1Quik7 Posted June 1, 2017 Report Share Posted June 1, 2017 The preamble: I get a call from my wife driving on the highway..."my little guage is at H, is that bad?" *sigh* Pop goes the head gasket. So my wifes car is down for at least a gasket, hopefully no more damage, and as luck would have it, my beater X5 is exhibiting transmission failure...gotta love it. Now I've got some choices to make and decision is one of my weakest assets. The silver lining of all this is that I have a 3rd vehicle...my truck(blown SRT Ram)...my baby...so we technically still have 'transportation'. The options I'm contemplating: 1. Throwing money into the X5...I think it's electrical, it goes into reverse and into all the gears but is constantly on 'limp' mode. Alternator tested fine and just threw in a new battery. It could be solenoids, a harness, just a transmission flush. But when do you stop? In the end its got 170k miles and a rebuilt transmission would be the safe bet, but it would also cost the value of the car. Doesn't make much sense. We're already fixing her car. 2. Park/trash the X5...buy another beater and go along my way. I really do love my truck, but sometimes I miss having a zippy little sports car. 3. Sell the truck, trash the X5....buy something nice. I think the truck can bring 25-27k all day long...take a small loan and get maybe a newer S4 or a 996, something fun. The problem is, I haven't had just one car since High School, I've always had a toy. 4. Be responsible, sell the vehicles, buy a cheap commuter and pocket the rest? Hypothetical 5. Just dd the truck...this is not the part of the country you want to drive that daily. WWCRD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STEVE-O Posted June 1, 2017 Report Share Posted June 1, 2017 If you love the truck as a toy trash the x5 take money to buy a daily. If the truck is worth more to you to sell than the pleasure of you owning it get rid of the truck and x5 for whatever nice daily/ toy you want. Many many options this will turn into 8 pages but number 1: sell/scrap the X5 then decide what to do about the truck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Alex- Posted June 1, 2017 Report Share Posted June 1, 2017 What is the wife's vehicle? To me, if you're willing to sell the SRT10 and trash the X5, plus get a loan for a fun expensive daily, why not keep the SRT10 you love, trash the X5 and get the same loan for a cheapish reliable daily? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseyctsv Posted June 1, 2017 Report Share Posted June 1, 2017 Don't go down to just a DD/fun car in one would be my .02. There is something cool about bringing a toy out on nice days. I think you need to know what it will take to fix the X5 before you decide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draco-REX Posted June 1, 2017 Report Share Posted June 1, 2017 Need to know what the wife's car is. But assuming: 1. The wife's car is not up for the chopping block and will be fixed. 2. It's a comfortable family car. Then I'd say since you love your truck, get what you can for the X5 and pick up something fun, sporty, and relatively inexpensive. You'll have two cars you enjoy, but with VERY different driving manners, and you can use the wife's car for when something more comfortable is needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeesammy Posted June 1, 2017 Report Share Posted June 1, 2017 Dump the X5 its only going to get worse. Buy a cheap beater daily. Keeping a toy as a dd sucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwashmycar Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 Really need to see if the X5 is a small fix or total problem. If you can fix it and dump it, then there to you. Couple grand towards a better daily, vs. couple hundo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Quik7 Posted June 2, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 Need to know what the wife's car is. But assuming: 1. The wife's car is not up for the chopping block and will be fixed. 2. It's a comfortable family car. Then I'd say since you love your truck, get what you can for the X5 and pick up something fun, sporty, and relatively inexpensive. You'll have two cars you enjoy, but with VERY different driving manners, and you can use the wife's car for when something more comfortable is needed. Wifes car is a Kia Sportage. She loves the little thing because its a 6spd. Other than this we've had no other issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 Need to know what the wife's car is. But assuming: 1. The wife's car is not up for the chopping block and will be fixed. 2. It's a comfortable family car. Then I'd say since you love your truck, get what you can for the X5 and pick up something fun, sporty, and relatively inexpensive. You'll have two cars you enjoy, but with VERY different driving manners, and you can use the wife's car for when something more comfortable is needed. +1. Keep 6spd Sportage and SRT. Get a simpler, all-season, 10/10ths-throttle beater that you can get dirty. You'll have fun enough for tearing around town. I do love my 4cyl E36...great little bomber and when things break it's cheap to fix. You'll continue loving the SRT as a toy when you have another vehicle to drive 4-5 days of the week. I like the idea of fixing the X5 - I'm reminded of Tavarish's exploits on YouTube with a $9k SL55 AMG he's wrenching on for cheap - but if it can still be sold for a reasonable amount (relative to a replacement vehicle's cost) then I'd do that. 100k miles is the new 50k...find something that's got 110k'ish miles on it and rock THAT for the next 50-75k miles. 170k miles on the X5 gives me pause. We put 183k miles on our 00' Passat (bought it new) and by that mileage a couple of $500+ fixes made me realize it was time to dump it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Quik7 Posted June 2, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 My SES (check engine) light came on yesterday so I parked it for now. I just ordered a OBD scan tool from Amazon to see if I can pull codes...get an idea if its catastrophic or something stupid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeto67 Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 have you checked for corrosion in the trans control module? Water can sometimes get in the connectors and then the trans gets all loopy. This is the reason I don't buy automatic BMWs, too complex. the X5 is just an AWD E39 5 series, it's a pretty straight forward car to keep running. however, if you are bored with stuff, can't hurt to mix it up. Unless you are the kind of person that likes to lavish attention on your car more than drive it, don't buy into the toy vs DD argument. If you like driving something you'll like driving it all the time. 996 porches are so cheap right now you could probably dump the x5 and get a finance for one without having to sell your truck. However, you will just be back in the x5 situation the moment something goes wrong and it costs to fix. do you have dogs? kids? things you need an SUV to haul? if not, just finance a newish BRZ/FRS/86 and call it a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99StockGT Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 Ohhh what a loaded question. Those X5s can be great trucks when they are working but when they decide to get temperamental or go into "Maintain Me Mode" the end can be down a long dark road. Scan the truck, see what you can find. Even drop it to a shop give them a small diag budget so you can get an honest assessment of where it is then make an educated decision from there. Couple hundred bucks spent on fixing small things to gain a few grand in resale value is money well spent, but tossing $2500 into transmission/major repairs only to lose a good chunk of that in resale...it just don't make no sense. I also agree with Clay and others, keep the fun car for fun car (truck) duties and buy a responsible semi fun gas sipper for DD duties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Quik7 Posted June 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2017 Welp, got my OBD reader, nice little device...the outcome is not good. P0720 - means there is an issue with the output speed sensor circuit. It could possibly just be the sensor went bad, I think the torque converter took a crap. Suggestions on a beater?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Bastard Posted June 5, 2017 Report Share Posted June 5, 2017 For a beater you can't go wrong with a Honda imo. You can beat the piss out of them without a care in the world, they are cheap to buy and parts are cheap as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2 Sweet Posted June 5, 2017 Report Share Posted June 5, 2017 Honda, or any GM car with a 3800 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tshensley Posted June 6, 2017 Report Share Posted June 6, 2017 option 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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