Looks Like I'm coming back

[Denis O]

Having sold my X5 4.6 about 18 months ago I am now thinking about getting back into X5 ownership. This time for completely different reasons. The 4.6 was my miles muncher, up and down the motorways of our sceptered isle for around 12k miles a year. I now have an XKR for those duties and very nice it is to.

I have a house in Greece and currently use a 4.0 Disco 2 to drive down and back each year and use during the summer when we are visiting. It's a couple of thousand miles down and back and we probably add that much again whilst in Greece. Of course, outside of the UK, diesel is significantly cheaper than petrol so I'm thinking about an X5 3.0D Sport. It will also make the drive across Europe and back more comfortable and has enough oommph to tow our 19ft boat when we are away.

So what are the pros and cons of the diesel. I have only ever owned one diesel in my life and that was a 300tdi Disco. Having driven some of the later diesels, especially BMW's, they seem somewhat better than the 300tdi. The figures for the X5 seem reasonable and I'm guessing a re-map should help both performance and economy. Who is the re-map specialist?

I've heard that auto boxes can go bang between 60k and 100k. Is this the same issue as the standard "sealed for life" oil or is it specific to the diesel and weak components.

I also remember EGR issues and swirl flaps although I could be thinking of land rovers here.

Any help would be appreciated before I commit to spending my dosh.

Thanks

[pvr]

Welcome back

Re the diesel - I have one and I can honestly say that it does not sound / drive much different from a petrol version (to a degree and obviously nothing like the lovely sound of a V8). Performance wise, it is great. In the distant past we had a Discovery as well and it was a dog performance wise.

The swirlflaps - I think it is now conclusive that the diesels do NOT have it.

Auto box - I had my oil changed as the sump seal was leaking and funny enough, the box was smoother after that (no more lurch). Coincidence?

Jason on this board is the "map specialist", you can find details in the performance section.

Not sure what EGR is though.

[Sanj]

[quote=""pvr""]Not sure what EGR is though.[/quote]

Exhaust Gas Recirculation valve:

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1211&p=15448&hilit=breather#p15448

Easy to change and usually the more miles you have put on, the dirtier it gets...