Wow Madison, ultra clean is right! Alpine White/Truffle is a seriously rare combo, and you have Sport and Premium packages from what I see, also rare to have both on the manual models!

Facelifted sports package in Alpine White was my dream when I looked for my X, but all I found were silver and gray across the country, none with Sport Package.

At 122k, the miles are higher but I'm sure you already know that the 3.0 will run forever with good maintenance (as your '01 showed, I knew I recognized the user name!), and with the manual trans you don't have to worry about catastrophic transmission failure like the other 90% of this forum! You mark the 47th registered manual owner, almost to 50 members in about a years time of this thread being active, nice job!

What RB said: ^^^ That's a nice machine. Love the interior color. Did you find that on eBay or????

+3! Holy sweet mother of Moses. That is one awesome addition to the three pedal club. Love the color and option combination. Truffle was at the top of my list. Looks super clean. You will love the drive home. I've driven across country a few times in a new ride and its the best.
122k on the odo is nothing. What did you pick up this gem for? (if you don't mind sharing) Congrates and good luck.

You guys are going to be mad at me. I paid less than $10,000!!!! I wasn't even shopping for a new car because I already have my 01 X5 that I love to death but when I found this color combo 6 speed in Alpine I pulled the trigger. My main worries for the long commute home is the cooling system because my guess is that its original but we will roll the dice and see what pans out. :thumbup:

shut the fuck up seriously? Less than 10, for a sport package equipped manual trans X5 (In my opinion ALL X5's with 3 pedals should be equipped with sport package!) I won't even begin to tell you that I paid $15,000 for mine in late 2011!


Even if the cooling system is original just drop the 600-800 bucks, replace all hoses, water pump, expansion tank etc, and then do all fluids and give an oil change and drive the hell out of it!

^ After seeing that car go for < $10K, I'm starting to think I should shop around :confused:

I drove an '01 5-speed yesterday at a stealership and loved it. Specifically, it's this one. It's the only manual trans E53 available in the state right now. I'm wondering about price. It seems good to me (already below NADA) and they're willing to come down a few hundred since it's been sitting on the lot for a while. Worth it? Or should I start searching nationally?

Also, while the car drove great overall, 2nd gear was a bit notchy / grindy. It never hesitated to go into gear, but I could feel it. Anyone else experienced that? If so, did you do anything to help correct it, or did you just live with it (hopefully not until synchro failure)?

One more question, can anything be done on these to improve clutch pedal or shifter feel? I know BMWs have some kind of a valve in the clutch line, supposedly for smoother engagement, but I've never liked that feature. My M3 has had it removed I believe. And I can't find anything as far as short shifters go, so I assume none exist currently. Could the shifter be rebuilt for a more precise feel?

Edit: Found some answers to both of those last two (CDV delete and fluid change or linkage adjustment), but input still appreciated.

DillionInCO:
No Xpert, but a cursory glance tells me it's non-sport, 17" wheels, (good for putting on dedicated snow tires in CO winters, but you may want some bigger wheels for summer/looks), base HVAC system and steering wheel, softer and maybe worn out base/non-sport suspension, etc.

That beige interior looks decent for its age, though that light color is not kid/dog/dirt friendly, imo.

Mileage is what it is: I would want as much history as I could get, number of previous owners, and a serious PPI by a knowledgeable BMW Indie...
My 50Cts.
GL, mD

PS: My 2nd gear has been a bit notchy/rubbery from about Day 2. Not missed shift, but the entire shift situ is a bit rubbery/vague. Compared to my Vette, my '01 X is like stirring a malt with a straw.

Yep, it's a base model with a few options: it definitely has the cold weather package, and some other things like sunroof, power passenger seat and premium sound. I actually much prefer the manual climate control, but I will miss some of the other options. Suspension didn't feel worn out at all when I drove it; in fact, I was pleasantly surprised at how nimble it felt. And I really want one with a sport package, but good luck finding one of those with a manual trans at a reasonable price. I unfortunately have a time constraint---I need to get something better for the winter within the next month or so---or else I'd just wait for the perfect one. My budget is < $10K so that also puts a damper on my search. I wasn't even planning to buy an X but after driving this one I'm sold.

Personally I love the tan interior...no kids or dogs at this point in my life, so it won't be quite so hard to keep clean. But even if I do get it dirty, I'm used to cleaning it every week or two as my M3 is dove gray / white :yikes:

Since it's a dealership, getting service history won't be easy. But for sure I would have it inspected by a BMW shop. I'm looking around for a good one now. Local BMW stealership wanted $260 for a PPI that wasn't all that detailed. I do know that it only had two owners and it's been in-state its entire life. And the first owner must have loved it, because they had it for 10 years.

Yeah c/d valve delete is a must. You can rebuild the shifter bushings and linkage ends etc, to firm things up. My shifter cup is on the loose side, so I added some high vescosity silicone lube the the junction of the plastic pivot ball and the cup. Helped for the moment. As far as a short shifter goes, no dice so far. I will be buying a SS kit from Schmiedmann and modifying it for my 6mt. My 2nd gear is the same way. I have become quite good with rev-matching to take it easy on it.

My 2nd has never been notchy, but I have less than half the mileage of the '01 you posted however. Wonder if the MT fluid has ever been changed? I changed mine shortly after I bought my '03 sport at 60k miles, and usually use an interval of 40k for manual trans fluid (about the same as diffs and transfer case). If its on old dirty fluid that might contribute to the notchiness.

CDV delete is a must, you can either drill out the stock valve or buy a replacement valve for 40 bucks, easy to install yourself, just flush the clutch/brakes when you are done with it.

Do you have to keep your search local? If you expand your horizons nationwide you may get more hits, I literally was searching for a Sport package manual transmission X5 for about 6 months nationwide, lost a few bids on some, until I got extremely lucky and found my X a little over an hour away in Yonkers, NY. I was specifically looking for low mileage, the newest model year I could find in my price range, manual trans obviously, Sport package, and no silver or beige.

Restricting your search to CO may have you waiting a while, there was a member recently (Bayerische E53) who had an '05 non-sport 6 speed Alpine White X5 which was fully resprayed, he put a ton of cosmetic work into the vehicle, and ended up selling it to CarMax for 10k. Maybe PM him and see if it's still on the lot there?

Search ebay, search craigslist (although I don't have luck there for cars), and search cars.com advanced search including transmission search, and the word "manual". You will still get a lot of listings with auto's bc most of the dealers are effing stupid putting manual trans (they don't think people are searching for a manual) but you will have to weed through listings to find a good one.

FWIW, that X has been on the market for almost a year if not more now, as I frequently search for manual transmission X5's just to see what other examples pop up, and distinctly remember this high mileage, base model '01 in Colorado. It looks clean, but I think you need to widen your search to get what you want (sport packages are out there!) patience is key.