They are both very nice cars, and both very different. The GX is truck based. So its capable of doing work, in a very elegant way. The BMW is minivan based. It's a performance based minivan. So it will ride better, handle better perform better, but if you need something that can work hard, and be reliable, then the gX is it. If you want more sports car performance and don't mind the xtra maint, then the BMW.

 

 

I have a GX and my brother has a X5 similar year/miles and it's a mess compared to my GX. I hope you got the idea. I have soo many friends at Bmw forums who fix their cars themselves if your one of those people then Bmw it is.

 

Two diametrically opposed vehicles. Utilitarian/reliable vs. fun and German engineering (read: expensive to fix) One of my friends loves BMW's. He just makes sure after the warranty expires he gets another one.

 

I can provide my opinion based on first hand experience. I recently got rid of my 2012 x5 (diesel, comfort seat, m sport, 3rd row, etc) and stepped into 2018 gx460. There are a few things I'm definitely missing from my x5: the handling, the heads up display, the acceleration, the interior layout, the seat comfortness due to 20 way adjustments, the brake hold, etc). However, I don't miss the the time it spent in the shop. Throughout my 7 years ownership, here are the list that I have to deal with: rear air suspension airbags went out, 02 sensors, cat issue, transmission jerkiness and hesitation after 55k miles, brake dusts everywhere, interior rattling every time going over bumps or turns, etc.

 

I have a friend who is somewhat wealthy and he can afford virtually any vehicle within reason for him self and for his wife. His wife drove an X5 gas engine model with the larger engine.

With only 65,000 miles on it, and it had never been wrecked, She hit a bad Dallas Pothole and there was a short somewhere in the wiring, and it destroyed 6 body/engine/transmission control modules all at the same time when it quit running in the middle of the road. The repair bill was $4900 for the computers, and BMW wouldn't take responsibility for the poorly routed/strained wire harness..... Needless to say, my friend promptly went and traded that X5 for a Toyota Tundra with the 4.6L and got his wife an RX 400 and there have been zero problems since.

I have known many people personally who have had the dreaded "german sports car love" disease, only to be taken to the bank by the cars that they love so much.


Just remember that there is a reason why a Toyota or Lexus holds resale value so much better than a BMW, Merc, Audi, VW, etc....

We just bought a nice used base model 2012 GX460 so it didn't have air suspension in the back and a ton of crazy gadgets on board, as those are usually the items to go out first. I also wanted something much sturdier and safer than our previous car, the 2016 Subaru Forester XT. We may eventually upgrade to Koni shocks/struts or bilsteins, but in all honesty, I don't want to ruin how nice this GX rides and drives overall, so I would have to ride in someone else's rig with these other suspension components before making a decision.

Also, even though there are a lot of German "DIY" mechanics out there, it is out of necessity of saving money more than the joy of working on the cars. Some of those German cars are absolute nightmares to wrench on. Lexus and Toyota's tend to be more logical and well thought out, like Subaru's, but better.

 

Totally agree with the Lexus/Toyota reliability part but the German resale value being less is a wrong statement as I change 2-3 cars every year. You can say about few Lexus models specially GX/LX having the best resale value. Having kept most of the Lexus models GS have the worst resale value.