After 2 tremendous years with the Allroad, a fairly significant issue (albeit sorted under warranty) made me lose faith in it a bit. Mrs Lyons had announced a few months previously that she wanted a 7 seater to be able to take her parents out and to make it easier doing runs for the cubs with their friends. So I took this as an opportunity to start thinking about a replacement. A Q7 and X5 were really the only 2 legitimate options. Finally settled on an X5 as I thought it would be wiser to stick to what I know, and haven’t heard of too many major issues with them. Having a great specialist not too far away was also a big influencing factor.
I sold the A6 a couple months ago and had been flat refreshing Autotrader every 5 minutes, but to no avail. Luckily WFH and the impending Christmas holidays bought me a bit of time so wasn’t in a major panic. I had a deposit on a 2016 30D in England, but the dealer was reluctant to get me a few more photos I’d asked for (bolster and a couple of other bits were hidden). Eventually they refused and decided the car wasn’t for me, so back to square one. I decided to ring round the local BMW dealers just on the off chance they had a trade in lined up that wasn’t yet advertised. Unbelievably Bavarian had had someone in that day with a X5, but no deal had been done yet. They called me back the next day to say it was now theirs, and I arranged to go for a look the next morning. It was pre prep and had literally nothing done to it (the guy said they just don’t do that there, it was all just to do with the timing), but I could tell it was a really clean example.
I went to see it again on 23rd December after it was through the workshop, and a deal was done. Sadly I had to wait until the start of January to collect, so it was a long Christmas holiday!
It was right on the limit of my age and mileage requirements, but really well priced considering the condition, spec and BMW approved warranty. Cheaper than all other equivalent local ones with more miles!
It’s a 2015 30D with 48k- my 3rd X5. Fantastic spec including 7 seats, pan roof, comfort seats, 360 cameras, head up display, heated steering wheel and rear seats, 4 zone climate etc. it had the rear air springs and compressor done the week before it was traded it in, which is nice. The guy had also taken it to Bavarian for absolutely everything, even topping up with ad-blue.
No massive plans for it. I already have a set of wheels in the garage awaiting a refurb as I never liked the current 469’s, and have fitted black grills. Need to get a towbar and a set of winter wheels. Also on the look out for X6 interior trims to replace the aluminium bits along side the transmission tunnel as they are badly scratched. Also tempted by an idrive upgrade to get CarPlay, but need to do a bit more research into that.
Couple of photos of my previous ones;
And the new one. As I got it first, and now as it sits with grills, reg and roof bars. I appreciate it may be hard to get excited about these as they are quite literally everywhere, but I still think they are fantastic looking personally. Nice to have 1 of on my drive too!
Very much enjoying it so far. Much more modern than the E70 and a really nice place to be. Sadly it still tramlines on certain roads as if the steering is being controlled by a gremlin in the engine bay, but certainly not as bad the E70. Aside from that it’s very comfortable and a lot quicker than I expected the 30D to be.
I sold the A6 a couple months ago and had been flat refreshing Autotrader every 5 minutes, but to no avail. Luckily WFH and the impending Christmas holidays bought me a bit of time so wasn’t in a major panic. I had a deposit on a 2016 30D in England, but the dealer was reluctant to get me a few more photos I’d asked for (bolster and a couple of other bits were hidden). Eventually they refused and decided the car wasn’t for me, so back to square one. I decided to ring round the local BMW dealers just on the off chance they had a trade in lined up that wasn’t yet advertised. Unbelievably Bavarian had had someone in that day with a X5, but no deal had been done yet. They called me back the next day to say it was now theirs, and I arranged to go for a look the next morning. It was pre prep and had literally nothing done to it (the guy said they just don’t do that there, it was all just to do with the timing), but I could tell it was a really clean example.
I went to see it again on 23rd December after it was through the workshop, and a deal was done. Sadly I had to wait until the start of January to collect, so it was a long Christmas holiday!
It was right on the limit of my age and mileage requirements, but really well priced considering the condition, spec and BMW approved warranty. Cheaper than all other equivalent local ones with more miles!
It’s a 2015 30D with 48k- my 3rd X5. Fantastic spec including 7 seats, pan roof, comfort seats, 360 cameras, head up display, heated steering wheel and rear seats, 4 zone climate etc. it had the rear air springs and compressor done the week before it was traded it in, which is nice. The guy had also taken it to Bavarian for absolutely everything, even topping up with ad-blue.
No massive plans for it. I already have a set of wheels in the garage awaiting a refurb as I never liked the current 469’s, and have fitted black grills. Need to get a towbar and a set of winter wheels. Also on the look out for X6 interior trims to replace the aluminium bits along side the transmission tunnel as they are badly scratched. Also tempted by an idrive upgrade to get CarPlay, but need to do a bit more research into that.
Couple of photos of my previous ones;
And the new one. As I got it first, and now as it sits with grills, reg and roof bars. I appreciate it may be hard to get excited about these as they are quite literally everywhere, but I still think they are fantastic looking personally. Nice to have 1 of on my drive too!
Very much enjoying it so far. Much more modern than the E70 and a really nice place to be. Sadly it still tramlines on certain roads as if the steering is being controlled by a gremlin in the engine bay, but certainly not as bad the E70. Aside from that it’s very comfortable and a lot quicker than I expected the 30D to be.
Crazy how tyres make such a big difference. I would of understood more if it was going from the cheapest budget tyre to a Pirelli, but not Bridgestones.