The Elusive Manual E53

[bluejeansonfire]

2004 BMW X5 3.0 For sale

is this a good price? It seems really good to me, but.. i dunno, I'm in the market, but I don't have an established relationship with these things.

It looks perfectly good and priced entirely too low to make sense to me. Can someone who knows these things look over the post and let know if there's anything to look out for or anything that's obviously wrong?

[Jungerishere]

Seems to be good price. But why would you say the price is entirely too low to make sense to you? Because it is facelift and stick? I see deals on Craiglist all the time. You should check history (Carfax, etc.) first and if the history looks good then go and look at the car. From the photo, the car has temporary plates; maybe the seller is just flipping the car…? Get PPI (pre purchase inspection) done on the car. Cost anywhere from $100-200.

Originally Posted by bluejeansonfire

2004 BMW X5 3.0 For sale

is this a good price? It seems really good to me, but.. i dunno, I'm in the market, but I don't have an established relationship with these things.

It looks perfectly good and priced entirely too low to make sense to me. Can someone who knows these things look over the post and let know if there's anything to look out for or anything that's obviously wrong?

[Joshdub]

Initially it seems a bit low. But that thing has zero options.

[Ricky Bobby]

Looks clean and has Style 132s.

Probably priced low because the Latin broads in Miami don't drive a stick

Low miles, owned in the South, go check it out. With a different steering wheel and some minor exterior mods it would be sharp

[jdstrickland]

Originally Posted by bluejeansonfire

2004 BMW X5 3.0 For sale

is this a good price? It seems really good to me, but.. i dunno, I'm in the market, but I don't have an established relationship with these things.

It looks perfectly good and priced entirely too low to make sense to me. Can someone who knows these things look over the post and let know if there's anything to look out for or anything that's obviously wrong?

I did not look up this particular car, but I'm actively shopping for an X5, and my target is an '05. I'm finding that the Private Party value on Official Kelley Blue Book New Car and Used Car Prices and Values is pretty much in line with the price in the ad you posted.

The whole one-man's-treasure-is-another-man's-trash argument there is much to be said about the relative condition, but it is difficult to argue that a feature has no value just because you don't have it now and don't care about it. The Premium Package has value whether you appreciate it or not, so you need to plug it into KBB along with other features, and then you can arrive at a value from which you can negotiate the final price.

I appreciate the Jones that some of you get for the manual transmission, but this is a feature that deducts from the final value. The fact that you cannot find a car with a stick just proves the point that a stick is not desirable and that the price has to be dropped to attract a buyer. DON'T ARGUE AGAINST THE LOWER VALUE, especially if you are the buyer. Even if your Jones grows so long that you can put it into your ear, you need to mask your excitement and hem & haw about a lifetime of working another pedal and yanking on a lever. The professionals that know this sort of stuff say that the automatic is the preferred option, and the manual is a deduct from value. Back in the olden days, the automatic was an add to value if so equipped. Today, automatic is assumed and the manual is a deduct.

For the record, I am in the camp where the stick is an attractive option so I get it that what YOU and I prefer goes against the tide.

[cn90]

- From the car mfg standpoint, the automatic costs more to make simply because of the solenoids, clutch packs, and the computer to run the AT. The MT technology is old, just a whole bunch of gears, synchros and counter-shafts etc., therefore it is cheaper to make the MT.

- In the US, only 9% of the cars sold are MT.

- So, if you are looking for the joy of the stick, go for it. Bargain a little bit but don't push too much to anger the seller.

The listed price is good.

[bluejeansonfire]

I fell deeply in love... so now it's mine. Now to collect an IS interior. That gray interior, despite being in very good shape, is just such a poor color.

The engine compartment belongs to a brand new car. The lights (all of them) look like they underwent a failed restoration (goes completely unnoticed in the cl ad), I'm hopeful I can save them. Everything works great. The 132s have great tread michelins. Which x5 do style 132s belong to? Being pretty much a stripper, I don't think these 19s originally came on this thing. This thing doesnt even have heated seats nor panoramic sunroof. I didn't know facelift x5s came without big sunroofs.

Do the halogen lights steer? I can't tell.

Ok, now I feel like I lied about the entire everything is perfect thing. There's one thing that's kind of driving me insane. I noticed it about 30 minutes after buying the car. Not a dealbreaker by any means, I can crudely fix this very quickly. The mpg needle and the tach have a cluster swordfight with their asses. I have a picture I don't know how to post on this board of it idling at "4k"rpm and like 9mpg. It's actually idling low, but the tach is stuck. This happens with shocking frequency. I think this might be a manual facelift x5 thing, maybe a early year MPH US-only cluster issue. I googled but couldn't find anything about this.

[Ricky Bobby]

Did someone try to fix the cluster pixels and mess the needles up?

The gray interior is fine, if anything just update by wrapping the wood trim and putting a sport steering wheel in.

[bluejeansonfire]

Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby

Did someone try to fix the cluster pixels and mess the needles up?

The gray interior is fine, if anything just update by wrapping the wood trim and putting a sport steering wheel in.

I have no clue about what's going with my cluster.
this is it idling

Easy for you to say "gray is fine" from the perch of your perfect color combo e53.

It's not ok.

If it were ok, I'd toy with e46M gray seats... but... it's not ok. It's the greatest shortcoming of this truck.

The IS interiors are so sexy, though, i was looking at the prices the parts go for on here and it's a bit terrifying. I might need to find it in a yard.

[jdstrickland]

Originally Posted by bluejeansonfire

I have no clue about what's going with my cluster. this is it idling

Easy for you to say "gray is fine" from the perch of your perfect color combo e53.

It's not ok.

If it were ok, I'd toy with e46M gray seats... but... it's not ok. It's the greatest shortcoming of this truck.

The IS interiors are so sexy, though, i was looking at the prices the parts go for on here and it's a bit terrifying. I might need to find it in a yard.

The idle speed is a tad high, I think, and your panel is out of focus. I hate it when they make stuff out of focus. You can fix the idle speed easily enough, but the focus is a problem you will have forever. Sadly.


(Sorry, I must be a sick SOB...)