jugdish

I thought I would chime in here..... Long time Lexus fan. Previously owned a 2004 and 2007 GX470. My current daily driver is an Infiniti JX35. Great car, perfect on reliability, but feels like I'm driving a hearse.

I was cross shopping the '16 RX, the new '16 Volvo XC90, and a '15 BMW X5. Without boring you with details I picked the '15 BMW X5 35d. Yup, an oil burner. Have a friend who has a 2011 X5 35d and he averages 650-750 miles per tank, which equates to an average of 31 mpg. A currently configured RX hybrid with similar options to the X5 I custom built MSRP'd @ $59,325 (chosen for the similar MPG). The most I could get my local Lexus dealer to discount was 2.8% or $57,664 selling price (RX's are sold before they hit the lot in my area).

The X5 I configured has an MSRP of $69,075 and the selling price was $64,239 plus $1,000 rebate for recent MBA grad (Lexus doesn't offer). So..... for $5,575 more, I'm stepping into an X5 with Nappa leather among other options.

Had I waited for the 2016, the difference would have been less as there will likely be a slight price increase and dealers simply won't discount for several months.

Yes, I have concerns about reliability, but, at the end of the day my 2 GX470's had issues as well (one spent several days at the dealer). And, frankly, I really don't like where Lexus is going with exterior styling. I like the interior of the new RX, but the exterior leaves much to be desired.

I thought I had my heart set on the new Volvo XC90, but I was blown away when I drove the X5 35d. The ride was as comfortable as my current Infiniti, and that was with run flat tires. I'm swapping out the stock run flats at delivery, and from BMW forum's, the ride improves even more with non run flat tires. The low end torque is awesome, and the MPG sealed the deal. Additionally, I was really impressed with the interior fit and finish of the X5. The nav screen resolution is the best I've seen, and the surround camera's on the vehicle are 1080P, an absolutely crisp image. Given the discount I negotiated, I couldn't pass it up.

SW17LS

One of my friends with X5s has the diesel, and he loves it. Its really quiet, you'd really never know it was a diesel...

Bearcat

Personally I like where the Lexus is going in/out vs the BMW, which is pretty boring in/out and has looked very much the same externally for the last 14+ years. I think it makes the current RX look like an old dog vs the new one.

jjl12

I'm over 1000 miles into my '15 X5 and it has been flawless. Rock solid. Excellent build quality inside and out. So not sure how far off the two vehicles are in terms of reliability..

SW17LS

The test will be 50-60k miles from now

Bearcat

Yep, best test is after initial warranty expires.

rayaans

1000 miles? Even a TVR is reliable at that mileage!

SW17LS

FYI, my LS spent 8 days in the shop at 350 miles.

Oldfart

8 days in the shop is meaningless information, quiet possibly mechanic was on vacation.

Are you really comparing Lexus reliability to BMW?

Here is a link to 10 used cars to avoid. BMW X5 is one of them.

"...BMW X5

As with all the models in our list of used cars to avoid, BMW’s sporty large crossover SUV is cited by both Consumer Reports and J.D. Power and associates for having worse than average reliability from the model years we’re tracking, 2008 and 2009. Keeping up with even regular maintenance on an X5 can be costly enough, but footing the cost of out-of-warranty repair bills can be prohibitive. Consumer Reports notes specific problems with the fuel system, body hardware and power equipment. J.D. Power gives it low marks across the board for powertrain, body/interior and feature/accessory dependability; it also got low scores for initial quality regards to its powertrain, feature/accessory and overall design quality..."

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/ehmk45igdd/bmw-x5/


RX350 is in top 10 Best.

Debating styling is very subjective were reliability is statistical.

SW17LS

I'm not at all comparing Lexus reliability to BMW. I've been a Lexus owner for 17 years, I've had 6 of them, obviously I believe in the brand. My point was that stuff does happen to any car, even a Lexus.

It was in the shop for an inoperable navigation system. They tried several things that didn't work.

If you're going to buy a car and keep it for a long time, I would never consider a BMW over a Lexus. If you're leasing though and the vehicle will never be out from under the warranty, a BMW is going to be just fine. In fact...better perhaps because the scheduled maintenance is covered for the warranty period.

ericsan13

Putting on my devil's advocate hat...

The latest generation is from 2014 onwards. It would be much more relevant to see reliability ratings based on the current generation, if it's even available.

Oldfart

Exactly what I thought and leased 750i paid over $1,000 per month and spend half of my lease driving Hundai. Yes, maintenance was free.
Once I got out of super market with $300 worth of groceries that I had to trow away because it just would start and waiting for a flat bed in 100F outside was no fun either.

SW17LS

Thats a very unusual situation though. I know a lot of people with new/newer BMWs and none of them have those sorts of issues.

dchar

But it's horrible incidents like those that would keep some people from buying another car from that manufacturer.

You'd be surprised how common that kind of issue is on BMW. Aunt had a 750i (newer gen) and it constantly had problems that required it to be towed. It also had many malfunction lights that would come up randomly, all related to engine and battery. Same issues with cousin's 335is, and it even had transmission issues with less than 30K miles on the odo. He had a problem with abnormally crank time, he took it to dealer and they told him that it was normal; few days later, car had to be towed in because it wouldn't start. He also had many serious problems on his 335i before that. Both aunt and cousin's cars were during the lease period. Customer in an Audi dealer told me that he had to sell his M3 because it had too many problems. Some of them, the dealer didn't even know how to fix, so he had to constantly bring it in and research independent shops who thought they had fixes. No one has that much time to want to deal with servicing their car at the dealer so much. Not to mention, the horrible dealer experience (snobby service advisors who don't care).

Although, I'm sure not all BMWs are like that, but I've heard enough to stay away from them and wouldn't recommend my friends to get one. They barely made it above industry average:



Plus, their styling department is getting kinda weird (bland with weird shapes) with too many unnecessary models (I.e., 3 & 5-series GT, X1, X4, X6, i3, 2-series GT). If I were to go German, I'd much rather go to Audi and Mercedes before BMW.

onefastdoc

Regarding the Gen4 Rx vs X5, I will throw you there that I recently evaluated the prototype of BMW's next X5 as well as a prototype of the all new X7. The new X5 seemed like just an LCI (a mid-cycle update) with some exterior and interior styling changes. Nothing drastic and in my opinion a little softer looking, as opposed to the RX which has gone in the direction of pretty extreme styling. The car I really liked was the X7. This is in a different class than the RX obviously, and during the evaluation was placed side by side with it's intended competitors (Range Rover, Escalade, and GL550). It was quite large, but really nice looking. My thought was to hold out for a 3 row RX (to replace my 2014 MDX which replaced my 2011 RX350), but I may just have to skip it altogether and go with the X7. It's worth waiting for.