[eelnoraa]

Originally Posted by sygazelle

I agree that the $4k is high. I chose I high number for an example because even at that high difference, it still doesn't pay to get rid of the X5M. A lower number makes the business case to switch even worse. For many on this forum, cost isn't the primary driver when switching cars. But, if cost is a concern that would cause a person to think about trading for a new car to save operating expense will rarely be a better deal.

Yeah most on this forum, cost isn’t a concern, change car is more of a “want”, not a “need”, maybe except for me. 😅.

My comment was mainly focus on the cost part. It hardly makessense to buy a new car because the new car is supposed to cost less to operate. The extreme analogy is like buying s oil refinery to save on gas. 😂

[mnx5er]

As far as performance, the 50e never felt any faster than the 40i. I actually prefer the 40i for pure driving over the 50e. The 50e will be a great vehicle if BMW can fix the problems. Mine is gone and I am back with the 40i. I hope BMW comes clean on the 50e. Until they do, I'm not sure what "fixed" is long-term. Hybrid components are very expensive.

[X5MC4ME]

If you don’t love the X5M then why not change it up? It is certainly expensive to run. If you don’t use or enjoy the performance then there are many other alternatives. That said I would imagine the loss in depreciation would be quite steep and you may not save that much switching to a 50e.

If you’re just hankering for a change then maybe another brand or model? So many great SUVs these days. The 50e’s reliability issues seem concerning.

X

[crackerjack15]

Originally Posted by mnx5er

As far as performance, the 50e never felt any faster than the 40i. I actually prefer the 40i for pure driving over the 50e. The 50e will be a great vehicle if BMW can fix the problems. Mine is gone and I am back with the 40i. I hope BMW comes clean on the 50e. Until they do, I'm not sure what "fixed" is long-term. Hybrid components are very expensive.

What? How much torque does 40i have? 331 vs 516. I've gotten 4.22 to 60 in the 50e. You must mean in normal driving.

Zero issues with my 50e. 7600 miles at this point.

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by crackerjack15

What? How much torque does 40i have? 331 vs 516. I've gotten 4.22 to 60 in the 50e. You must mean in normal driving.

Zero issues with my 50e. 7600 miles at this point.

398 lb-ft for the 40i.

[13 NF]

JoeGrow it’s difficult, that car you have is the best, but quite often as in ‘Life’the best is expensive, everyone’s points who have responded are really good.
The X5M is expensive to run and own, as you say. Some years ago I had X6M, I had it 18 weeks and traded it in, it was a fab car, quick, flashy and great!
But doing my mileage 20k miles plus a year ( uk gas prices) it just didn’t seem worth it, affordability wasn’t the real issue, its was the justification compared with the real times I could use the power.

Having said all that, you have done 2yrs ownership, as chicargofanOO said, you’ll have to work out the actual cost of an alternative X5, mileage was the problem for me, tyres, fuel service, costs and of course insurance with fuel being the main issue with the my higher powered cars. My last two X5’s have been 50ds and they are just epic in terms of overall owner ship for someone like me.

If I didn’t do the mileage I would have the X5M no ‘ifs or buts’, my 50e is ok to drive, it’s simply not as dynamic and the whole hydrid think I am still coming to terms with, my car hasn’t stopped yet but the whole software thing is doing my head in, although since I have done a hard reboot it’s better, I am unsure if it’s a 50e thing or 8.5 I drive thing??

I changed my 50d G05 for the 50e, I was concerned ‘costs’ of warranty and servicing etc would become an issue, as it had done 60k miles and was 3 years old, I can’t advise on your delema , but I regret changing, I should have stayed with it paid the warranty and kept it another year.

Good luck don’t rush into changing, get an 50e for 2-3 days on load, then make your choice, if the dealer won’t play ball leading you one, there’s your answer!!!

[BlkGS]

What the heck is a 50d? Is that a V8 diesel?

[gadgetfreak2024]

Originally Posted by TurtleBoy

The poll is designed to take that bias out of the sample. We are at 46% of the owners experiencing an issue and 29% of owners took it to a dealer due to having an issue.

Yup, I am aware (and participated in it). My only nuanced point to that is that there will be a lot of drivers who have no interest in (or even awareness of) these forums and have no desire to chat about their cars. If those types of drivers never have problems, they likely never end up coming to this site (or others like it). But if and when they do have a problem, they may end up here after googling about what it means or how to remedy. I know that’s how I first ended up finding out about Bimmerpost — when I wanted info on a problem for another BMW.

So my point is I am not sure we can confirm this is an entirely unbiased pool of 50e owners on Bimmerpost. We are vehicle enthusiasts, tinkerers and problem solvers — not just passive drivers who only drive from A to B and never think about it otherwise. I think it would be different if we were provided a random list of 1000 50e owners (whether participants here or not) and we polled that random sample set.

But within the sample set you had to work with (of people who self selected in by way of being on this forum), I do agree that your questions did a very nice job of eliminating bias as best as possible.

I suspect the real values lie somewhere in between — and as I noted, I certainly do think this has been a far less than perfect launch! BMW can and should do better.

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by gadgetfreak2024

Yup, I am aware (and participated in it). My only nuanced point to that is that there will be a lot of drivers who have no interest in (or even awareness of) these forums and have no desire to chat about their cars. If those types of drivers never have problems, they likely never end up coming to this site (or others like it). But if and when they do have a problem, they may end up here after googling about what it means or how to remedy. I know that’s how I first ended up finding out about Bimmerpost — when I wanted info on a problem for another BMW.

So my point is I am not sure we can confirm this is an entirely unbiased pool of 50e owners on Bimmerpost. We are vehicle enthusiasts, tinkerers and problem solvers — not just passive drivers who only drive from A to B and never think about it otherwise. I think it would be different if we were provided a random list of 1000 50e owners (whether participants here or not) and we polled that random sample set.

But within the sample set you had to work with (of people who self selected in by way of being on this forum), I do agree that your questions did a very nice job of eliminating bias as best as possible.

I suspect the real values lie somewhere in between — and as I noted, I certainly do think this has been a far less than perfect launch! BMW can and should do better.

I'm not following that. What makes you think that Enthusiasts, thinkers, problems solvers, etc. are more likely to receive a vehicle with a problem than those that do not fall into that group? I wouldn't think that would be the case.

The poll is obviously not a representative sample of 50e owners but it doesn't need to be as age, sex, income, etc. have no effect on whether the vehicle a person receives will have a problem or not. By eliminating the folks who came to the forum specifically due to having an issue it should give a good idea of the population as a whole.

[mnx5er]

Originally Posted by crackerjack15

What? How much torque does 40i have? 331 vs 516. I've gotten 4.22 to 60 in the 50e. You must mean in normal driving.

Zero issues with my 50e. 7600 miles at this point.

Car and Driver hit 3.9 with the 50e and estimated 4.6 with the 40i.

50e weights more and has the air suspension. I prefer the stock suspension in the 40i for driving around twisties. I drove both through the mountains and preferred the 40i by a smidge. Both are excellent drivers.

The 50e was great for battery only around town driving. 40i for me is more fun.

[velopod]

You asked so: If it is your only vehicle, I'd keep the X5M. If this is your daily and you have a sports car or other, get the 50e.

[Photographer918]

Originally Posted by crackerjack15

What? How much torque does 40i have? 331 vs 516. I've gotten 4.22 to 60 in the 50e. You must mean in normal driving.

Zero issues with my 50e. 7600 miles at this point.

An M50i is considerably quicker on paper than a 40i, but due to the extra 500 lbs it carries, the 50i never felt like it was quicker. A half a second is hard to “feel” in most cars. Moving from an ‘02 Tahoe to a ‘14 Tundra - the Tundra was a lot quicker and felt it, but there was a 2 second difference. Moving from the Tundra into the `~ 900-1,000 lb lighter X5 40i, it felt not only quicker, but lighter, and nimbler. But again there was big difference in 0-60 times, on the order of 1.5-1.7 seconds….

[FastMarkA]

Ask yourself if this really is a cost-based decision, or an "I want a change" decision, because the operational cost delta between X5MC and 50e isn't likely significant enough to enable a meaningful "something else" in your life.

The 50e is way more convenient while still providing a well above average driving experience.

When you want those quick moments of fun, the X5M is the clear leader.

I once had an X3MC for a month. It was a fun little fling, and the sex was mind-blowing, but the aggressiveness as a daily driver got old real quick for me. It was then I decided a "regular" car gets prioritized, and if I want something on the side, a purpose-built second car for sport makes sense.

[Ibiza]

[QUOTE=TexAg91;30874730]Most of the people telling you to run from a 50e don’t own one. I do own one and haven’t had any trouble with it. And for a good majority of the problems that have been reported, they appear to be software related.

Too much negative reports related to drivetrain fault/failures have been reported on this forum, and with the recent manufacturing delays—even dealerships and BMW NA genius don’t know what is going on. Typical German moto of ‘deny, delay, defend’.

[Ibiza]

Originally Posted by TurtleBoy

Orders going to 105 have nothing to do with reliability or finding a solution to the problems, it is due to supply chain issues.

You would have thought that BMW AG would have diversified its supply chain by now—4 years post COVID and 2 years post Urkanine war. It’s possible that BMW is not prepared for the EV ‘onslaught’ after a decade of planning.

[BlkGS]

Originally Posted by Photographer918

An M50i is considerably quicker on paper than a 40i, but due to the extra 500 lbs it carries, the 50i never felt like it was quicker. A half a second is hard to “feel” in most cars. Moving from an ‘02 Tahoe to a ‘14 Tundra - the Tundra was a lot quicker and felt it, but there was a 2 second difference. Moving from the Tundra into the `~ 900-1,000 lb lighter X5 40i, it felt not only quicker, but lighter, and nimbler. But again there was big difference in 0-60 times, on the order of 1.5-1.7 seconds….

An M50i is considerably.quicker than a 40i in real life too, not just on paper. I will give you that if you're putting around, ecopro mode,music blasting, yeah, you won't notice the difference. But if you start to use the power, you will notice it, and if you're putting around town and perceptive, you'll notice the extra torque from the displacement.

We get that you like your 40i, but it's not sportier, and it's noticeably slower.

Also, the 500 pound weight difference includes all the upgrades from an sdrive40i to a an M50i. So M sport brakes, suspension, 4x4, etc... the V8 is about 250 pounds heavier than the I6.

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by BlkGS

Also, the 500 pound weight difference includes all the upgrades from an sdrive40i to a an M50i. So M sport brakes, suspension, 4x4, etc... the V8 is about 250 pounds heavier than the I6.

The curb weight difference is 397lbs. For 2023 40i is 4,863 and the M50i is 5,260. Prior to the mild hybrid the 40i was 4,813 for a 447lb difference.

[JMD]

Drive a 45e,...2021 or 2022! Then drive a 50e. More than likely you will be covered by BMW CPO warranty from 2021 on for 45e. Now, what you will find is, the 45e is very capable and the 50e is more capable. In fact, there is a noticeable difference between driving the 50e over a 45e. At least for me there is. And as you very well suspect, there will be a Very noticeable difference in driving either as compared to the X5 M. The biggest differences are Speed and Handling and Fuel Economy! That said, depending on how you drive, and how much you stay on "Plugging it in" to an A/C outlet, unless you have a bad experience, you will probably be thinking along the line, "Hmm, this 'PHEV' thing makes total sense,...I should have done this years ago"!

Either way you go, you have to cross that ICE to PHEV,...and probably BEV bridge by yourself. Just as many of us here have done with no regrets on looking back. And I mean near 0 to 0 regrets!

Also, you aren't alone in regards from leaving high performance X5 M, X5 M50i, or X5 M60i to something lower in the X5 lineup! There are many here who once owned X5s from E53 X5 3.0 all the way to G05 X5 M,...and several models in between. So, whenever you decide to cross that bridge you'll still be amongst friends here, and that you can count on.

Oh,...here's a tidbit, I've been driving my 45e around for some 2 weeks with the gas needle two-shakes from the red zone! LOL! I just filled the tank yesterday. Prior to that,...I've been on the same tank for about a good month plus. That said, many here are on the same tank since some 2, to 3, to 4, to 5, to 6+ months ago. Yeah - that!

...good luck in your decision!

[BlkGS]

Originally Posted by TurtleBoy

The curb weight difference is 397lbs. For 2023 40i is 4,863 and the M50i is 5,260. Prior to the mild hybrid the 40i was 4,813 for a 447lb difference.

Thanks for the info, that's xDrive 40i or sDrive? Either way, there's more than just the motor changing between the two trims.

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by BlkGS

Thanks for the info, that's xDrive 40i or sDrive? Either way, there's more than just the motor changing between the two trims.

xDrive. Of course there is but when looking at the weight difference it doesn't matter what it is comprised of.

[tooloud10]

Originally Posted by TexAg91

Most of the people telling you to run from a 50e don’t own one.

Wouldn't non-owners actually be less biased when providing advice about whether to buy one in light of the reported issues?

[BlkGS]

Originally Posted by TurtleBoy

xDrive. Of course there is but when looking at the weight difference it doesn't matter what it is comprised of.

My point was more that a 40i with the M sport stuff, a like for like in equipment with the M50i, would be closer in weight. People make it sound like the N63 is some highly heavy addon over the B58, and while it's certainly heavier being a significantly larger motor, the motor isn't so much heavier than it offsets the extra power to affect performance or anything like that.