BMW X5 x25d

freddieot

Always wanted a BMW and thinking of buying a new one of these. Does anyone have one ? Any pitfalls or downsides (apart from the obvious - the price) ?

Also, BMW are offering a 5 year service deal which seems very attractive. €750 for standard servicing for the 5 years. Anyone have experience of that deal (catches etc. ) ?

Thanks

R.O.R

freddieot wrote: »

Always wanted a BMW and thinking of buying a new one of these. Does anyone have one ? Any pitfalls or downsides (apart from the obvious - the price) ?

Also, BMW are offering a 5 year service deal which seems very attractive. €750 for standard servicing for the 5 years. Anyone have experience of that deal (catches etc. ) ?

Thanks

Haven't driven a new X5, but I'm not that gone on the looks of the new model compared to the previous models. x25d is the Twin Turbo, 2 litre 4 cylinder engine and Rear Wheel Drive only. Lack of 4x4 shouldn't be an issue to most people who buy them, as they'll still mount the kerb outside the school when dropping the little 'uns off. Won't be great in a wet field when towing the pony though.

The BMW service pack is a no brainer though. We've purchased it on every BMW we've bought since it was introduced, and other manufacturer's are just beginning to catch up with BMW. It's only standard servicing at manufacturer intervals (30,000km or 2 years) and up to 100,000km, but it's still considerably cheaper than paying for services on an individual basis.

No catch as long as you are aware that it's generally only the 3 services you'll get (30k, 60k, 90k), and it's only the servicing costs. Tyres, Brakes, wiper blades etc. are in addition. There are further options for higher mileage, or a pack that includes brakes as well, but I don't believe they are as good value as the basic 5yr / 100k pack.

LandRover Discovery Business looks a better bet at circa €56,000. Higher tax costs, but the initial price difference will pay for a few years of Road Tax.

Oafley Jones

R.O.R wrote: »

Haven't driven a new X5, but I'm not that gone on the looks of the new model compared to the previous models. x25d is the Twin Turbo, 2 litre 4 cylinder engine and Rear Wheel Drive only. Lack of 4x4 shouldn't be an issue to most people who buy them, as they'll still mount the kerb outside the school when dropping the little 'uns off. Won't be great in a wet field when towing the pony though.

The BMW service pack is a no brainer though. We've purchased it on every BMW we've bought since it was introduced, and other manufacturer's are just beginning to catch up with BMW. It's only standard servicing at manufacturer intervals (30,000km or 2 years) and up to 100,000km, but it's still considerably cheaper than paying for services on an individual basis.

No catch as long as you are aware that it's generally only the 3 services you'll get (30k, 60k, 90k), and it's only the servicing costs. Tyres, Brakes, wiper blades etc. are in addition. There are further options for higher mileage, or a pack that includes brakes as well, but I don't believe they are as good value as the basic 5yr / 100k pack.

LandRover Discovery Business looks a better bet at circa €56,000. Higher tax costs, but the initial price difference will pay for a few years of Road Tax.

All new Disco 5 is coming next year. It's an actual off reader unlike that x5, but it's an aged design. Having said that the brother in law just purchased a new one and he thinks it's still a great car.

carsfan

Is x25d not four wheel drive and s25d the rear wheel version?

freddieot

Thanks for the replies.

x25d is 4 wheel. the s25d is the rear wheel one. I agree that would not be 'great' in the wet. I've been driving automatic 4x4s since 2007 and would never go back to anything else.

If I jump then I will definitely go for the service deal.

The look of it is obviously a personal choice. I like it more than the previous one and the addition of the 218bhp 2 litre makes it fall within my range.

Anyone lived with the lighter coloured leather interior that BMW have (white or cream). How does it stand up after a year or three ?

Leonard Hofstadter

Isn't a 2 litre engine very small for a car the size of an X5, 215 bhp or not?

If it were me, I'd pay the extra for the 3.0 litre, especially as it will have the six cylinders. Also, when you look at the official mpg figures, once you add in the four wheel drive to the 25d model there's practically no difference between the 25d and 30d (48.7 mpg for the xDrive 25d vs 47.9 mpg for the xDrive 30d), and you can be guaranteed that in the real world the larger engine will be somewhat more economical because if the small engine can not even manage 1 mpg more in an extraordinarily easy (and totally unrealistic) test then what hope does it have in the real world?

Even the sDrive model only does 2.5 mpg more in theory, again that engine is going to have to be worked very hard in the real world (the car weighs around 2,100 kg) so I'd bet that the 30d model will be more economical than even the rear wheel drive 2.0 litre engine. Also, the 3.0 will be a lot nicer to drive because it's got a six cylinder engine, quieter (for the same reason) and more effortless because of the larger engine.

freddieot

I agree with you in principal Captain and a point well made that I also considered when I started looking at these. However, I have a budget, even if it is a reasonably high one so before €1,000's worth of extras are added to the price to make the car what I want overall :-

x25d : €70,610 : 0-60 = 8.2 secs 218 bhp (fast enough for yours truly) Mileage is 48.7 Combined . Road Tax 550. 5 Year service plan also 550.

In contrast :-
x30d : €79,080 : 0-60 6.9 (brilliant but I don't need it). Mileage is actually 45.6 Combined according to brochure in front of me (error on web). Tax is 750 and five year service plan is also a higher figure.

I've test driven both models both on the motorway and around twisty roads etc. Not enough difference for me to part with an extra €8,470 and extra tax and running costs . The smaller engine is well capable of moving the X5 . TBH I thought it would be gutless but it's well able for the job - well done the BMW boffins !

I know I can buy a lot of much faster vehicles at this price level (Audi etc.) but I really like the X5. Calling to a couple more dealers tomorrow to try to get the best price.

R.O.R

freddieot wrote: »

Calling to a couple more dealers tomorrow to try to get the best price.

It's worth checking with dealers outside the pale to see if you can get a better price. Might make a trade in more difficult if you have one, but worth a try.

I'd highly recommend Gordon Lunn in Ahern's of Castleisland (our BMW supplier), and it may be worth giving Rob in J Donohoe's of Wexford a shout.

freddieot

Thanks ROR

Fully intend to leave the pale behind tomorrow. I sometimes (not always) find the country dealers can be a bit more keen to do a deal, especially when they see the D plats as they realise I'm unlikely to make the trip again for more negotiations.

I've bought 4 new cars like that before and usually saved between 1,000-2,000 each time based on the trade-in offers.

That said, I think now that our road system has improved so much it is much easier to visit the more distant dealerships and all dealers know that so I'll see tomorrow if that differential still remains. Nice way to spend a sunny morning anyway..

Leonard Hofstadter

freddieot wrote: »

I agree with you in principal Captain and a point well made that I also considered when I started looking at these. However, I have a budget, even if it is a reasonably high one so before €1,000's worth of extras are added to the price to make the car what I want overall :-

x25d : €70,610 : 0-60 = 8.2 secs 218 bhp (fast enough for yours truly) Mileage is 48.7 Combined . Road Tax 550. 5 Year service plan also 550.

In contrast :-
x30d : €79,080 : 0-60 6.9 (brilliant but I don't need it). Mileage is actually 45.6 Combined according to brochure in front of me (error on web). Tax is 750 and five year service plan is also a higher figure.

I've test driven both models both on the motorway and around twisty roads etc. Not enough difference for me to part with an extra €8,470 and extra tax and running costs . The smaller engine is well capable of moving the X5 . TBH I thought it would be gutless but it's well able for the job - well done the BMW boffins !

I know I can buy a lot of much faster vehicles at this price level (Audi etc.) but I really like the X5. Calling to a couple more dealers tomorrow to try to get the best price.

Hmm the 30d model does 47.9 mpg (I got this off BMW's UK site) but at best pollutes 156 g/km, the xDrive 25d does 154-156 g/km) so depending on the spec the 25d and 30d could be in the same tax bracket.

I'm not sure where you got those tax figures from, anything between 141 and 155 g/km is €390 a year, anything between 156 and 170 is €570, a not insignificant difference for the sake of 1 g/km (if the 30d was on 155 instead of 156 its tax rate would be the same as the smaller engine).

I can see your point about pricing though, even allowing for four wheel drive the price gap between the two models is quite big. While I very much doubt you'll get better mpg from the 25d than the 30d if it's fast enough for you then fair enough. Oddly enough the gap between the 30d and 40d is relatively small and to be honest, if you're going to spend the extra for the 30d you might as well get the 40d as it's a relatively small jump.

The gap between the 25d and 30d models is only £3,000 (€3,800) in the UK, much easier to make a case for the better engine that way!

Anyway best of luck with it, you're lucky you can afford such a car in the first place in the current climate:)!

carsfan

Apologies for resurrecting this, but am thinking of one of these too and am curious if you bought OP and if so what you think of it.
Also if anybody else has any experience of them.
Thanks.

freddieot

Yes, after test driving a couple more Audis and the BMW again I ordered an X5 SE x25d. Looking forward to getting it in the new year (early I hope).

By the way, surprisingly I got the best deal offer in good old Dublin - Joe Duffy and that's the first time in a long while that a Dublin dealer beat the country lads when I've been buying.

freddieot

I should also mention that my neighbour has been driving one of these since the start of the year and loves it. It's her 2nd X5 (last one was the 3.0) and she is hooked now.

I was a more than a bit concerned about the run flat tyres (as I have no experience of such witchcraft). However, she had a puncture at night last winter in West Cork and the run flat allowed her to continue to drive back to her hotel so she is a fan of those as well now. I'll wait to be fully convinced but it would seem to beat winching down an 18in wheel covered in road muck and trying to fix a puncture in the middle of nowhere (as happened to me before with a Santa Fe. Depends how badly the tyre is damaged I suppose so each situation is different.

Good luck with your decision. I've been thinking about it for months before making my final choice.

carsfan

Did you find much of a difference in prices from dealer to dealer?
I have been to two and I also said I would take a low mileage 141/142 but was told that such is the demand there are none really around and those that come up are getting pretty much full retail. They said I would be better with 151 as will be much the same price as 141. I am sceptical of this.
I will prob get the s drive as don't need four wheel drive. apparently this is the most popular model.

freddieot

there was quite a difference on the trade-ins being offered (varied by 8k from worst to best).

I think there is a shortage of the 2 litre models. I ordered mine in the first week in August and there is a minimum 5-6 month wait so I will be lucky to get it in early January. The salesman did say that the s25 was outselling the x25 and the 2 litres are their most popular models because of the mpg and the reasonable power output. Hard to believe they are keeping value quite as well as they are saying though.

However, if a rear wheel drive will cover your own personal needs then fine and you would save quite a few quid over the x but it would be a totally different car to drive compared to the x.

I've had 4x4 drive since 2002 and would never go back to 2 wheel drive for such a large vehicle, especially considering our roads and unpredictable climate. Apart from the enhanced road stability, I passed millions of euros worth of Mercs, Audis and BMWs that were sliding around all over the place back during the bad weather we had a few years ago. Very upsetting when you have just spent 65k on a vehicle and a ten year old Suzuki Vitara passes you without any fuss and just wondering what you are at, so something maybe to bear in mind if you are trying to decide between the models.

bazz26

carsfan wrote: »

Did you find much of a difference in prices from dealer to dealer?
I have been to two and I also said I would take a low mileage 141/142 but was told that such is the demand there are none really around and those that come up are getting pretty much full retail. They said I would be better with 151 as will be much the same price as 141. I am sceptical of this.
I will prob get the s drive as don't need four wheel drive. apparently this is the most popular model.

I bought an F10 the other day after doing the rounds of the main dealers in the Midwest and South. The difference in price and attitude was like day and night. A certain main dealer in Tipperary was simply not willing to budge on his price despite not even seeing my trade-in at that stage. Ended up buying in the South as I got a nice car for not much more than the cost to trade-up figure I had in my head.

carsfan

I think there's only one BMW dealer in Tipperary!
I actually heard they were ok to deal with tbh.
In the past with BMW dealers I have found very little between them on prices to the extent that I used to think they communicated with each other over figures to allow/sell at. However if the op found 8k differential on offers that would not appear to be the case.
Neither dealer I talked to said 6 month wait for new year but did say 14 reg cars very thin on the ground and hence high prices.

Summer wind

bazz26 wrote: »

I bought an F10 the other day after doing the rounds of the main dealers in the Midwest and South. The difference in price and attitude was like day and night. A certain main dealer in Tipperary was simply not willing to budge on his price despite not even seeing my trade-in at that stage. Ended up buying in the South as I got a nice car for not much more than the cost to trade-up figure I had in my head.

Hi bazz glad to hear you found your ultimate driving machine. Happy motoring:)

freddieot

Between the BMW dealers the difference in the offers was 5k. Overall between all the dealers I called to including Audi, there was the 8k difference.

Of course it depends on what you are trading in. Also, as I made the move to order in August which in any man's language is fairly early in the year, dealers were a bit more jittery about giving a higher value.

carsfan

I am surprised dealers would give you firm figures in August. I have also been looking at the new model volvo xc90 and finding it difficult to nail down prices.

freddieot

If they want an order in August rather than say October, then they have to do the deal in August. Bird in the hand so to speak. I was not prepared to order later and have the car delivered in March or April etc. I would have just went with another manufacturer (probably Audi).

I'm pretty sure that all the dealers I visited knew the 2015 value of my trade-in and what they might sell it for in January (to within about 1k). I'm not sure what it will be but all they do basically is buy and sell cars so I doubt they are far off.

I suspect the fact that there are still very few new model X5s on the road helped get me a good deal as they must be keen to get more out there. I've only seen 3 others since last June when I started looking out for them which hopefully will also mean good demand when I eventually come to sell in a few years..