2012/13 X5 Diesel... what options to get/look for?

[crystalworks]

"Must have" options are definitely opinion from person to person. For me and my wife, must have HUD, complete cold weather package, comfort access, extended leather option, and rear sun shades. We would like to have active seats and cooled seating but could not find one with those other options. The extended leather option was the hardest to find and makes a HUGE difference in the luxury feel/look of the interior.

[ukrboy]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

"Must have" options are definitely opinion from person to person. For me and my wife, must have HUD, complete cold weather package, comfort access, extended leather option, and rear sun shades. We would like to have active seats and cooled seating but could not find one with those other options. The extended leather option was the hardest to find and makes a HUGE difference in the luxury feel/look of the interior.

Forgot about sunshades. Definitely a must for us. Had them on my previous 2012 and was able to find one with them again.

[Tominizer]

Ok, I'm in Canada. I don't know if things are different here versus the USA. I speculate they are.

What are comfort seats and is there a way to visually know them when you see them? I think I may have seen a set but I'm not sure. The darn vehicle got sold before I could get there and it looked good.

Extended leather...... once again, visually what does this look like ?


Yeah, I need to see if the VIN decoder works for me. That could come in handy and I totally forgot about it.

Anyone have a trailer hitch?? I had one on my 2001 (e53) and used it all the time for bike racks, towing cars on uhaul trailers, etc.

[crystalworks]

This is what the extended leather looks like. Might only be available with the nappa interior (ours is) and extends onto the doors as well. REALLY nice looking. I am pulling my E53 dash in the future to have it leather covered just because it makes my X5's interior look so cheap compared to the wife's e70.



This is exactly the interior in my wife's.

[Tominizer]

Extended leather looks really impressive. Thank you for the pictures. I have that on my 1999 750il. Haven't seen it yet on ANY of the e70 X5's I've seen....... Hmmmmmm.

[gatojurko]

Comfort seats are with braking back and more buttons on a seat. Ventilation and massage is on central console.

Here is only driver seat active! I have both, but I have no side view or top view option! Maximum are 7 buttons...but never seen! May be if car has one view option there is no passenger active seat!

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[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by Tominizer

Extended leather looks really impressive. Thank you for the pictures. I have that on my 1999 750il. Haven't seen it yet on ANY of the e70 X5's I've seen....... Hmmmmmm.

It's one of the harder options to find as I imagine it wasn't cheap and I'm sure most skipped spending the money there and went for other "functional" options. Really makes the interior a nice place to be though. We looked for 6 months before settling on the one we bought.

[CLS70]

My "must-have" options (BMW in general, not X5 specific):

1. Cold weather Package (I'm in Canada = Heated Seat (F+R) + Heated Steering Wheel) - this is a complete deal breaker
2. Comfort Seats [Got tired of the -hard- sport seats)
3. Hi-fi (or HK) Audio - it does make a lot of difference
4. Comfort Access

"Nice To Have"

5. HUD
6. Adaptive Steering

[ard]

1. A trailer hitch can be installed on any x5. I wouldnt be concrened with the lack of that option within your search


2. The comfort seats will come heated. (Dont think you can get comfrot seats that dont have at a minimum front seats heated.) You can add cold weather, which adds rear seats heated, steering wheel heated and (i think) headlight washers. Nice, but not a deal breaker IMO. Oh, comfort seats add adjustable heat distribution between seat and back. Standard seats dont have this adjustment

[Tominizer]

In talking to a few current owners who have been through a bit with the X5 diesel, they brought up a few things that I noted below. These are from others.... I can't take any credit for these things.......

• Watch out for mileage. Local low mileage city driven X5 diesels not the best to buy second hand. Better to get one that's been driven. Low mileage but with very worn buttons and seats, walk away as likely was driven only short distances which is brutal on these vehicles.
• Check the tail pipes. If loaded with soot, emmission gear is cooked, and negotiate that into the sale. But if you're planning on doing the emmission delete anyways, possible to score well here price wise as many owners dump them when they get the cost to fix this.
• Diesel is very reliable once sorted out. Delete all the emmissions stuff and likely have to due a suspension refresh. Otherwise these things are bulletproof once sorted.
• I was told that the E70 is a better diesel to get into than the next generation after. Next generation may be more user friendly but was not as well built...... and not worth the close to $10k+ premium in Canadian dollars to buy over an E70 (interesting)

Thsoe look like two different seats above. Which is what !??! I haven't ever seen the top one.