New member needs help from the xoutpost gurus on car purchase.

[123prestige]

Hi all,

As said above, im about to get behind the wheel of an x5,

Ive got a long list of previous cars, had many euros, but this will be my first

bmw.

Im based near Sydney, Australia,

times come to get the other half a new car, this ticks all the box's

for a all round euro 4wd, that can tow the boat when needed, suited

to going away for the weekend, and just a nice daily comfortable drive with

all the luxuries.

The X5 is selling for quite a bit more than from what ive seen most of the

guys on here are from the US. Your almost looking 18-25k for a decent

model.

Can be purchased cheaper but im looking for particular features, which

narrows it down alot....

Heres where the help comes in,

Ive been researching them for a few months but some things are still puzzling

me.

Im looking for X5 2004- 06.

Must be sports pack,

panoramic roof,

prefer heated seats,

Diesel

Prefer auto.

Looking to spend around the 20k mark on it, which is definately possible,

just taking me abit longer to find the one im after with specs and reasonable

kms (miles to all you guy)

Im after the newer updated front end e53 which seems to have the newer halo

style headlights, front bar which seems to be mesh, sidesteps arches etc.


Ill post up a few pics to get the idea of the model im after.

But all that aside, can you tell me what the differences are between
this model late 2004/06 (the model im after) and the model before which looks to go from 2001-2003/4?

Also im really leaning towards the diesel ive heard alot of good feedback

about them, also about the mileage from a tank of fuel amaze me for such a

large, heavy car. But quite a few same year 3.0 Petrol models have came up

with all the options that im after.
Is the petrol 3.0 a good car, or is the diesel much better?

Is it worth while waiting a bit longer for a diesel to come up over the 3.0 petrol?

Is the extra few thousand the diesels pull in Australia, worth it for the diesel?

Is the petrol 3.0 very thirsty, ive heard the 4.4L is, ive driven heavy
6 cylinders and they tend to have low mileage?

What kms or miles should you expect to get out of a 3.0 petrol & diesel engine, before having alot of hassles as some have been in 170,000kms -225,000kms (108,000miles - 140,000mile) mark?
Ive read the diesels can go when serviced properly and kept on top of
quite high in miles without problems.

What does the service history involve from say 170- 250,000km mark ( im talking major services)?

What makes the sports pack so, is it bolstered seats, gps, tv, panoramic roof, any other options?

What is there to look out for when buying, i know alot of the euros ive had in the past have little nicks that tend to go or are problematic, what are the x5's in the model im after?


I really appreciate your help, ive had some good reads on here looking at
some of the write-ups and forum members cars, im not going to just drop off with 1 post im looking forward to doing some of the diy mod write ups on here as well and hanging around...

HELP