2001 bmw x5 4.4 146,488 miles

im looking at purchesing this 2001 bmw x5 4.4 with 146,488 miles on it. it comes with sport, winter, and premium pgk's. im a big skiier and will probably be going up every weekend and was wondering if you think this would be a good reliable car to do that. they want $8900

Is that the one owner car in Sunnyvale CA ? I never quite made it to go look, but it was on my list before my 4.8is caught my eye. It's a good price!

First of all let me preface this response by saying that I love my 2001 4.4i (135K mi) and plan to keep it for some time yet. That being said, it's had several problems over the last 50K miles or so that were unexpected for a BMW (and a bit pricey to fix) as well as "the usual" X5 problems (posted here and on other forums). If there are good maintenance records available from the owner and/or from BMW Service make sure you check them over to see if "the usual" X5 problems have already been fixed. If not, they're very likely to be encountered sooner rather than later on an X5 w/ 150K miles.

A looks clean for 146.000ml just chick it at BMW dealer before u got it. u ganna love that V8 power

Originally Posted by x5alpine

im looking at purchesing this 2001 bmw x5 4.4 with 146,488 miles on it. it comes with sport, winter, and premium pgk's. im a big skiier and will probably be going up every weekend and was wondering if you think this would be a good reliable car to do that. they want $8900

Look for a good BMW indy shop, bring the car over to get it checked and look with magnifying glass all the service record.
Lastly, if this is private sale, ask why he/she is selling it.

Check for water pump issues. Oil seperator, door locks freezing and unable to open the doors in cold temperature. Do some research on the net. Cold weather is not a friend to this car.

That's a real good price for the X5. As others have said, definitely get an inspection first as there are a lot of common problems that can come up. As a reference I bought almost the exact same X5 4.4 last year with 118k (But no sports package) for $11,500 and felt pretty good about it.

One thing about buying a higher mileage car is that sometimes if you're lucky the previous owner has already replaced a lot of parts for you already. In my case the entire cooling system (Radiator, Water Pump, Expansion tank, and all hoses) were replaced recently. That's about $600-800 in parts and hours of my time I don't have to worry about.

I've bought around 18 used cars in my lifetime, and oddly enough the ones that have required the least money on my part are the ones around 120-130k. Vehicles at 80-100k have cost me the most. Could just be my luck.

One of the common issues if it hasn't been addressed already is the rear air suspension. Hopefully the one you're looking at doesn't have air suspension in the front too (not sure what year that became available). Mine started acting up within a few months of buying it. I went ahead and spent $750 to convert to traditional coil springs and I'm very happy with it. No difference in ride or handling, and no worries about air susp. problems.

Good luck!

Our '01 4.4i is going strong @ 169,000...looking to upgrade to an '06 4.8i in the next year...I always folllow the maintanence schedule and have been a happy owner for 135,000 miles

Same here 01' 4.4i constant winter use, no problems in cold temps... 130k! Im hittin the same path as the person above me too!