Searching for X5 to replace my "ex five"
 

Deer killed my ex five now I need to find a replacement.

Insurance gave me a fair value, about $2000 less than I paid almost 7 years ago. Just about $300/year "rent". ($25/mo). That is"A OK".

Anyhow I will add a couple G to get a slightly newer and odometer reset but if anybody sees a good deal please let me know.

I need rear air suspension, open to any motor, 2004 oldest, 150k miles or less.

Missed out on 2004 127k miles with n62 and air suspension, sold for $3000 auction damn.

Anybody near Indianapolis? There is a promising option there: loaded and I think 08 but more miles and dollars than I'm hoping for. It would be awesome if an X5 fan could check it out before I drive 5 hours on the hope I'll come back with a car.

Oh bummer! They're pretty common out here on the Front Range of Colorado. If you need help checking one out in Co Spgs, I'm happy to help. I know logistics would become an issue this far away, but... you never know what can be worked out.

Are you set on an E53, or would you also consider an E70?

AM.

Time to widen your choices by considering an E70 as well (same engine N62)?

Oh fudge! That's sucks!

Any pictures of the wreck and the deer-jerky left overs?

I'm open to at least 10-13 hr drive home if I can get an xo buddy to test drive a car for me and I can one way fly out. I bought wife's first X5 ) also her first ex five) on my way home from Arizona in 2015.

The 08 in Indianapolis has adaptive drive I will definitely pay more for it.

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I could have fixed for $1200 but with 205,000 mi and plenty of work in the queue I decided to take the money and run.

Looks like that tray was a permanent part of the vehicle... Is that in case you hit a deer so you have a convenient way of bringing it home?

Try and salvage the trailer hitch and wiring/module..

Texas is kinda far away. Craigslist has a few. I would almost sell mine. It needs some work done. I like it as a daily driver. Gets me and wifey around easily. A full size Ram is no easy task to park all the time around town. Parking spots are too short or not wide enough. :angryfire

Bought the hitch rack at harbor freight. They are usually $120 but I got for $80 plus tax when they were on sale and added 20% off coupon.

Sadly I was out of town when they came to tow I didn't have the opportunity to snag the hitch but I did keep my brand new snow tires I put on a couple months earlier. They were worth more.

Doesn't look TOO bad. Did you ask your insurance how much it is to "buy it back" if that's an option for you? Thanks for posting the pics. Really gives a good perspective.

You have better eyes than me but this looks like the damage:
-Driver headlight
-Front bumper cover
-Hood -- possibly repair?
-Paint -- black is pretty easy to match if it has no flake in it and maybe do paint correction on rest of care too

How is the undercarriage? I don't imagine your subframe being hurt too bad.

Good luck with your search Andrew. Will keep an eye out. As mentioned, there are a few in the Austin, San Antonio, and Houston.

Yours has been recycled already :wow:

The structure that holds the radiator and bumper was bent. I would have just un-bent not replaced if I were to repair it.

If not for the fact the engine was on all original seals (VGC, OPG, OFHG) and my very limited time I'd have kept the car they gave me a very generous offer to keep the car.

It would have cost me about $1200 to repair. It didn't need a lot of parts other than I would have to buy both headlights they don't come individually.

Well I hope you get a replacement so that you can still be an active member to the board.

Maybe look into getting an E83 to join me over in the X3 parts of the forums too? :D

Wife owns '12 e70 50i and I vowed when I bought my e53 7 years ago I'm done deciding which car I will by. Like Einstein and his only one suit, I don't ever have to waste any energy trying to figure out what model car to buy it's just a matter of *which* X5.

I have an appointment to look at an 08 3.0si that already had it's OFHG changed last year and a new battery this past spring. If I don't get any bad vibes from the test drive and code scan it's a done deal.

This may be promising? Would likely need a good detailing from the looks of the kids car seats!


https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/d...426053942.html

If your going into the E70 Id recommend getting the facelift model. Its a LOT nicer.


I love my 2013. I couldnt deal with the idrive stereo and all in the older e70's.


Its way nicer.


I cant remember what the earliest year of that is but its around 2010 I think.


The turbo 6 is a BLAST to drive.

About 07-8 is newest my budget will handle. Quite surprised to have found an 08 that may be possible to work into the program.

I've driven the 35i but only after buying the 50i. (wife's car). The one I'm looking at tomorrow is 3.0si which is enough for me I'm used to my 3.0i and this will be 20% bump in HP that'll be enough to notice but still get the blast of fun difference when I drive wife's 50i.

The key to picking the car I'm looking at is adaptive drive which is nearly impossible to find on a used X5.

IT's a ways away, but.....

https://fortcollins.craigslist.org/c...419487402.html

That's a beauty.


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Have you driven a 3.0si?

It's technically more powerful, but doesn't have the sloppy torque converter that they used to make the 3.0i feel a lot more powerful than it really was. You may be disappointed.

That's an interesting bit of feedback. I have not driven 3.0si yet but I will tomorrow.

The acceleration numbers are higher and with the extra cog in the gearbox I'm hoping for better 60-80 performance more than butt dynamometer performance.

I'm a bigger fan of more evenly applied torque than peak acceleration. Driving the 50i, I usual start at ¹/₃ throttle until it shifts into second before I drop the throttle to ¹/₂ and push off at a solid ¹/₃ g for as long as I feel like it.

It'll definitely be better at highway speeds, where you really feel the M54's (lack) of power.

It's off the line and low speeds where the high stall speed on the torque converter really livens things up.

I will be very interested to see the difference and the only real time I feel wanting for power on the m54 was passing or top speed. I will be ok with less off the line vs. passing power. I will also know right away.

That was helpful feedback about the 30si.

I test drove the '08 and that almost could not have gone worse. Three engine sounded bad like bad bearing on alternator. Ran ok but as suggested it felt very sluggish compared to my '01.

Worse: transfer case internal fault! 4x4 abs/brake/DSC lights! Are you kidding me!??

So that was a total bust.

However:

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2011 35i.

Test drove. Smoothest quietest engine on a used car I've ever tested. Clean like new inside ran like a top. More miles than I hoped but TEN YEARS Newer than my '01 it will replace! There needed to be a trade off (miles) to get remotely close to my budget. (had to borrow an extra $2k to cover the $2700 difference in price)

The power boost is much appreciated. Not insane like wife's 50i but definitely enough to toss the car around and get where you want in typical traffic. Partly due to the 8 speed transmission.

Money no object I'd look a little harder and get a 35d. Good chance that will be the next update for wife or me.

61,000 mile rewind on the odometer is about five years for me.

Pick it up on the 12th.

That 8 speed transmission is awesome isnt it :)


Always the perfect gear all the time.


I did tunes on mine and it flat out flies. All the power I want all the time.

I was surprised how many of the options that would of required coding in the e53 you can set in the idrive on the fly. Door locking etc can be set inside there without having to code anything. The angel eyes are very bright too since it uses what would of been the high beam lights to drive the angel eyes.


Does it have the steering wheel heater? I use that one all the time too.

Yeah. The 3.0si looks good on paper, but it just doesn't have it.

Glad you found a solid option. We all know that mileage is less important than condition on these. :)

I will be following up with you on tuning once I have it.


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Find out when the water pump was changed if you can thru bmw carfax (sometimes its on there) if you cant find out then plan on replacing it. Thats the only thing I dont like about them is the electric water pump. Mines still on the factory one at 80k miles. I have a new one still in the box I keep in the hatch area. Going to change it "one of these days" :)


Last but not least get a p3 gauge.


https://www.p3cars.com/bmw/


Its what the car should of had from the factory. Everyone that see's it goes nuts over it. I kind of take it for granted since Ive had it so long. I leave it set to showing water temp.


I shot a video of it in action here :


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFpu8ODQFgI


The cruise control is cool on these too. It uses the brakes to maintain speed and the led shooting around the outside of the speedometer is cool.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp5xUPSXre4

My M54 other than oil leaking was a perfect running engine up to 205k mi. I don't have enough info on the longevity on the N55 but as mentioned never test drove any car ever (dozens) where the engine started and idled and drove as smooth.

Pulling codes there were a couple in sub systems like something to do with back seat lighting: enough to know the dealer didn't just clear the codes and no red flag like being disabled but the TC has oil wear code so I already ordered the new fkuid and plugs. I've done that fill job on 08 328xi.

While I'm down there I'll figure out where the emergency neutral screw is so I can drill a small hole and have access to that in case of emergency without removing the main underbody panel!

Once I know that info I will share with the E70 group so they can just measure X,Y and drill a hole to copy me.

I have a special method to make such an access hole don't want to spoil the surprise so I'll wait until I do it when I make my thread

The N55 is definitely less reliable than the M54. But N55s are cheap and plentiful and work well with an automatic. (The N55 is one of my top least favorite engines paired with a manual.)

This isn't a common issue, but if you ever have bizarre coolant loss / leaking at the back of the motor, I've seen the rear passenger head bolt back out. (Not strip out like an overheated M54. Just literally unscrew itself.)

From my experiences and from what Ive seen others have problems with the n55 seems to be the more reliable engine. I was writing a big long post of the problems Ive personally fixed on the n54's and stuff but Im just going to leave it as in my opinion a when not modified to produce a ton more power the n55 is the more reliable engine.

I haven't monitored E70 thread nearly as much as E53 so I may have just missed but other than the water pump and the belt ingestion concern I really haven't seen much to worry about. I do want to see 200-230k mi. with this car to get 6-7 years out of it like my 01.

Andrew, you won't be disappointed with that N55. I've already put 20,000 miles on mine in the last 11 months and it has performed beautifully. Ample power (can't tell you how many times I've been in triple digits passing), amazing fuel economy, and a nice intake growl. Not a drop of oil consumed or any coolant lost.


The 8 speed plays a big role in that performance and I have yet to encounter a situation when it didn't seem to match the ratio perfectly to the throttle demand. Now being the ZF though instead of the GM 5L40-E, I will perform their recommended fluid changes.

Congrats Andrew! Looks like a peach.

In my experience, admittedly none yet with the N55, all BMW engines are fairly reliable when maintained properly and preventative work is done. Doing that will cost more money/time on some engines than others (I'm looking at you BMW V8s and S motors), but all are fairly reliable. Again that's IME.

I was referencing the old M54 in our X5s, not the N54. The N54 is a tougher engine for big power, but it's definitely a crankier bastard compared to the N55 for daily use.

(I will note that I think the N54 drives better with a manual, but that's not relevant here.)

I thought you posted that the N55 was less reliable than the N54.


But you said M54.

Yeah, I figured. :)

Searching for X5 to replace my "ex five"
 

I remember you posted an amazing mpg. I was thinking you have a newer model of the motor helping with the mpg.

Advice on best speed / RPM for best mpg highway?

I will also change the xm fluid on spec do you know that that is?

I know with my E70's city mpg SUCKS. Highway rocks. I get close to 29 mpg on long interstate drives at times. When I stay in town and have to stay at 30mph and such it gets 13 mpg mostly. But Im normally making runs to jack's for breakfast so that includes a bunch of sitting in line at the drive thru.


The best E53 mpg my wife and I have seen was 21 mpg from back in the day when she worked and drove 30 miles one way to work highway mileage.

Searching for X5 to replace my "ex five"
 

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Mission accomplished. Picked up today!

Just shy of 11 hour trip to drive down and get it.

Achieved 24.5 mpg with cruise set at 80-85 most of the trip. Avg speed 69.5. That's amazing and noteworthy.

In perspective: my 3.0i would usually cost 21¢/mile for fuel. This worked out to 13.958¢. 14/21=0.667 the cost I'm used to paying per mile. To be fair id have probably gotten 19.5 with BMWЯ₁ but that still works out to 17.2¢

17.2/14=1.229 or 23% more per mile

Congrats! Hopefully you pointed everything wrong with it and got a good deal from the dealer!

Nice truck Andrew. I hope this doesn't mean we're going to lose you on the e53 board!

About $2000 off appraisal. Has a pretty ugly "backed into a pole" scar. Other than that the car is in amazing shape.

The first four hours was an absolute Joy. The passing power is plenty to get me in trouble. As srmmmm said, right foot to pass a couple cars and before you know it triple digits.

I post wherever I see interesting discussion. Plus I for sure know more about e53.

Congratulations Andrew!!

You should have a venison steak to celebrate...[emoji6]

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Funny except you may have forgotten that the deer hat to be disposed of.

My dad likely has some v steak though so maybe I'll get some from him.

Also I have to go meet up with the guy who's responsible (deer was headed to food I'm this guy Mike's back yard). I told him I'll be in touch once I resolve the car crash.

Looks great Andrew! Enjoy!

Awesome find, Andrew! Congrats!

Great looking X, Andrew! Persistence has paid off! Love the color. Space Gray?

Talking about the N55, is anyone having the walnut blasting done on their intake? I have read the the DI on the newer motors causes considerable build up? My wife is looking at X6's and I am looking for a car with the N55.

I never buy an auto without looking under the hood! The condition and cleanliness tells me how well the previous owner took care of it. So........what does it look like? :popcorn:

Good luck with it. We are still prejudice the E53 looks better. :bustingup

Engine looks very good. It has some dust film and will get a good cleaning but more importantly it is the smoothest running engine I've ever test drove.

I'd rather buy a car with the engine coated in a layer of dust to show some history than one where the dealer pressure washed it and hid any signs of problems.

Once the engine warms up it almost sounds like an electric motor no longer can hear and clicks and taps from the timing gear just a constant wishhh or whirrr of the accessories on the serpentine belt.

Also it pulls flawlessly from 0-100+. The passing performance feels a lot like wife's 50i (though her engine just snickers when you accelerate quick from 60-90 this one is clearly working).


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Short answer, you need it. Even at 35k, there was considerable blockage on the one that I looked at.

Space-grau Metallic (A52)

I like the color a lot. I really like that it's a fairly rare color I don't see a lot of x5 in this color.

I have an n54 e60. Also needs WB every 50k or sooner. I do it myself. Pretty easy. To buy all the stuff you need to do it, about 400 bucks.