E53 X5 3.0is build thread – Schnitz

[Canadian_E53]

Hi everybody,

I wanted to start a “build thread” for my wife's car, as I’ve done a lot of work to it since purchasing it. We picked it up summer 2023 in Vancouver, BC before moving to Winnipeg, Manitoba. It's a 2003 E53 with the 3.0 M54 engine with the Titan Silver colour. We decided to go down this path since my parents owned an e46 with an m54 from brand new and they had put over 400 000kms on it with minimal issues...unfortunately for us that wasn't the case for our M54 ownership. As with any car under my wife's ownership, it had to have a name, and it was decided that "Schnitz" was appropriate.

We picked up the car in Vancouver about a week before moving and test drove it and everything seemed alright. When I looked at the car I noticed what seemed like a minor oil leak dripping beneath the pan up front. This was the day we picked it up, and the same day I bought that tilt deck trailer.


We bought it at around 170 000kms on the car, and it came with a set of summer tires on rims which still had plenty of life left on them. All in I think we paid around 5k CAD for the car. The paint was in very good condition compared to some other e53s we looked at that day, and the interior was in very good shape as well. A previous owner had updated the stereo system with a Bluetooth capable head unit which is a nice feature to have already been installed. Here are a couple of shots of the car cleaned up after it was home and some interior shots as well.