At $2,950, Does This 2001 BMW X5 Mark The Spot?

BMW touts its products as “Ultimate Driving Machines,” and today’s Nice Price or No Dice X5 has certainly done a lot of driving. Let’s see if its price drives a hard bargain.

I Need To Replace My Stolen BMW X5 | WCSYB?

The 1977 Chevy Malibu we looked at yesterday was dressed in the livery of a Bobby Allison NASCAR racer. As nicely done as it was, that look really doesn’t have much significance or appeal outside of Bobby’s home turf of the South. A $11,999 price tag proved even less appealing, pushing the Malibu to the limit with a massive 96 percent No Dice loss.

I found a statistic online claiming that less than one percent of all sold vehicles will eventually make it to 200,000 miles, with an even more minuscule .03 percent managing to soldier on to 300K. Those stats came from the website for Kiss 95.1 FM, an adult contemporary radio station serving the Charlotte, North Carolina area, and were unsubstantiated, so take that with a grain of NaCl.

According to the article’s author, the top five vehicles most likely to hit that magic 300K marker are all trucks, with the list made up of the Toyota Tundra and 4Runner, GMC’s Yukon, its sister, the Chevy Suburban, and Ford’s Expedition. Nowhere on the list is any sort of BMW sport utility mentioned, and yet, according to its ad, the 2001 BMW X5 that we have the pleasure of meeting today rocks a solid 296,750 miles on the clock.

Why would anyone drive any car that far? Well, this X5 happens to be the rare beast that has been optioned with the driveline combo of BMW’s silky smooth 228 horsepower M54 3.0 liter straight six mated to a ZF-sourced five-speed manual transmission. Naturally, that combo feeds all four wheels, as the X5 was designed by BMW after the company got into such things following its purchase of Land Rover.

Amazingly, the heady miles don’t seem to show on this SUV in any truly noticeable way. The bodywork is straight, the black paint reasonably clean and shiny, and the headlamp lenses are free of significant yellowing. Even the Style 69 wheels, which look to be original, show no appreciable wear for so many years and so great a distance travelled.

It’s much the same story in the cabin. The leather upholstery appears to have held up surprisingly well, as have the plastics and the smattering of burlwood trim. The only jarring note in here is the oddly large and weirdly shaped boot for the five-speed stick. That looks like a bat that has mistaken a plate glass window for a cave entrance.

By all appearances, it could all stand a good cleaning, and there are pieces of tape stuck randomly to the dash, likely to secure a power cord for a radar detector or something. Aside from those minor issues, it looks like a nice place to call home while piling on the miles.

The ad also claims the X5 to be mechanically sound, boasting that it “runs and drives great.” Another perk is what is described as an “Updated OEM Navigation” system. Unfortunately, no other information is provided. There’s no maintenance history, Carfax info, or even a Magic 8 Ball “Ask Again Later” to placate us with some sense of the car’s current state. At least we’re told that the title is clean.

Perhaps to make up for the brevity of the ad and the contrastingly excessive reading on the odometer, the seller has set a $2,950 asking for the car. That’s pocket change in the present day and age—or apparently a couple of Big Mac Meal Deals, from what I’ve heard. Would it, however, make for a wise investment in this X5, all things considered?

What do you think? Is $2,950 a small enough ask to roll the dice on a fairly rare row-yer-own BMW SUV? Or do the miles and the lack of info in the ad make even that paltry amount seem a risky move?

You decide!

New Hampshire Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Bill Rice for the hookup!

Help me out with NPOND. Hit me up at remslie@kinja.com and send me a fixed-price tip. Remember to include your Kinja handle.