XSeries-forum

So my 2005 E53 3.0d sport falls short of ULEZ compliance.

Ulez costs £650 yearly for each day of travel so I recon driving 2 to 3 days a week will cost me £1300 to £1900 yearly.

I was not planing on changing my car for another 2 to 3 years, just about enough time for which I am hoping bigger sized electric SUV's will hit the market. Only car so far that comes to mind is the KIA EV9 for next year ....

Mrs has just purchased a new car so rather than scrap her old ulez compliant Honda Jazz, I have kept it on the drive for now thinking I could insure and drive it as a second car which would offset the ULEZ cost of driving the X5. The Honda Jazz will cost about £600 for tax & insurance so also means I can drive it around for more days of the week and only using the x5 now and then or when I can avoid by the camera.

The other preferred option will be to look for another 'black' E53 X5 with 3.0 petrol which seems to be gold dust at the moment. At least I get £2k seed money from Sadiq.

Should I consider the E53 V8 engines or that may not be a good idea?. I hear they can be costly to maintain

if considering a V8 engine, how are similar aged Range Rover sports in comparison?

My knowledge is a bit patchy now. Is a V8 E53 compliant? If it is, that would probably be my choice, having owned one for some years. MPG in traffic though will be painful?. Increasing miles on mine started to produce oil leaks, the only reason i finally sold it

As for V8 LRs, for some years, they used BMW engines afaik, (may have been deisels though?), so the same problems, although LRs had a habit of letting water in while the oil was getting out. A good friend had RR Sport, nice car, i loved the interior at the time but i think theyre a monocoque body bolted to a ladder chassis which makes them very heavy and therefore thirsty.

I still have V8 envy so I'm provably biased.

3.0l petrol E53 was always judged to be the worst of the three engine options as best i can recall.

If you are looking at E53 size electric then the iX3 is probably the closest size wise. I looked at one before the i4 but with an X6 didn’t need two that size and the iX3 is RWD only for now.

I’m not sure that any 3.0i E53 (and they are very rare) or V8 version will meet the extended ULEZ requirements until well into the E70 model. For a diesel X5, I think you might be looking at the F15 versions.

Volvo, Kia (EV6), Ford (Mach E) are possibles.

The 3.0i certainly is compliant as well as the V8's. The Ulez is meant to be Euro 4 Upwards, yet the E53 Petrol engines are Euro 3 but coming up as compliant when you do a registration check on the TFL website.

Are all the E53 4.4, 4.6 & 4.8 engines V8's?. I will consider them as well.

I found that smaller cars affect my right knee hence preference for SUV's with at least the height and seating position of the X5.

I've had a look at a couple of cars on autotrader advertised as in in great condition but MOT history check paints a completely different picture.

You're right 4.4, 4.6, 4.8 fundamentally the same motor. I think the 4.6 and 4.8 were originally tweaked by Alpina