Mucho Gracious!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you check what month your X3 was from? Mine is Dec 04 and has bluetooth.

It is a late 2003 build.

I installed a BMW hitch kit and I have to say that it was one of the easiest hitch installations I have ever done.

The only issues right now is a intermittent sticking passenger front door lock. Annoying.

Still looking for that bluetooth module. Will yours in you 04 model let you stream audio?

With my Blackberry I had incoming/outgoing calls, text message reader and directory search, all without touching the phone and on the navi screen. Now I have an iphone and it does the same, but without the ability to display text messages. No audio streaming I'm afraid.

Did you install the detachable hitch from BMW? It's my next job and I'm not sure about whether to go detachable or not...

Other posters in this thread are in North America. All hitches have a 2" square receiver here. The UK has the swan neck style, either detachable or not.

Congrats! Prepare for a rather boring experience in terms of repairs. Not much goes wrong with these things. I suggest pairing your X3 with an E53 X5 if you need to satisfy a need to fix things and chase problems.

I saw that on the "how to install a BMW Factory trailer hitch" guide/article on here but guessed it was an option rather than the US standard. It looks so much better than the swan neck thing in the UK. If I could get one of those US style 2" square receivers over here does anyone know would the UK trailer wiring socket (UK equivalent of picture 23) fit it in the exact same way? And also I see in photos 48 and 49 there is a silver U-haul connector type thingy between the trailer and the 2" square receiver. What's that called?

Thanks again.

I think you would end up either putting a US style plug on your trailer, or building a patch cord to adapt the US plug to the UK plug. The pins have different assignments (left turn, right turn, tail light, etc) but the concept is exactly the same. You would just have to wire it up.

That silver connector is called the trailer draw bar. The hitch has a 2" square receiver on the vehicle, and you insert a drawbar into that. It attaches with a heavy pin, which has a retaining clip on one end. When you remove the drawbar, you insert a blanking plug (one came with my hitch).

The drawbars are available here from BMW, or any trailer supply store. They come in different drops for different hitch ball heights. They have a hole in one end where the actual ball is attached. There are also different ball diameters (1.875", 2", 2.25", etc) Your Euro 50 mm ball is pretty close to a 2" ball. Not sure if anyone sells a 50 mm ball that bolts right on to a standard drawbar, but if so that would make it easier.

Welcome to the club ... here are a few easy DIYs for replacing filters and watch out for your washer pumps going bad! They're easy to fix though:

BMW X3 Cabin Air Filter Change DIY Guide

BMW X3 Washer Fluid Pump Replacement

I've had my 2006 for a few years and love it.