*The Official E53 Manual Transmission Registry Thread*

[kaptain]

Add me
03 X5 5speed 85000 ish miles.

I love it, I think half the fun comes from selecting the gear.

[Ricky Bobby]

It definitely is! In my opinion, the only way to drive haha.


Updated, maybe the mods will sticky this someday if I can get more info in the original post, maybe about the technical details of the 5-speed trans and the 6-speed trans.

[Technomage]

Sweet more people with this awesome car!

I have a '04 E53 Silver six-speed with a little over 101k. I'll post pic's later

[XVII]

2004 6 speed w/ 69k..



I wasn't able to find a manual X with the sports package so I added a set of sport seats from a wrecked E46, steering wheel is next!

[MINIz guy]

You have an X5 without a sunroof? Awesome! Do you happen to have automatic climate control or is it manual too?

[Ricky Bobby]

<3 those comfort seats!

were they straight plug and play with the seat heaters? I want a set of comfort seats so bad!

[XVII]

Yeah no sunroof or auto climate control, which I'm perfectly fine with after reading about all the problems with sunroofs and dead climate controls on here.

As far as the seats go, they're the sport seats and not the comfort seats. I can't comment on the seat heaters but they are 100% plug and play.

[95M3Gretchen_&_06X5Rolf]

Good to know my crazy search was not unique! I had Autotrader and BMWCCA alerts set for almost 2 years, searching for what seemed impossible (I wanted a 2006 (so that it would be as 'new' as possible), low miles (I targeted less than 70K), stock or nearly so (my M3 is the modded BMW, this one just needs to haul the family and remain reliable/comfortable/classy, etc) and had to have been taken good care of. I started with 100 miles within my zipcode, then 200, then 500, then nationwide.

Whenever Autotrader would bark an alert, I'd hope for pictures first - that let me weed out those advertising 'manual' when most were really steptronic - so in almost two years I only found 4 - one out West (too many miles on it), one down South (possible flood victim), one outside Chicago (sold before I could blink) and one outside Philly (pimped out, too many miles and looked heavily used)...then a few weeks ago I got an alert that seemed impossible; a 2006, stock, looked/smelled/drove like brand new (so said the dealer who took it in on a trade), only 28K miles!!!!! (WTF?). It was in Minneapolis but that didn't matter - I like to fly and drive! So I called the dealer that day, left a message, heard back the next morning, got the details, took our then current SUV to CarMax to get a quote and satisfy the wife, called the dealer back, put down a deposit and booked a flight. The next Saturday morning I flew from BWI (Baltimore) to Minneapolis, test drove a perfect X5 (seriously, it is as though this X5 was never driven, never eaten in, never smoked in, etc), bought it and drove 19 hours home (1200.2 miles) I remember the day I drove my M3 home from New Jersey and couldn't believe how perfect and stable it was at 140 - this X5 was just as perfect at 120 (ok, so I may have driven fast once or twice in those 1200 miles - but purely for research sake )

Now for the details (it gets even better); It was built in December 2005 as a BMW Executive Corporate car, was immediately exported to Germany (I assume it was assigned to an exec for two years) and only had 3500 miles put on it in those two years. Was serviced twice in that time at the BMW HQ in Munich and then was imported back to the US and sold as a new BMW. The new owner only put 9K miles on it in the next two years and then sold it to it's second owner, who only put 16000 miles on it in the next two years. He traded it for a new 135i at the dealer I bought it from. I checked with BMW of Minnetonka, where it was serviced - and it was given a green light at every service. Even better - the previous owner heard I was flying in and actually came to the dealer that day to meet me and answer any questions I might have - he appeared to be a very meticulous guy, probably recently retired and very nice to boot.

2006 X5 3.0i
silver / black
28K miles (has 29,400 now)
6 spd. stick
Premium pkg
Rear climate pkg
Bluetooth / BMW assist / mobile connect
front & rear obstacle detection
panoramic moon-roof
premium sound
full leather & comfort seats
auto day/night rear view and outside mirrors
(the previous owner even put in Weathertech mats and provided the originals as well - this car is SPOTLESS)

Scott / Baltimore

[Phr3d]

Agreed, that is quite a find, well worth the effort (we searched a while for ours, as well). Welcome!

[95M3Gretchen_&_06X5Rolf]

Thanks! I'm glad to have found this site - although Rolf shouldn't need anything for quite awhile, it appears that you guys have the lowdown on all things X. Over 12 years with Gretchen I've grown to love BMW inline 6's and hate BMW cooling systems. I asked Mike Miller (BMWCCA techtalk guy) about the X5 and although he warned that the only drawback of 3 series cars seems to have been carried over to the X5 and X3 (the cooling system), he admitted that the master techs he talks with have been surprised by few cooling system failures in Xs. I'm hoping that means I won't have to do the same preventative replacements that I do for Gretchen (new water pump & thermo every 60K, new hoses & belts every 90K and a one-time upgraded, all aluminum radiator).

Thanks again and thrilled to be here. I'll take a few pics when Rolf is clean again