Battery in the key is dead so the remote unlock doesn't work.

Mechanical (7.5/10) – the car has never left me stranded, and I have spared no expense in preventative maintenance owning this car, and have receipts to show for it. All major systems have been replaced or upgraded in my 4yrs / ~40k miles of owning the car. This includes complete cooling system (radiator, water pump, thermostat, hoses, sensors, expansion tank, etc… including the dreaded mid-pipe), electrical system (alternator, battery), engine re-seal (engine & transmission gaskets), brake system (rotors / pads / sensors all around), suspension (all major components) and other odds / ends I have receipts for. I have switched the dreaded air suspension to shock / strut system to improve reliability, and added 2” lowering springs to – if you have owned or thoroughly researched this car, you will know that one of the few weak spots is the air suspension system, which is extremely finicky, and has constant problems (air struts leaking, leveling sensors malfunctioning, control module & pump going out, valves leaking, etc) so this upgrade will save you a lot of money in the future vs. owning one with air suspension The brakes have 95% wear left on them, and tires are a year old all-around.

Other than suspension, there are two things that come up with the 4.8is model at some point that are documented model flaws, and are the reason why I give the car a mechanical 7.5:

1) Transmission - the 6-speed shiftable auto develops a "hard shift" problem, where the transmission occasionally shifts harshly between 1st and 2nd gear, giving you a "kick in the butt" and jerks the car into the gear. I have had this happen ~40k miles ago when I first bought the car, and have had it happen occasionally over the years. The problem never got worse, and after reading all of the stories of people trying to fix this just to learn it would come back, I never bothered, and the problem never got worse. I have towed my track car multiple times and never had an issue... once you learn how to deal with this, you can completely eliminate it from happening so I have not had it happen in a long time.

2) Smoke at long idle - eventually, these cars develop a smoking problem due to valve stem seal wear. This car developed it about 20k miles ago and the problem never got worse so I didn't spend the $1500-2000 to fix this. Smoke isn't noticeable at start-up or during driving, but if you sit in traffic for a long time, left side exhaust pipe will start smoking.

Happy to answer any questions, hoping I can find a good home for it!

Thanks for looking, TK

 

Price reduced to $9,000.

 

i'm in the market for a reliable suv.. and i'm in cincy ugh so torn. didn't really want to have to fix something right after buying it.

 

Hi - if you are referring to the smoke, not sure its something you "have to" fix immediately. Overall, the truck has been extremely reliable, just needed the major systems gone through @ 100-105k mark like most BMWs.

You are welcome to come check it out and take it for a drive.

I will continue lowering the price until the truck is gone, so feel free to make an offer.

Thanks, TK

 

Good looking vehicle. I owned a 4.4i with 230k miles on it. These things are built like tanks!

 

Price reduced to $8,000