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bought a manual SUV to replace my manual SUV. E53 X5 6spd

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2K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  freedo84gti 
#1 ·
as some of you may know i have a 2001 X5 5spd with 247k miles on it. ive driven it 111k miles over the past 6.5years of daily driving, road trips and towing my drift car and it is getting tired. its gotten to the point where its just gotten too tired for me to want to dump any significant money into it. it has a some running issues, suspension issues and a massive power steering leak along with a bunch of other small things. so i put out a feeler looking to upgrade to a 6spd model and a friend managed to find this 2005 X5 6spd with 161k miles. interior is a 9/10, exterior is a 6.5/10. but its a sport model that was owned by the 1st owner and serviced at the bmw dealership for the first 138k miles. i am currently the 4th owner of it. mechanically the issues i have found so far is the tstat is bad (temp gauge fluctuated between 1/4-1/2 temp on the drive home), front suspension bushing and i suspect it has a small coolant leak somewhere. basically normal things for these at this mileage and things i have done on my old X5. it also needs a hood respray and has some small dents and then one significant dent above the drivers tail light and some rust in the tailgate that will probably need to be replaced at some point.

my current plans are to fix the mechanical issue, get atleast the dent above the tail light fixed and swap some of the good parts from my old X5 into this one before kicking the old one onto a new owner. all in all excited for the new tow/daily and will be updating this post as basically a ownership blog like my last one.

Untitled by tim wilson, on Flickr

Untitled by tim wilson, on Flickr

Untitled by tim wilson, on Flickr

Untitled by tim wilson, on Flickr

Untitled by tim wilson, on Flickr

Untitled by tim wilson, on Flickr

Untitled by tim wilson, on Flickr

still had the OG window sticker

Untitled by tim wilson, on Flickr

Untitled by tim wilson, on Flickr
 
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#3 ·
will probably get some sort of carplay installed at some point. the radio is unreadable due to dead pixels. but i agree. its modern enough to feel modern and nice but not so overly complicated. the sound system in this one is WAY louder than the one in my old one so im happy about that. my old one if i had the windows down and listened to a podcast i couldnt hear most of the time. now it will blow my ears out
 
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#16 ·
replaced the broken passenger door handle today and got my OEM bmw roof bars with working key in the mail. wife and I are going to start kayaking this summer and this was a needed thing

Untitled by tim wilson, on Flickr

also in july we are taking this and a 17ft camper on a road trip to michigan so thats going to be a fun adventure with the new rig
 
#9 ·
TheDarkEnergist said:
You son of a bitch.

I JUST posted in another thread about how having an E53 with the M54B30 and a stick would be such an awesome thing.

Nice work. And f**k you!
Click to expand...
do it. the 5spd was honestly great. its just a big AWD 5 series. the 5spd is a ZF box just like the ones in the e36/e39 just with a transfer case rear section. if you are comfortable working on bmws from this era its no problem. ive been left stranded 3 times in the 111k miles. first was the trans broke internally and got stuck in 2nd (managed to limp it to a buddies shop though), 2nds was the front driveshaft splines smoothed over which is apparantly common, had to get towed home for that, cut the old splines of and welded a new spline plug in that seats deeper in the transfer case and the 3rd time my 10k mile clutch broke but i have narrowed that down to the driveshaft had a seized u joint that caused a drive line vibration and it ****ed up the press in hub on the clutch disk.

hands down best vehicle i have ever purchased
 
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#4 ·
How funny - a 6-speed E53 popped up 10 minutes from me for a reasonable price ($5k) with low-ish miles I think, and I was telling myself that I needed it like I needed a hole in my head. The E70 never did it for me (plus they dropped the manual), so to replace yours with an LCI E53 is the right move.
 
#5 ·
i wish the e70 had a manual i hate the front end but id love one of the m57 diesels with a manual. with how cheap the euro E53 with the m57 and a manual its almost worth importing one when they hit the 25yr rule
 
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#7 ·
Nice! I like these a lot, every now and then one pops up on Craigslist, they always have insane miles on them which I guess is a good sign for the longevity of the car.

Do the E53s have HID adjuster issues like the E39s? I know there’s a lot shared between those two generations of car.
 
#10 ·
i honestly have no idea. my 01 has never given me problems if it is even equipped with that. the 05 i have had zero time to mess with it since i have been busy rushing my drift car back together
 
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#14 ·
hovercraft mode. finding more rust than I like to see. definitely lived its entire life in jersey. need to locate and replace the rear subframe at some point, it is crunchy. fortunately they arent too expensive and it shouldnt be too hard to remove with my lift. found as suspected the front lower arm bushings are shot and the rear upper arm bushings are gone. got those on order. it seems the rear bag swap between both cars should be a plug and play and possibly only require coding to get the module to talk to the computer, still havent figured that one out yet. also found out it has a bmw sirius xm radio module installed, dont know or care if the sirius works but the factory sound system is way louder than my old one which is nice as I can listen to podcasts with the windows down now. also have a new tstat as this one seems to be bad. it came with new rear brakes but the pads almost look brand new on there so im just gonna hold onto them for now.

Untitled by tim wilson, on Flickr
 
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#17 ·
Good stuff man.

Enjoyed watching you keep the other one alive, this one seems like a good example minus the exterior issues. In to keep up on this one's journey. Good luck. 🍺
 
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#18 ·
I really really wish I had the room to just keep the other one. legit best vehicle I have ever purchased. its just in such rough shape that i'll be lucky to get $1000 for it.
 
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