The end for our old X5

[BMWLOVER]

Hi everyone,

For starters, I wanted to create this thread to thank everyone who actively helped out during the ownership years. I used to spend a lot of time on this forum reading about the e53 platform and asking questions while trouble shooting with mine or just following others builds. I probably have more info in my head now about e53's than necessary... my fiancée would agree with that. From time to time I find myself jumping onto this forum just to see what y'all have going on, then over to autotrader, kijiji, or craigslist to see what e53's are for sale, lol.

I have not been active on this forum since around 2013-2014 which was when we sold our 2005 E53 4.4. I joined this forum back in 2008 when it was still called xoutpost.com!

Now, the story of our X5 - We purchased the X in 2007 and enjoyed it for several years. Although, it was a love hate relationship. It drove amazing, looked fantastic, and sounded great! The hate part of the relationship was mostly due to the reliability and maintenance up-keep. We did our best to care for the X and gave it the best in OEM parts/maintenance but it still kept asking for more attention, lol.

After selling the X I would still run into it from time to time with the new owners. It was exciting seeing it but also sad, as the new owners were not taking very good care of it. They sold the 19" Style 132's and threw on a set of "baller" wheels, lol. Fast forward to 2017/2018 I came across the for sale ad. It was in rough shape but still alright for the age and lack of care that had been provided. Fast forward again to 2021 and I get a text message from a friend with a 4.8is. He tells me he scored a sweet set of LED tail lights from an 05 4.4 (that I had installed in 2010/2011!) at the local junkyard.... I asked him a few details to find out if it could possibly be the same X and sure enough the description was matching up. I was able to get the VIN# and match to our old VIN to confirm the sad truth. It was indeed our old X5. Pictures below show how it sits now. I am glad at least some of the parts from it are being put to good use and even getting installed on a friends e53! I even gave him the OEM tail lights from it that I still had sitting in my basement, lol.

I will probably continue to pop in on the forum from time to time. It makes me happy seeing so many e53 enthusiasts still keeping them alive and going! I can remember a few users I saw on here frequently such as CmyX6go, LemansX5, Weasel, M5James, Motordavid, Sarb, Naz24, C4Racer.

I wish I had some pictures to share from when we owned it but they are probably lost on an old phone or computer. Here are the sad pictures from the junkyard:

[Effduration]

sorry to hear..thanks for sharing...

If it has a heated sport steering wheel...that would be a good grab..As would the OEM hitch if it has one...

[Fifty150hs]

Sorry to hear about that. Our rides are an age that most crash damage is going to "total" it. So, they end up in the junkyard. As you said, at least some of the parts are going to use.

[Henn28]

I do want those door cards. Love the blue/tan.