My 2006 still has the original suspension. I've had it since 55k miles, and never replaced any shocks, struts, springs. 167k miles and counting. Have been told by a couple people this is nuts and I need them replaced 5 years ago.

AFAIK, it still rides ok, though it definitely transmits bumps and thumps and is "sport" in terms of ride. Definitely not your father's Oldsmobile in terms of floating ride.

Trying to get another 30k miles out of the car (about 2-3 years). Questions:
Am I risking anything by not changing them out?
Can a mechanic tell me if they are good vs bad, rather than just old?
What kind of cost am I looking at for something cheap and cheerful to replace them if I do that?
Thanks all for your insights!

 

I would think any competent mechanic would be able to tell you if there is still life in your suspension. Part of it is that by driving the car every day you get used to it and might not even realize how harsh it may have become over time.If you would need to replace everything front and back and you would have a shop do it you are probably talking in the $2K+ range. That was part of the reason I ended up trading mine in. Car needed to have some things freshened up in teh suspension and I would have needed new tires before that winter and I figured everything would be about $2K. Car was running fine and, like you, had 165K miles. Weighed spending that and having a 10+ year old car with 165K miles and probably things just starting to wear out little by little. I decided to cut the cord. Loved the car, but by then I really just wanted something different. Ended up with a 2012 Mercedes C300 and never looked back. Still miss the X though, as it will probably be the last car I own with a manual transmission. Was one of the most reliable cars I have ever owned.

 

It certainly could be just fine. Climate, age, and road conditions play as much a role as mileage. A mechanic should able to determine easily if there's any play in the ball joints or tie rods (they'll put it up on a lift and use a pry bar) and bushing can be visually checked - they're a bit of a judgement call as they'll certainly be a bit worn at this point. Spring shouldn't ever need replacing. The struts/shocks are a tougher one. The ones on my BMW were totally trashed when I got it at 120k whereas they're still pretty decent on my Saab at 330k - and funnily enough they're both made by Sachs. This is where I'm hoping to see some feedback too. I got my X-Type at 97k and am surprised by how rough it rides on bad surfaces so I was wondering if my struts/shocks are bad too, but conversely it doesn't feel 'floaty' like I would expect from bad shocks/struts. Do the Sport models really ride quite rough?