New to me, low mileage 1 owner, v pleased

[bascule]

Evening all..

Just picked up my first X5 - purchased privately from the guy who bought it new 14 years ago so I'm only the second owner..  only 83k from new, garaged all it's life, and he's just retired having sold his garage business, so if this is anything other than properly maintained there's no hope!

He was proper fussy, too.  It's a 3.0 diesel with a manual gearbox  , properly remapped (not a tuning box) to about 234brake, but other than that and HIDs she's very standard, and immaculate - interior also completely unmarked. FSH as you'd expect, he's just put new tyres on too.  Has the navigation but no bluetooth.
I have every paper from new, other that servicing/tyres/brakes there's been very little needed, though the turbo was replaced under warranty when it was about 2 years old. Oh and a new drivers door handle.




So far, I've done about 500 miles - no rattles, knocks or creaks whatsoever, she drives absolutely like new and pulls very nicely. (very pleased, after having a dog of an A6 quattro that has been a total moneypit!)  I've had two 3 series with the 3.0d in, one auto and one manual, and having had both am very pleased to find a manual X5!

Only one fault spotted so far - the spring loading on the rear wiper arm is poor, and doesn't contact the glass well even with a new blade - suspect a replacement is going to happen in short order. 

Plans - I have the 5m long leads on order for the installation of the parrot bluetooth (I'm always on call so this is essential for me) - that sounds like it'll be a pain to install though. I also need to locate a switched supply for the dashcam.

I also want to get the alloys re-lacquered - they aren't scratched or scabby at all, but the lacquer is starting to disappear and needs re-doing.  I quite like the 19s so they will stay.

Oh - and it has the heavy duty rubber floormats.  Ugh.  I will be wanting to source a nice set of quality grey carpet ones.

That's it for starters!  Hi all

Ben

[graemeX5]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

It sounds like you found quite a rare X5 as most were autos whether petrol or diesel, iirc X5Sport looked at getting one and the dealer wanted a £10k deposit before they would even order a manual car as the dealer was scared about being left with the car.

The car looks like it's been well looked after, and is it in the liight metallic green.the retro fits on the E53 are fairly easy in comparison to the later E70 version.

The parrot kit is probably easier and cheaper than a retro fit of the BMW comms and Bluetooth set up mostly down to their cost.

If looking for a switched live for a dash cam I think a members have piggybacked off the cigarette lighter socket in the centre console because I think that was a switched live. If you do a search on the subject you should find the posts on it.

For the wiper arm some members have stopped it over to the later E70 straight type, have a look on fleebay for this, or you could try to get a new spring for the old one.

Graeme

[lezmtaylor]

Lovely looking car, I found a switched live in the light adjacent to the interior mirror in the headlining, removed the light searched the wires with a meter.
Very handy, as no wires showing.
Lez

[AW8]

A good find an interesting thread.

Fwiw I agree re keeping the original wheels......then again I like to see cars looking original unless perhaps upgraded to mirror what a car might have looked like if differently optioned from new. Correct period accessories are fine to my eye too.

The rear wipers do go off a bit over time...a bent frame, weak spring or retainer clip are issues. If It were mine I might be tempted to allow that E70 arm cosmetic tweak or would source a newer arm.

[Waka]

Look a great car. Well done!

Re. the rear wiper, I found the one on my E53 did that occasionally, new wiper blade or not. My (cheap-ass!) 'fix' was to lube the hell out of the moving parts, especially the spring.

[bascule]

Thank you!  It wasn't cheap mind, but I'd rather pay over the odds for a good one with confidence than a newer one with less provenance.

I've ordered a new shape rear wiper arm today

She's going in to my mechanic on Monday for a once-over and an early MOT, and adjust the handbrake (works fine, just comes up a little high for my taste!)

[AW8]

The E53 handbrakes usually need adjusting every 10-20k. Worth a check prior to each MOT. A PITA to adjust with faffing around involved. Easy enough for those used to the set up which is common to BMW's of that era.

Might be worth getting breather swapped out to new unless evidence of same being done. There was a modified one one for replacing on the facelift cars I think. No idea re facelift.

I would expect a tidy well maintained car to be worth more than a scruffy & tired example.

[X5Sport]

What a great - and rare - find.  Enjoy it