New X3 Owner

[Gmac90]

Just dropping in to say hi to everyone I have just bought myself a 2004 2.0D X3 SPORT with 60,000 on it for a steal at £6800 only needs one or two tiny cosmetic things such as rear wiper blade cap and the parcel shelf roller plastic handle is missing but I cant find one anywhere might need to be a bmw job. Not a single mark on her previous owners used it for the school run.... Well chuffed not too sure about the looks of wheels though they will do for now.

[X5Sport]

to the forum....

Richard

[pvr]

Welcome.

My dad's X3's rear wiper has gone through about 3 of those caps, they just fall off when you wash the car (just clipped over the wiper arm).

The Dutch dealers gives them out for free as all their customers seems to lose them and it just looks naff without it.

[AW8]

That seems a bit of a bargain.... Fwiw wheels look fine to me and I would advise against fitting bigger ones as your car not famous for a comfortable ride over potholes.

Have toyed with idea of an X3 myself in the past.

[Don Coffey]

Nice one,

Good price and 60k is nothing on that engine, should be a sound car for the future, I agree with AW8, stick with current wheels.

Oh, and welcome.

Don

[Lee4.8is]

Welcome & enjoy your new motor. 

[Gmac90]

Yeah I would just change the wheels to the standard 5 spoke ones I think they look better.  First things first though remove the deadly swirl flaps ...

[Gmac90]

Oh and thanks for the welcome... There dosent seem to be a lot of x3 owners on here

[jagr]

Good choice and best colour (same as mine).

I bought mine 6 months ago and apart from the rear wash pipe leaking into the car have had no problems.

On a good run I have seen 44mpg and locally average low 30's.

I have so far fitted mud flaps all-round, 18" Msport alloys, BMW Garmin satnav where the dash storage was.

I have a Witter detachable towbar to fit and am trying to decide whether to remap and remove swirl flaps.

As you say there aren't many X3 owners here so keep us updated with upgrades/fixes/tweaks etc.

[Gmac90]

Yeah I will keep you all updated with any problems and fixes I come across.. Ive heard mixed reactions to remapping some places quoting upto 20% better fuel economy but other people saying they dont notice any difference. The swirl flaps are only £20 from http://pmwltd.co.uk/ and they seem really good. 

[X5Sport]

Check you actually have swirl flaps.  The E53 version of the X5 doesn't and it's possible the X3 might not either.

Not seen the intake trunk for the X3, but it's worth checking the control rods are there just in case.

The X5 was only ever EU3 so didn't have them - despite reports saying otherwise - and several owners checked and never found them or the control gear fitted.

And......

Richard

[Gmac90]

found a part number for the missing roller blind handle 51473419534  £11 online

[Raj]

Congrats on a good purchase and welcome.

[Gmac90]

I know this may sound a bit stupid but can you check to see if it has swirl flaps just but removing the engine cover and see if the control rods are visible?

[X5Sport]

Yes.  The rods should be under the intake manifold.  A make-up mirror and torch is all you need to look for the evil things!

We have them on the 3 series with that engine, but not on the X5.