Need some advice from the E53 owners...

[Kam850]

Hi all,

I spent the last couple days looking for "mods" for my X5. I figured if Im going to upgrade the radio, and Ill have to take half interior apart... I might as well do everything at the same time.

Mod list:
-upgrade radio
-install back up camera
-Msport seats
-Msport Steering wheel
-Msport Headliner
-PDC Retrofit (Maybe)
-Msport exterior trim (bumpers and arches, maybe with PDC)

Long story short I went to a few local junkyards and only managed to scoop up the black plastic trim pieces for the black headliner (msport). I figured Id take those so I don't have to paint mine since Ill probably re-do the headliner in my E53 since the panoramic panel material is sagging. Headliner from the car in the junkyard was already coming apart, so I didnt take that. I did pass on the "shadow line trim" that one X5 had. I figured since my X5 is all "paint and plastic" the shadow line trim would just look off on the car since its gloss black.

Found a few local people parting out a few X5s... the downside is that for the msport heated seats, the X5 specific heated Msport steering wheel (thats trashed and needs new buttons), PDC bumpers with msport "add ons"... in total... these guys are asking about $1300. Add another $250 to paint for the bumpers, and $200 for the new buttons from BMW for the steering wheel. The radio from AVIN (avant 4) is going to be around $700 - $750.... so in total this is close to $2500 for everything. Oh... and ill need brakes soon, so another $400 ish.

Obviously brakes will be done. Not sure if my car is even prewired to have PDC... (11/2005 with factory Nav, non dsp), if it is not... then Ill give up on those bumpers and I guess the exterior in general... and just focus on the interior. I genuinely thought this "build" would come out to be cheaper given the fact that the E53 chassis is old and unpopular. Im already way too deep into this X5... and now Im asking myself if its worth dumping another $3000 into this X5. I don't view cars as investments, but Iv had good luck with cars in the last 6-5 years. The X5 seems to be the opposite.

Also not sure how to talk these guys down for the parts... I just might pull the "Thats all I got with me" OR "No one is going to give you that much" card on them. Id be content with spending about half of what they said. Because again, I actually know for a fact... those cars have been sitting for about 5-6 months now.