Is an X5 an SAV or an SUV??!! Take a look!!

[pnoyako85]

wow..very good story Term.....heheh....its amazing how you can do that though..one day...ill be able too..lol.....

I am looking into purchasing a E53 in Philippines but still thinking onto which one i would get when i come there in January.....but for the price of the E53's over there ranging from $25-60k..its a little bit up there for the price...but definitely will be worth it for that country as it will last for a very long time....

2004 BMW X5 Face lifted 3 0d Philippines - 5339527
i would definitely change the flares back to Black as i dnt know what the owner was thinking and switch the wheels to 315's...

this one i would keep eerything except put 4.8is tips on the back.

2006 BMW X5 3.0 SAV "Best X5 in the Philippines" Philippines - 3462794

but this one seems to be good too..flares and HIDs and thats it.
Bmw X5 4.4 Philippines - 6021669

[TerminatorX5]

i would not have changed the flares on the diesel, they are HP bumper flares and keyed to the factory paint... but given the choice, I'd probably go with the 3.0i - purely by the looks, and spend the money on flares there - that car is newer, which is always better for maintenance... the diesel has rear airbags, no heated seats, no nav (are nav maps available for Phillipines? there were none for Latin america)...

As far as the stories go, there were plenty of adventures... lol...

once we had a very high rated official visiting the country and we were with the secret service advance people, i was driving our surveillance car, old, beaten ford Explorer with local plates, when we had to go to the presidential palace for a meeting... that was the moment when the local cabbies dicided to go on strikes against "gypsy" cabbies and they blocked the main roads... Now, you have to understand, the way roads are laid out in central valley where San Jose is located - they are like herring fishbone, main drag has side offshoot roads that are dead ends, and if you take a wrong turn, you will have to backtrack all the way to the main road to get to the next offshoot... very inconvenient...

So, here we are, 4 gringos and a Tico (our local hire) trying to get to the meeting and the roads are blocked... Stupid me, I get out of the car and walk closer to the car blocking the way, checking out to see if the Ford can jump the sidewalk... that set off a small chain reaction with the cabbies, who get agitated, one of them jumps into his car and moves it onto the sidewalk, effectively blocking the way, so I turn around and go back to our car and I see that my folks are all reaching for the weapons, as the mob behind my back started to follow me... I am totally ignorant of the situation I sparked, get in the car and then I see the cabbies closing in - I smile, wave at them and back out and go on a side road, where I did not need to go... i look like a Mexican, so the cab drivers probably thought that i was a gypsy cabby driving gringos, and that might have made them upset... lol... so, off to the side road I go, when I saw a street with wrong direction that was clear... that was the one that I took, dodging the oncoming traffic and the huge potholes... lol... Needless to say, we made it to the meeting, albeit the last block the guys had to cover on foot...

Gee, stupid me and the stupid things that sometimes I did.... lol...

[Helmuth]

Originally Posted by pnoyako85

wow..very good story Term.....heheh....its amazing how you can do that though..one day...ill be able too..lol.....

I am looking into purchasing a E53 in Philippines but still thinking onto which one i would get when i come there in January.....but for the price of the E53's over there ranging from $25-60k..its a little bit up there for the price...but definitely will be worth it for that country as it will last for a very long time....

2004 BMW X5 Face lifted 3 0d Philippines - 5339527
i would definitely change the flares back to Black as i dnt know what the owner was thinking and switch the wheels to 315's...

this one i would keep eerything except put 4.8is tips on the back.

2006 BMW X5 3.0 SAV "Best X5 in the Philippines" Philippines - 3462794

but this one seems to be good too..flares and HIDs and thats it.
Bmw X5 4.4 Philippines - 6021669

Stange prices you have there. Wouldn't it be cheaper to buy an X in US or Europe and ship it over? For my feeling your prices are 3 times the ones we have.

All the best

Helmuth

[TerminatorX5]

even if he buys the car in the US and ships it over (shipping will be no more than $2K, even less with ro-ro service), the local tax authorities will tax the life out of him officially, and who knows how much unofficially... In CR the tax is 100%, so the car that is $50K in the US would be $90K there... no wonder I was treated like royalty - only five 4.6iS for the entire country!!! lol...

[pnoyako85]

Term...is correct....the Tax is what they get you...in philippines...they value the car as brand new plus added tax to it.....and yes its 3x the price of these x5's there due to theyre saying its already been tax paid there............not unless you know anybody in the customs which instead of paying $10,000 for tax..you can brive them into sharing 3-5k on themselves...

[TerminatorX5]

BMW vs Jaguar

[Naz24]

Term, your stories are unbelievable....so awesome

[TerminatorX5]

Thank you Naz... Life is known to come up with the stuff that is totally unbelievable... Like people following you on the streets, like in the movies... lol...

I remember, when I was in Minsk, a few years ago, and as I left my hotel room in the morning, to go to work (I was there for only 5 days), I called the elevator, and since it took it too long to come to my floor, I just started walking down the stairs when I remembered that I forgot something in the room... As walked back up to my floor and into the hallway, there was a dude standing by my room door, obviously getting ready to enter, when he saw me... he stepped aside and started studying the wallpaper pattern on the wall next to my door, and slowly moved away sideways, studying the wall... I pretended that I did not see him (he was like 3 feet away from me), he pretended that he did not see me!!! That was so funny that either of could barely hold ourselves so not to burst into laughing!!!

those are the rules of engagement... hahahaha

[Naz24]

Originally Posted by TerminatorX5

Thank you Naz... Life is known to come up with the stuff that is totally unbelievable... Like people following you on the streets, like in the movies... lol...

I remember, when I was in Minsk, a few years ago, and as I left my hotel room in the morning, to go to work (I was there for only 5 days), I called the elevator, and since it took it too long to come to my floor, I just started walking down the stairs when I remembered that I forgot something in the room... As walked back up to my floor and into the hallway, there was a dude standing by my room door, obviously getting ready to enter, when he saw me... he stepped aside and started studying the wallpaper pattern on the wall next to my door, and slowly moved away sideways, studying the wall... I pretended that I did not see him (he was like 3 feet away from me), he pretended that he did not see me!!! That was so funny that either of could barely hold ourselves so not to burst into laughing!!!

those are the rules of engagement... hahahaha

Damn these are crazy... Nothing compared to my now LAME semester at sea stories...

[BMW-x5-48is]

Guys check out this video of the X5 going through some pretty deep water... I would think twice before doing this -- > http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=_NxrIEVzGNM