BMW X5 Reliability Concerns

Comments

• franklin433 Member Posts: 2

  December 2010

  My '07 X5 is my 5th BMW. The other 4, including my current '02 330 CI that I also bought new, were great. This X5 drives wonderfully, but the build quality is lousy. It has 64,000 miles on it, has been maintained by the dealer to schedule, but has cost me $5,600 in "unusal" expenses over the past six months. Now the radio must be replaced ($1,600). Fuel system problems, body hardware breakdowns, windshield wiper motor issues, etc. All problems I've never before had on any car. Has anyone else experienced such concerning build quality issues?

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• franklin433 Member Posts: 2

  December 2010

  I couldn't agree with you more. BMW used to be a quality vehicle; no more. Quality sucks!

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• wasbmwthinking Member Posts: 1

  January 2011

  I bought a new 2010 X5 in 2010. The All Wheel Drive system died (about 5 warning lights came on) while I was on vacation 1100 miles from home. I went to the local BMW Dealership and they stated that the problem was a fault with the computer's program. I waited at the local BMW Dealer for them to reprogram the cars computers for 5 hours and the reprogramming crashed (right at the end, of course). The Dealer Rep stated that "this happens... frequently" and said that they will try again over night. The second attempt was successful; however, during the driving test, the problem came back. Additional diagnostics shown that the computer program was not the problem, the problem was a computer module that failed. (Why did they not test the computer modules first?). When the Dealer went to order the replacement computer module.... Guess what.... that computer module is only available from Germany and it has a two-week delivery time!
  
  The Dealers response was for me to drive the car home ... without ABS, Anti-Swerve Control, the Parking Break controls, and Cruse Control. I was forced to drive home 1100 miles with a faulty car because I had to return to work.
  
  First, why does it take about 5 hours to reprogram the car's computer? Why does it frequently crash while reprogramming (input from the Dealer Rep and other costumers in the waiting room at the Dealer)? I can download a HD movie in about 30 to 40 minutes (about 5Gig) on line to my computer, without crashing.
  
  This was the second time that I experienced delays because of Dealer programming problems. Months before, my local Dealer had to keep my car over night because of a routine computer program update that had problems (it had crashed during multiple programming attempts)!
  
  Second, the replacement part is not kept in stock in the USA! It is so great to spend nearly $70,000 for a car that was built in the USA, sold in the USA, and the repair parts are kept in Germany!
  
  In my opinion, an Engineer and a bean counter at BMW needs to be demoted or FIRED! Get an Engineer that knows how to expedite the reprogramming sequence, and get a fully stocked warehouse of replacement parts in the USA for USA BMW Cars!

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• bmwe53drvr Member Posts: 1

  August 2011

  I am org owner of 2001 X5 3.0 w/180k I have all options except Nav. Mine has been great though I have had to replace a transmission at end of 10' at a cost of almost 10K. I have recently had some sensors that have been replaced to keep it running efficiently. I had some carbon deposits on spark plugs and had them replaced. Dealership recommends BG 44K http://www.bgprod.com/products/fuelair.html
  
  HOPE THIS HELPS">link title

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• smjpcb Member Posts: 1

  November 2011

  Same problem here, no one has ever heard our hiccup, traveling for hoidays and it hiccups again then 10 min later we get the trans fail safe warning again. Did u find a fix?

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• josie_wales Member Posts: 3

  February 2013

  I'm currently leasing a 2011 X5 (3 year lease ends in august 2011). I've leased other X5's in the past. Three months after the current lease the CEL came on. My dealer tried three times to determine its cause and failed. BMW then built a new X5 duplicating all the options of the original. I'm a senior, drive very little and with a couple of medical problems, never drive far fro home. A couple of weeks ago, driving 30-40 MPH on a local street, a Transmission Failure appeared in the control panel including all sorts of warnings. I wasn't too from home and although I was really unable to control its speed, I got it safely into my garage. Roadside assistance towed it to the dealer. Their shop looked it over and decided that there was a computer glitch, ordered and installed replacement parts. That didn't fix the problem, so they ordered and installed a new transmission. I'm to get the car back soon and am curious about what's up next. I know I will never lease another X5.

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