u/bleep6789

Just bought a 2025 BMW X7 in a dark blue color, lightly used. There is already a small dent on the hood with some primer exposed along with a couple other minor rock chips. Will likely do a PDR on the small dent and use some OEM touch-up paint pens for the tiny spots (a full repair and repaint of the hood is like $1200 which isn't worth it to me at this point).

I'm considering doing PPF on the full front (full hood, bumper, fenders, mirror caps, a-pillars), which will be roughly $2550 at a reputable detailing shop in my area. Includes prep/paint-correction as well.

And then to ceramic coat the rest of the car, it would be another $1200, which also includes prep/paint-correction.

PPF - how well will it truly protect against rock chips? And if there is a serious impact won't it just cut through the PPF and just look ugly anyway? Wouldn't it be better to leave it without PPF and just repair with touch-up paint each time? This PDR dent will cost ~$150 to fix - for $2550 I could repair 17 of these dents.

And then Ceramic, I know it'll help the car look really clean. But isn't it then more hassle to wash the car? Needing to seek out either touchless wash areas, or handwash it? My life is mostly too busy to spend time handwashing the car. And touchless wash areas are rare where I live and might require some travel to find one (definitely none nearby).

Just trying to be realistic about all this and how I actually want to own the car. I don't want it to "own" me, so to speak, where I'm locking myself into needing to take care of it in only very specific ways. And then in the winter it can accumulate a lot of grime and stuff, and wouldn't just a regular car-wash with brushes be the best and most time-efficient way of cleaning it?

Do I want the car to look as great as possible? Of course. And I also don't want to invest a ton of extra time needing to take care of it, just want the basics where it'll look more than good enough. Or am I missing something?

And what are some potential alternative ways that are a lot less hassle to still keep the car looking good?

A reputable shop in my city is quoting $2300 for full front PPF (full hood, bumper, fenders, mirror caps) with Llumar Platinum, and $1200 for ceramic coating on rest of the X7. All includes paint correction.

Is this a reasonable cost? Shop gets great reviews all around. They’d need the car for 2 full days to do the job.

Seeing a 2025 X7 xdrive40i with 12k miles for around 79k. Has exec package, dapp, DHP, climate comfort, m-sport. Sensafin seats, no merino leather, 2nd row bench (my preference). Colors I like.

It’s not a CPO. Good deal?

I’m seriously considering a RX500h as my next vehicle, coming from Audi Q8 which has terrible build quality.

What are common issues and annoyances on the RX? How well does the tech work? How is the build quality, rattles, squeaks, etc?

Ok Reddit, this question probably gets asked a lot, but what is the best overall cordless electric platform for mowers, whackers, blowers, etc?

Started off with an Ego mower a few years back which seemed pretty good though it would struggle with longer / wet grass. Battery died after about 5yrs which I guess is good, but then the replacement cost was so high you might as well buy a new mower which seems wasteful.

So as of today, what would be the best platform to invest in when starting from scratch, where the equipment will likely be reliable (Consumer Reports rates Ego as low reliability, and Greenworks as high reliability for example) and battery replacement costs will be reasonable, while also just being good at what they do?

Also read that Ego has not great customer service, so that might be another dimension to consider.