Quote:
Originally Posted by Berkenwerke
First post - Hello all. Just purchased a one owner BMW dealer maintained 2012 X5 50i with 48k. All recalls complete. Previously owned by an elderly gentleman. Immaculate inside and out. Love the power of the V8. I will confess I am somewhat pensive after reading some of the responses related to reliability, but not enough to drop 6k for a 24mo/24k warranty. I have two other BMW products: 328i Xdrive and R1200RT. Love the brand and nothing but exceptional service in our area.
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As I've always said, I researched n63tu reliability across every existing forum, US or Russian, Facebook, you name it: percentage of faulty engines are not more than in any other brand or engine platform. So far I only came across 3 guys who had engine replaced due to manufacturing defect and I've read more than thousands of threads across various forums related to n63tu (not only f15/f16 mind you, but f10 and 7 series too). Moreover even n63 (not tu) has many owners that still drive their E70 x5 with more than 150k miles and have no major issues. It's rare even among E70 n63 owners to have issues, let alone n63tu f15/f16. n63tu is on top of that overhauled and got a huge list of changes and improvements from n63.
There's nothing to worry about - just treat is as a regular high-performance V8 that needs timely oil changes and you'll be good. I'm tuned to about 520-540 hp (crank) and drive like there's no tomorrow, bought it used, drove 10k miles tuned and not a single hiccup.
Remember that it's usually enough for 1 person to have engine issues and thousands will spread the word and millions will cry out loud about engine problems. And yet, 99.99% of owners never had a single issue with engine (besides common oil consumption and maintenance items like spark plugs, etc). I bet it's easier for you to win lottery than to have issues with n63tu. Surprisingly people do win lotteries......and hence people will have issues with n63tu, but as I said - nothing that other engines don't have
P.S. people come and tell their anecdotal experience without taking statistics into consideration. There are no bulletproof engines. I've had Honda Fit that had more issues than any of my BMWs I've owned. Maybe it was a lemon. I've had 328i e90 n52 leak with oil pan and valve cover and had issues with transmission, I've had Nissan Murano with couple major issues with CVT and steering pump leak. I've never had anything with my 50i. Should I say that n63tu is a lot more reliable than all those Japanese engines? Of course not. However, I can say that you shouldn't be worried about it. Just drive it and maintain