Interested in buying a 2004 X5? Pros? Cons?

NY98M3 · #1 07-06-2009, 09:51 PM

What should I be looking for on this truck? I currently own a E36 M3 and adding this to the collection for our family.

Is there any thing I should know about for this particular year that is good? Bad?

Any info would be appricated.

Thanks

D ROCK · #2 07-06-2009, 10:01 PM

Many improvements starting in 2004 cosmetic and mechanical. We bought ours CPO with extended warranty and it's been great! Aside from usual and common E53 issues that are well covered on this board we love our X. If we had to do it again, only change we would make is get a darker interior (we have sand), and I'd want to get the Sport package (my wife's car and she didn't care). I added our own upgrades including ipod connect, Sirius, OEM headrest monitors w/dvd player, and rims. Also, Panoramic sunroof looks cool but is actually a pain in everyday use. I'd prefer the regular sunroof because it's quieter when open and on the Pano, you need to open the entire sunshade to open the roof, and with 110+ degree heat and sun here in Vegas, opening the sunshade is deadly. Make sure you get one with warranty or has been fully serviced as we're finding out now even little things add up, even with our warranty. Good luck!

NY98M3 · #3 07-06-2009, 10:17 PM

Thanks for your help. The one we are looking at is actually a 2004 with the 19" rims from a 4.4i

Just wanted to know which models are better then others.

We are shopping for a white one but will settle on another color if the price is right.

What else can I look out for?

D ROCK · #4 07-06-2009, 11:19 PM

Well, there are basically only 3 models to choose from, depending on how sporty and fast you want to get and also how much money you want to spend. Although each year that goes by, prices go down for the good ol' E53. We have had ours for 2 years now and love it, but if we had to do it again, I would look for a 4.4. We chose the 3.0 for economy (my wife's car so she didn't really care about more power and speed and sport, etc) but the 4.4 actually gets similar mileage to the 3.0 with a huge bump in power. As far as everything else, interiors are identical with different cosmetic differences (wood, etc) and we don't feel like we're lacking anything in our 3.0. I love the looks of the 4.8, especially in Imola Red, but the wife thought it was too flashy, plus at the time the price jump to the 4.8 was pretty significant. I would go for a black or truffle interior as the leather is hard to keep clean with a light color. We also live in Vegas so cold weather package was unnecessary. We also do not have nav but I wished we'd gotten it to add the dvd/tv playback on it and better display for our ipod and sirius, not sure how the actual nav operation is but we use a portable Garmin anyways. Everything else is personal preference, sport package adds better steering wheel and suspension. There's a lot of E53's out there, just research exactly what you want and look, used ones seem to be taken care of pretty well by their owners. We also got ours in the Southwest region, as well as an X3 my mom bought because they're less beat up by the snow/rain/terrain of east coast. Ours had 25k miles when we bought it but looked brand new, that's one of the reasons we bought it. Good luck with your search!

killcrap · #5 07-07-2009, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D ROCK

Well, there are basically only 3 models to choose from, depending on how sporty and fast you want to get and also how much money you want to spend. Although each year that goes by, prices go down for the good ol' E53. We have had ours for 2 years now and love it, but if we had to do it again, I would look for a 4.4. We chose the 3.0 for economy (my wife's car so she didn't really care about more power and speed and sport, etc) but the 4.4 actually gets similar mileage to the 3.0 with a huge bump in power. As far as everything else, interiors are identical with different cosmetic differences (wood, etc) and we don't feel like we're lacking anything in our 3.0. I love the looks of the 4.8, especially in Imola Red, but the wife thought it was too flashy, plus at the time the price jump to the 4.8 was pretty significant. I would go for a black or truffle interior as the leather is hard to keep clean with a light color. We also live in Vegas so cold weather package was unnecessary. We also do not have nav but I wished we'd gotten it to add the dvd/tv playback on it and better display for our ipod and sirius, not sure how the actual nav operation is but we use a portable Garmin anyways. Everything else is personal preference, sport package adds better steering wheel and suspension. There's a lot of E53's out there, just research exactly what you want and look, used ones seem to be taken care of pretty well by their owners. We also got ours in the Southwest region, as well as an X3 my mom bought because they're less beat up by the snow/rain/terrain of east coast. Ours had 25k miles when we bought it but looked brand new, that's one of the reasons we bought it. Good luck with your search!

lol, 3.0 for economy? the 4.4 gets better gas milage than the 3.0. And the only difference maintance wise is 2 spark plugs, 1.5 quarts of oil. The 3.0 also has more engine problems than the 4.4, IMO, there should only be a 3.0d, 4.4i, 4.6is, and a 4.8is avaiable

dsm2925 · #6 07-07-2009, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by killcrap

lol, 3.0 for economy? the 4.4 gets better gas milage than the 3.0. And the only difference maintance wise is 2 spark plugs, 1.5 quarts of oil. The 3.0 also has more engine problems than the 4.4, IMO, there should only be a 3.0d, 4.4i, 4.6is, and a 4.8is avaiable

No its not just 2 spark plugs more and 1.5 quarts of oil more...

there are so many more things that can go wrong on a 4.4 then the 3.0..

i know quite a few BMW Service techs and they say 3.0 give so less headache.

2 fast examples.

1. air suspension (love to fail and throw error codes) Not cheap to fix...
2. alternator fix for a 4.4 is 2k (its water cooled) the 3.0 alternator is the same as any our car(not water cooled)

D ROCK · #7 07-07-2009, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by killcrap

lol, 3.0 for economy? the 4.4 gets better gas milage than the 3.0. And the only difference maintance wise is 2 spark plugs, 1.5 quarts of oil. The 3.0 also has more engine problems than the 4.4, IMO, there should only be a 3.0d, 4.4i, 4.6is, and a 4.8is avaiable

I know, I guess economy is a relative thing, but like I said, I wished I did more research before we bought even though we don't regret our 3.0. It is a sweet engine, and I'm amazed at how smooth it is at idle and that there's just enough power overall. I thought both models got similar economy, what's the real world mpg of the 4.4? According to our trip computer we're getting just under 17.

anerbe · #8 07-07-2009, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D ROCK

...Also, Panoramic sunroof looks cool but is actually a pain in everyday use. I'd prefer the regular sunroof because it's quieter when open and on the Pano, you need to open the entire sunshade to open the roof, and with 110+ degree heat and sun here in Vegas, opening the sunshade is deadly....

Hey D ROCK,

Actually, I think you can have the sunroof closely follow the sunshade when you open the pano roof. When everything is closed, double push the open, and the shade should start opening and then the sunroof will open not to long after. When the sunroof is open, simply push forward (close) on the button quickly to stop movement. I haven't tried this specifically, as I always let the shade open all the way, but in theory it shoudl work.

The double push open/close/vent has given me new appreciation for the pano roof. Before knowing this (learned from this forum), I was up in the air about the roof being worth it.

sprocket1200 · #9 07-06-2009, 11:18 PM

2004-2006 and you are good. 3.0 engine easier to work on...

check which oil filter your m3 uses as our e36 used the same as the X5 3.0. maybe spark plugs too...

kbruzzone · #10 07-07-2009, 12:07 AM

Just a couple of comments. I think that there are a couple of problems that seem to recur. Mine is a 2004 3.0 with the sport package

1. Valve cover gaskets seem to go. (Mine went at 55,000 miles)

2. Front outer CV boots crack and fail (mine went at 53,000 miles)

3. Alarm switch on front hood used to go off all the time. Easy fit as some people replace and other try to adjust the switch up so that it makes better contact with the hood
Do a search on this topic and you may find other 'common' problems.