New prospective buyer :)

[Paulpen]

Hi guy and girls

Great forum that you have here and such a vast amount of information too 

Having had my fair share of pratical and impratical 4x4's im getting to the point in life where I need something with a bit more comfort, looks and oomph !

Having had a CR-V, Shogun, Discovery 1, Discovery 2, Hilux Surf (amongst plenty of retro Japanses cars) im currently residing in a 1997 Landcruiser.

Whilst being bulletproof its certainly not the most exciting to drive or look at and its a bit of a bone shaker !

I did plan on looking towards Range Rovers (L322) and Landcruiser Amazons. Having a few friends with the former ive been put right off by the yearly expenditure and the lack of reliability and having test driven a Amazon it seems just the large to be pratical as a daily driver.

Hence why im now at the door of the X5 (E53). The seem to have the looks, the power, the comfort and the ability to two half sensible weight (needed when you own a early 90's Jap track car).

From reading all the info here im quite sure what im after although I may have made some errors in what im after so wondered if someone could glance the list and a few questions the help / redirect me

Im pretty sure im after a 4.6 or 4.8 auto in silver, gray or black with LPG. From what I understand a 4.6 will be prefacelift and the 4.8 facelift. Im not really sure what the differences between pre and post facelift are visually although ive read the list

Id like satnav and a rear parking camera in the future so am I correct in thinking that id need a model with the communications pack so I can upgrade it all at some point ?

Id also ideally like air con, heated electric seats and xenons but not sure if that was standard equipment on the 4.6 and 4.8 ?

Anyway ill stop there as noone likes a long newbie post and too many silly questions  :-[

Paul

[X5Sport]

Hello and

Nothing wrong with asking questions, or post length. 

Not a huge difference externally between the pre-facelift and facelifted versions.  The main ones being all clear headlights (no orange indicator reflectors) and a few other style tweaks.  The Satnav went from CD to DVD based and a larger screen.  Transmission wise the facelifted version has a 6-sp ZF gearbox and xdrive system.  I think both versions as top trim will have HID Xenons.  Heated seats were probably standard being the top trim too.  Climate control will be standard.

Air suspension all round is standard, and not very reliable - as owners on here will attest to!  Some owners have swapped to coil overs instead.

No doubt the owner/experts will be along with their input shortly.  There is a Buyers Guide on the Forum and it is well worth reading through.  Remember these cars have been out of production for almost 10 years now, and taking your time to find a good one will be worth it.

[Paulpen]

Thanks for the welcome

Am I correct in thinking then im better off getting the best car I can (pre or post) as parts can be swapped to make one into the other etc ?

With the satnav is one harder to upgrade over the other or is it simply down the the speed of the processing and the info on the disc ?

From looking at the L322 for a while im aware of the ZF gearbox and air suspension issues but most models have common problems (working at Honda for 13 years has shown me that).

The buyers guide and spec lists are very informative and helpful but taking infomation in from lists and long paragraphs is a bit of a weakness of mine

[X5Sport]

I would go for the 4.8is  It replaced the 4.6is at the facelift point.  Only the 4.4 went through.

[gmc15]

Here's an article about the engines in the 4.6 and 4.8, the 4.6 being Alpina derived and the 4.8 being based on the 550i

http://www.alpina-archive.com/?page_id=214

Both cracking cars though

[Horizon]

[quote="X5Sport"]
I would go for the 4.8is  It replaced the 4.6is at the facelift point.  Only the 4.4 went through.
[/quote]
I would go for the 4.8 too. If you've got a track car, and possibly a mechanic ? Coil overs would be the way to go if / when the air suspension goes iffy

[Insight G40]

Welcome.

The buyers guide on here is very useful, I found it really useful before I bought mine last May. I've got a diesel, never looked at petrol, but with near identical torque as the 4.8is would happily tow a car trailer.

I find the E53 very comfortable, and when driven in a spirited fashion it's quite easy to forget it weighs 2.2T.
To be honest my only grumble in the nine months of ownership is that a 56 plate BMW has a tape deck!

What's the track toy?

[Paulpen]

Going straight for the 4.8 would be great but its going to come down to budget at the end of the day - although saying that I can stay in the Toyota all year if thats what it takes to get the right X5

Nice little artical gmc15 - am I correct in assuming the M62 and N62 are both solid reliable lumps and both take LPG well ?. Odd question but from not knowing too much about German cars other than rear subframe pins and something about nikasil liners im rather in the dark  O:-)

Horizon - pretty much cracked it although the track car is only going to be running about 400bhp it will hopefully be lighter than the E53 !. I quite like the idea of keeping the air ideally as im assuning its the same as the L322 setup (airbag and compressor issues but lovely ride when its working) ?.

For the right car and the right price LPG is not a massive must as my diesel at the moment only gets low 20's to the gallon and I only do 10 miles a day generally so could get it converted in the future for a couple of thousand I imagine ?

Ideally id like a members car (most of my past vehicles have been) as like you say there is a traceable history and ive generally found that if someone is willing to join up and learn about their car they are more likely to maintain it too !

Insight - I expect I should be looking at diesel too but having never had a V8 its a massive itch that needs a good scratch !. Although I dont have any tapes anymore im still a CD man myself and have only just got into USB sticks so im quite behind the times myself 

As for the track toy - its a currently 5 year making project (mainly due to getting married, buying a house and taking up various hobbies along the way).
Its a import Nissan Silvia but with a UK front end - hard to explain but googling "onevia" will get you an idea. Went back to bare metal with custom metal wide arches and then a full respray. The 2.0 4 cylinder fully forged engine is currently being assembled wich will then be mated to a 300ZX gearbox. The rest of the car is the a mixture of varying Nissan parts to try and make it more user friendly but to also keep it very standard looking

[X5Sport]

Nikasil liners were never an issue on the E53, that affected an earlier version of the engine.

Both versions are good lumps but you do need to be aware of chain guide failure and valley pan gasket leaks.  Any sign of timing chain rattle and walk away.  It's major engine surgery and wallet venting!

The 4.6 ceased production in 2003.  If towing torque is what you need then the facelift 3.0d gives 218bhp and the same torque as the 4.8, just not the soundtrack!  It depends upon how determined to have a V8 you are.  They were £10k more to buy, but did come with a lot in terms of spec.

[Paulpen]

Thats cool - ive heard about the liners but never knew what models or engines it related to  :-[

Having been through slow auto diesels for over 7 years now its time for a change and the extra spec they all seem to have is the icing on the cake 

[X5Sport]

Understood, but just before you close that avenue out, just go try one.  Slow they aren't!  More than a few hot hatches were shown a clean pair of heels by an X5!  I can remember one such owner spluttering in horror when he found he'd been left for dead by an 'oil burner'  )

The latest generation ones such as the 40d, or M50d (twin and triple turbo 3.0D unit) are even more impressive.

[Paulpen]

Trying them is not the easiest thing though - common in the southwest they are not it seems 

[Insight G40]

[quote="Paulpen"]
Thats cool - ive heard about the liners but never knew what models or engines it related to  :-[

Having been through slow auto diesels for over 7 years now its time for a change and the extra spec they all seem to have is the icing on the cake 
[/quote]

The facelift diesel is definitely not slow, book figure 0-60 is quicker that a Mk1 Golf GTi even for the automatic.

[warsi]

My penny's worth...

Owned a E53 4.8 for a long time now and just bought a E70 40D (3.0D engine with twin turbos). Lovely in all respect but I do feel a very noticeable difference compared to 4.8 when setting off cold but once it gets going it moves very fast.

But in your case it all may well be fine if a v8 is not your current motor or the reference point.

[Paulpen]

Ill certainly try both if people with experience of the model advise so

Am I correct in thinking the 4.6 would have rear air and the 4.8 full air suspension ?  :-[