So, I bought an E70...
 

... but worry not, the 4.8is is not leaving this man's ownership anytime soon. :thumbup:

Bought a 2010 xdrive35d for the wife and daily/baby hauling duties. Should be nice to ease up some of the rapid accumulation of miles on the e53. Not that I mind that really, but the 16mpg around town is not my idea of a good time after forking out $100 at Sam's for just diapers, baby wipes, and formula. :rolleyes:

Anywho, wanted to get some feedback from owners who own both the e53/e70 or "upgraded" from the e53 to the e70. What are your thoughts regarding trouble areas, maintenance, etc. I'm sure much of it is standard BMW fare, but I still wanted to poll the collective wisdom of the forum as I'm completely new to the platform. So far we are impressed with the increased size, feel, and of course efficiency due to the diesel. 425ft lbs is awfully fun too, though that will soon be upgraded to 540 with a RaceChip box.

Here's the vehicle: 2010 Xdrive35d pre LCI picked up for $13069 (offered $14000 OTD from $13900 asking price) with 136,124 miles on it. Highish mileage yes, but diesel reliability, and cheap acquisition price made me overlook it. Also, it had some rare(ish) options courtesy of the original owner; nappa leather interior and fully leather wrapped dash board (this really adds a next level luxury air to the X). Has most options, cold weather, sport, tech. Only missing 3rd row seating, ventilated front seat, massaging driver's seat, and rear seat entertainment. Some body scratches and one big ding on the lower rear passenger door but overall nice enough shape for what we plan to do with it. Will add the chip, some 20" wheels, post LCI sport fender flares, and some other misc aesthetics and call it done. Oh, I will be cracking open the headlights to upgrade the halos as I did on the E53.

https://cdn04.carsforsale.com/3/1008.../854816499.jpg

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Our thoughts so far, it's definitely more comfortable to put the entire family in than the e53. The extra size is really apparent when dealing with 2 child seats (one forward, one rearward facing). The technology is obviously better with the CIC and I'm going to see what I can do to upgrade it to current CIC iDrive. Power lift gate is nice for sure for the 5'0" wife. HUD is awesome. Never thought I'd like that feature so much. We've put a bit over 100 miles on it in just under a week around town and are averaging 22mpg. Cost of diesel here is ~$0.10 cheaper than premium, the tank is ~2 gallons smaller, and the added 6mpg under normal circumstances means we will be saving money with the 35d over the e53 and even over the 2006 Mtech 3.0i X3 it is replacing that the wife has enjoyed. Actually, I should post a FS ad for that after re-upping my membership. One thing we don't like... it rides high compared to the 4.8is, and if we can't get used to it might lower it with springs. Also suspension related, we wish it had air ride as the E53 does. We use that ALL the time, which might be why it still works? LOL

But I digress. What say you brethren? Am I a fool? As always, thoughts, compliments, and derision welcome. :thumbup:

With chiping up u can get more than 300hp! Switch off dpf and uninstall cat! Chiping up must be correct! Weak points could be twin turbos!

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Which u have? US market?https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...a37cc71885.jpg

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Congrats! nice car, I don't know anything about the diesel engine in these cars but in general they are known to last, although there are few mechanics out there that really know how to work on them.

That tan interior is gonna be a challenge to keep it looking good with kids, I speak from experience ...
Other than that, looks pretty clean.
Enjoy your new car!

You got 16mpg out of your 4.8 and that's considered bad? Ha! The most I ever managed to get with my 4.6 was 14mpg, and that's with plenty of highway driving. Heck, even my 2000 540i Touring that weighs like 1000lbs less still gets around 15mpg. I do floor it just about everywhere though...

We bought a 35d a few weeks ago as well. I am familiar with the E70 platform, but new to diesels. Lots to learn, but as usual the board has been a great read.

Yes, US market M57. I think the Race Chip puts it up to 320hp and 540ft lb. Pretty stout. Supposed to increase fuel economy +1 or 2mpg as well.

Thanks. That's the answer I got from the owner at the shop I used to work at. They don't see much of them so aren't super familiar with them, but said they are supposed to be very reliable.

My wife likes to clean car interiors. ;) It'll stay fairly clean, I think.

Wowsers! LOL I think the worst I ever got out of the 4.8 was in Miami traffic and that was still 14+mpg. You definitely have a heavy foot. I rarely floor it, but definitely do every so often to blow the carbon off the valves. :thumbup:

I'll be talking to my local tuner (Tuning Tech - Frank Smith) for a possible 35d tune. I think his results were 305.3 (WHP) and 471.8 (ft-lbs). Great gains!

My thought exactly. I could barely managed 14mpg in the city on my little 3.0i. The computer says 16mpg average right now only because I've been doing lots of highways in the last few weeks :(

OP - Congrats on the new ride.

Hey bro - great pickup for the price! Looks nice and you will love the mpg -

We are averaging 25mpg with mixed driving, no complaints there as the weather is just starting to get warmer. My wife loves hers.

The 10's should still have CCC right? its a bit outdated but gets the job done. NBT can be retrofit but $$$

Do a nice tune on it and the deletes if you want - hopefully it was maintained well, I do fuel filter every 2nd or 3rd oil change (15k miles or so, I haven't decided whether to do a 5k interval for OCI or 7500)

Btw in case you were wondering I also use Rotella T6 in the 35D as it has the super low ash necessary for cars with a DPF :)

Very nice. Now get some sport wheels

Carly (was doing some coding on it the other day) says it has the CIC... I think it is a late production 2010 so??? It's definitely not the newest version of NBT though and it would be cool to upgrade to that. I'll give bimmerretrofit a call after selling the wife's X3.

The dealer I bought from had some maintenance records, oil service <500 miles ago and had recently done the common EGR failure replacement at his indy. He had been using it as his travel vehicle. In fact, the first time we contacted him we were told he's sorry but had decided to keep the truck. He called back 2 weeks later and said he'd pick up another as the heavy options on this one weren't all that important to him and he couldn't find another that was similarly optioned to sell us.

Will note that oil for the services. I'm thinking 6000 mile intervals which is about 1000 more than the 4.8is.

Sir, yes sir. :thumbup: As soon as the x3 goes. I had some new take off 20" 6 series wheels (373M) here lined up for the wife's X3 but those have the 72.56mm center bore so will not fit the e70. :( Going to list those on Ebay (or here) as they get really good money on Ebay.

^Machine the 373M's to the 74.1 bore and rock them - 6k is a good OCI, I will probably do 5k just because Rotella T6 is so cheap and great protection and then just do the fuel filter every 3rd -

If you got CIC system then that's good! Its really not bad the older CCC was pretty bad. If you pay for a FSC code from a seller on Ebay you can upgrade your maps for free too - I just did it and the FSC code cost me $18 and the seller sent me the download link for the new maps (have to use qty 4 of 8gb USB sticks to upload new map data) -

I'm doing 6,000m OCI on my M57 (Castrol Edge 5w-30 but I don't have a DPF), with a fuel filter every third change too. Not sure if the later M57 (M57TU2D30) have similar issues to the older ones (M57D30 and M57TUD30) but thermostats are a common failure point - use OEM only - and the engine breather needs checking/replacing, as if it blocks it can lead to turbo failure.

Everything else about the M57 is pretty much bullet-proof. ;)

The 373M's are only 20x8.5 and 20x9 so fitting a 315 in the rear wouldn't work... which I would definitely want to do. :cool: Wasn't a big deal on the X3, but an X5 NEEDS 315's or wider in the rear. < That's only my personal opinion of course.

Definitely have CIC after a quick google search (menu systems for each are obvious giveaway). So, I'll be looking into the map upgrade, but would also like some of the newer NBT functions so will still give bimmerretrofit a ring for more info.

Thanks for the info. Didn't realize fuel filters needed changing so frequently on the diesels. Will add that to the maintenance schedule. Is it basically the same process as a standard fuel bimmer? Also I haven't looked around for a DPF fill port... is that something the e70's use? I see others mentioning DPF delete.

Good! I had a moment of dread when I saw the name under this post. :wow:

Looks good! Sounds like it fits your needs perfectly.

Congrats! JJ.

Are you talking about urea fill port? for SCR (selective catalytic reduction) - There is an active tank under the accordion intake elbow and the passive tank is on the passenger side, its a square looking connection to fill the urea fluid -

And on diesels since you are burning oil and diesel fuel inherently does not clean like a petroleum fuel (try taking sticker residue off with diesel fuel as opposed to gas), the fuel filter is basically an oil filter - If you go by BMW's recommendation they won't change it for 30k miles, but they also will do 12k mile oil changes (originally when the 35D came out they had the CBS programmed to almost 15k but dropped that number to 12 after a few years in production) - I think the CBS programs every 3rd oil change to do fuel filter, which is wayyyyyyyy too long in my opinion.

However, you have phenomenal diesel fuel in Texas, usually like 45-50 cetane as opposed to the 40 cetane junk we get here (bare minimum), but I'd still change it earlier than 30k miles

I checked RealOEM and it looks like the M57TU2D30 (M57N2) doesn't use the same engine breather/oil separator as the M57D30 (M57) and the M57TUD30 (M57N) so that's one less item to worry about. Thermostat looks to be that same part, so keep an eye on that. Not sure if the E70 has the same BC diags as the E53 but if the KTEMP value isn't getting to at least 88C on trips, time for a new t'stat. At the age and miles on your new ride, there's probably a few years in it yet though. :thumbup:

Thanks for the tip on the Rotella. Just ordered 2 1 gal jugs from Amazon as they are sale for <$20 and I hate stepping foot in Wal-Mart. Not for any political reasons, but because the people there (at least at the ones near me) are not my type of crowd. Call me a snob, whatever. LOL :D

I will be doing another oil change in about 3000 miles. Going for a 5500-6000 mile OCI. Did the first at the dealer as I was pressed for time. HOLY CRAP! $280 OC... with a Def top-up. Wasn't ever notified of the Def servicing prior to the work but they said it's SOP when they do a diesel OC. :dunno:

Will be doing glow plugs and module plus some front bumper grille LEDs (we lost an OEM grille on the road due to debris). Going to wire them as I have done the DRL's on the E53. Fade on with unlock, then stay on with ignition.

Need to update with some pics as we added X6 style 597's and the wider fender flares to go with. Looks much better than the optioned 19's on our sports package (I think that was an option to remove 20's in favor of 19's).

Congratulations on new purchase!
My brother has had his 2010 X5 35d for about 2 years and it's been very reliable. He's not the car guy so I took care of some repairs:
I've replaced the equivalent of O2 sensor and BMW replaced turbo oil line under recall IIRC. That's about it other than maybe few little things.
I've considered it myself but I can't really seem myself getting rid of any of my cars at the moment.