Picking up a 4.6IS

[TerminatorX5]

hahaha, i get it - the SMOKEr package!!!! well, maybe in Europe it is, but we in the USA are all toopolitically correct and are trying to quit smoking, so the BMW does not put the extinguishers in our cars... same as warning triangles... first aid kits... rear fog lights... TV functions... aspheric mirrors... Drivers in the US are not well educated drivers, they might hurt themselves with something and then sue the manufacturer...

[kkodal78]

But the standard items such as leather, mirror options etc are a lot better back home in states. It is pain in the rear end to find everything you look for in one vehicle in UK. I did not know the upholstery seats, manual windows in rear were even options on BMWs till i cane over here to UK

[TerminatorX5]

BMW, like many other upscale manufacturers, has a certain US package, that includes leather, sunroof, donut tire, auto windows, locks, no small engines... They need to keep the money appeal, so when you order things a la carte, you need to add many things that are normally pre-packaged for the US.

I have a Diplomatic sales brochure for the X5 (more of a flyer, than a brochure), that specifies everything that you can stick in it, from cloth seats, to individual leather... The beauty of the dip sales that you can specify multi-country spec car... as long as the specs are not mutually exclusive, say in the US you can have red or amber tail lights, but in EU only amber, then your tail lights will be amber, in US you must have yellow in the front, so there will be a yellow reflector or amber turn signals... but you can stick other little things that the factory will allow...

Oh, and if that model is assembled in the host country, say from knock down kits, in China, or in Kaliningrad in Russia, your dip sale car will be assembled at the main plant in Germany, or South Carolina, or whatever main plant for that model is...

[TerminatorX5]

those are the specs of the car as it left the factory... there could be dealer and/or aftermarket things installed that are not noted there but it gives you a good reference point for RealOEM searches, when there are several similar parts for an application, dependent on a specific option installed or not - you can look it up and see what you have and which part to order.

the "iS" is a top of the line model,which had only couple options available - front heated seats were standard on US 8-cylinder models, and the "iS" added standard rear heated seats.
options at the time were: rear airbags, sliding loading floor, nav, some places TV, some places 20" rims were optional and the 19" were standard, RDC could be offered for some markets and not the others...

Some options that were normally installed by a dealer were also installable from the factory, like running boards (almost all Canadian orders had them), towing package, roof racks with the luggage compartment, there were also Individual options that had to be ordered through the Individual division of the BMW, and could be whatever was available... I also saw one unit that was military order, that had some US and Euro specs in the radio and something else...


While probably it is possible to have rear heated seats and not the fronts, chances are you have all 4 corners heated...

check for option S494A - heated front seats...

[kkodal78]

Front heated seats were included in IS but rears were optional in UK. Mine has them.Since i have carseats for my kids in the back seat i never used them. Rdc is standard on IS as well i think. Mine has the 20" staggered set up which i love and i think that was standard in UK as well.

[+49]

Cool i've been looking a while and i've a seen a few IS's without sunroof/sat nav/rear heated seats so i'm sure the options over the standard 4.6IS.Fairly sure they all 4.6is in UK seem to have tinted windows aswell.
S220A NIVEAUREGULIERUNG Self-levelling suspension
Does this mean AIR? I thought only the 4.8is came with this?

I could have had one with 75k on the clock for the same money but a call to BMW found it only had 4 BMW visits in 10 years..this car has 14 last was service was this time last year.I'd rather have a high maintained car with slightly higher miles than lower with suspect history.Well I hope that thinking works out on these x5's generally does on other cars i've owned!

I'll post pictures after picking it up!

S220A NIVEAUREGULIERUNG Self-levelling suspension

[TerminatorX5]

it should have the rear air suspension, EHC. the 4.8iS has EHC II, which is all 4 corners... again, with corrections to the country, it may be an option in the UK, was standard in the US on the 4.6iS...

[+49]

Just picked her up today.Things a beast!

Everything works fine,Needs a deep clean got alot of free moss kinda stuff round the windows and on the silver boards things.And leathers need a clean and feed.But its a clean motor one scuff on front bumper.

Only thing doesn't seem to work is the Type pressure monitor seems to be flashing up wen the car starts but figured this is just down to a sensor or some sort and nothing majour.Hope i'm rigth lol

Great thing is the car was adervertised with the wrong mileage! His wife put it on almost 10k less miles!Result

Handling is great was really throwing around it loves to make its tyres squeal wen corning hard.Engine sounds great but is a little quite for me on low revs and really want it alot louder.. I don't do alot of miles and have no family or kids just a 25 year old male lol.

Been reading into exhaust options before even purchasing see that x-pipes popular but then ppl say its too quite after a while..And straigth pipes too raspy loosing torque aswell..

I basically want a SL55 rumble at low rev's is this possible?

First thing i'll get this done this week.Is the Engine oil change for some silkolene full syn as I do with all my cars.But I want both the diff oil chagned and gearbox's by my mechanic.Is there any other small consumable part or gaskets i should order for him while he's at it? Just wanna protect the cars mechanicals as much as possible!

thanks guys

[PropellerHead]

I want, want, want this:

S358A KLIMAKOMFORT-FRONTSCHEIBE Climate comfort windscreen

I added that to the E39. Very nice.

Ohhhh.... is

S352A DOPPELVERGLASUNG Insulating double-glazing

What I think it is? That's the double thick, insulated glass on the doors and rear side windows if so. I added this to my E39 ab ten years ago. Freakin LOVE it.

Here's a blurry shot of the tell tale black strip across the twin panes:



Aaand here's a shot of a leeetle problem I had during the install. But you can see the black stripe around the whole window.

[TerminatorX5]

I am looking for a security film / tint, that will prevent the side window from shattering in pieces upon a break in, just like your double pane just shattered but did not send shards flying around... They install those in Latin America, for obvious reasons (my wife was held at a gun point once while driving the X5), and I was wondering if they do it in the US... quick search did not get me any local installers though...