I agree also that these are really special vehicles. About a week ago I went through a point where I was tired of little things going wrong with it and I was thinking about selling it before something big goes wrong. I'm used to toyotas so I was thinking about getting an older 4runner to replace it. (It's my girlfriends car) Toyotas almost never break and I've been working on them my whole life. But after reading the forums and getting a game plan to get it back in shape, we decided to keep it. It runs fine it just burns a lot of oil. What luxury awd suv has a manual other than these older X5s? And they look so cool. Subaru foresters are ugly and not as refined. The mercedes little suv looks cool but I don't think they have manuals. Anyway awesome vehicle and Im planning on keeping it for a long time.

My bad, it was a guess bc I know the wood trim lower steering wheel was an 01-02 only thing, you never posted what year so i guessed, I will correct!

And Riggo, the way I see it, a third of posts on here are about peoples auto trans's needing rebuild, clunking and blowing up etc, the fact that my trans will outlive my vehicle probably speaks volumes to me and thats why I will always drive a stick!

RickyBobby, for almost 20 yrs every car I drove after my very first car which was an automatic, has had a manual transmission. & the auto industry is rapidly killing off true three pedal manuals replacing them with these dual clutch multi wet plate systems (if thas the correct term). They are admittedly faster shifting than we humans could ever manage but they steal the joy of the connection between man and machine.

I only started driving an "automatic" again when I was no longer abl2 find a vehicle I'd enjoy driving with a manual transmission ��

My first post!
Manual x5 -01 from Sweden here.
For as long as I can remeber, getting overtaken by another car is the single worst thing with driving. Except when the car that is overtaking you is an e53 with fat rear tyres and those wierd looking exhaust pipes ;)

So last year my girlfriend started working an hour from our home I lended her the car I had then ( a old opel astra) so she did not have to use public transport.

I imidiatley started to look for another car to myself i places like the mazda rx8, that did not worked out at all.
Then I came to the conclusion that if I could go around i an x5 and bring joy to other drivers by overtaking them it would make me happy to :)

So now I´m an happy e53 owner doing my duty. I would´t say the e53 is the best car I ever had but it is the most diverse car I ever owned. I think there is not one section where the e53s performance is not other than excellet. And it´s a manual to;)

Take care!

Welcome, Degen. Add the details of your E53 to your signature and post a picture, so we can enjoy it, too!

Thank you and here are som pictures.https://kbvinq.by3301.livefilestore....002.jpg?psid=1
https://kbwr1w.bay.livefilestore.com...003.jpg?psid=1

Nice X! Welcome to the best thread, on the best X Series forum on the planet. Fun projects to come.

Degen I will post your name, welcome and awesome to see another European member here! I like your exhaust tips, are they just tips or did you put a full exhaust on yours?

And the Caddy 'pickup' conversion next to it is certainly a conversation starter .... Those look like a previous owner upgraded the 2001 [3.0L?] to wider 19 or 20" wheels, too.