Daily Driver

bwalvoord

bwalvoord

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I need some advice on a daily driver. My 2000 Jeep cherokee is on its last limb and needs to be replaced. My wife thinks I should stay in the bimmer family and buy an X5. She says she would prefer not to drive a station wagon, although I think a 5 wagon would be a better driver. Anyone have any advice on X5's or comparable rides?
 
Buy a Toyota Highlander, it will last forever and gets great gas mileage. If you buy a CPO X5 you are guaranteed it hasn't been serviced properly since oil changes can be at 20K miles or more. Just a thought!
 
Hybrid or gas

I think the highlander would be a good fit as well. Would you mess with the hybrid or keep it simple with just gasoline?
 
We have an X5 and a 535xi touring in our family, and my strong preference is the wagon. The space in the wagon is more usable than the X5 and despite the V8 in the X5 the 535 is a lot more spirited (and more efficient) to drive. The only advantages of the X5 is that it can tow.
 
We have a Highlander and it has been great - zero problems and the most interior room of that style auto.
 
Gas Highlander, I have a 2010 SE. My wife has 175K on her 2002 Highlander. I had a Toyota van with 240K and it just kept running. I get 17-18 around town and 25-28 on the highway, once had the computer reading 35 mpg cruising at 70 on flat highway.
 
Not to hijack the thread but I just got 19.1 mpg on my drive from Saratoga NY to Portsmouth NH. Pretty good for an E9 with 32/36 Webers and a 3.5?????
 
I don't know what your budget is, but my wife had an '02 X5 3.0 as a daily driver from '06 to late last year.

We both liked it a lot, much nicer to drive than the Q7 that replaced it. We had a few things go wrong but overall it was cheap to run. Like all BMW's there are a few known issues but the parts were reasonable and it's easy to find a decent independent mechanic. I used it as a track tow vehicle 4-5 times a year and it did that well too.

I like the E39 wagon a lot, but my wife doesn't like my sport E39...too low for most driveways.
 
Stan said:
Not to hijack the thread but I just got 19.1 mpg on my drive from Saratoga NY to Portsmouth NH. Pretty good for an E9 with 32/36 Webers and a 3.5?????
Click to expand...

I get right at 20 mpg in my similarly equipped daily driver Bavaria.
 
18 months ago, my wife wanted a new car, and it had to have three row seating. The choice was a new Highlander or a used X5. She picked the 2007 x5 with 50k miles, and it drives ok for what it is (a big pig). Reliability/build quality has been less than stellar, however. Two big repairs so far, about 5 grand total with our indy mechanic. (It was not CPO--I could not find a a CPO car with three rows).

I love my elderly mother's 2001 e39 528i wagon, but they have more typical modern BMW weaknesses (plastic radiators, etc), and it would be hard to find one with under 100k miles.

Our 2003 Honda minivan (bought new) has 100k, and it outperforms any SUV. Much better handling. Lower CG is all it is. And utterly bulletproof.

How about a new Acura TSX wagon?
 
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