BMW X5 4.4 - My first V8

BMW X5 4.4 - My first V8

Author
Discussion

andy.cowman

Original Poster:

41 posts

192 months

Saturday 22nd October 2016
quotequote all
I have never had a V8 before, apparently the old Rover V8 lump I had in a shed and talked about putting in my Defender doesn't count, so to remedy this situation I have done something quite stupid. I sold my rapid, frugal and newer 123d Coupe and today bought a 2005 X5 4.4.

This is madness as at the moment I have a 50mile a day commute but a decent chunk is on the M4 so hopefully it won't be to expensive. I also deployed some other 'logic' in that the 123d was newer and very low miles so was going to BMW for its services (expensive for them to spend 10 minutes chucking some oil in a tractor engine) and convinced myself that it was also not very useful as a car.

In reality I hurt my back and the Msport suspension is shocking, and I don't like the noise the little tractor made. I should note that they are still very good cars and pretty speedy.

Anyway on to the V8 search. I quickly narrowed down that it needed to be 2004 or newer as the X5 got a smarter engine setup (valvetronic and some clever electrics) which improve the efficiency and also the power. I also thought they looked better at the front end. I also decided I wanted the panoramic roof which was hard to find on cars for sale but after a few false starts one popped up on Autotrader this morning 30 miles from home so we went and got it.



Its a lovely grey colour with almost a blue tint, the interior is cream leather with deep almost black wooden nonsense and black dash. I also found it has a tray in the boot that comes out to make putting things in even easier!

It tried some rapid driving and it was very nice and fast, then I tried some casual to let my wife catch up in her old shogun sport (comedy car - its slow) and got home on 25mpg. Not bad and in my head means it can be affordable so I will switch that gauge off and assume it always does that



Edited by andy.cowman on Saturday 22 October 19:14


Edited by andy.cowman on Saturday 22 October 19:15

andy.cowman

Original Poster:

41 posts

192 months

Saturday 22nd October 2016
quotequote all
Poor photos from a the petrol station forecourt... will take better ones tomorrow





Took it out for a drive to let Katie (wife) have a go and she likes it a lot which is good news.

andy.cowman

Original Poster:

41 posts

192 months

Saturday 22nd October 2016
quotequote all
wow those photos didn't work. I have just discovered it has Bluetooth and managed to pair it and make a call!

andy.cowman

Original Poster:

41 posts

192 months

Monday 24th October 2016
quotequote all
Cheers for the comments on the car.

The big beast proved itself useful with some tip runs yesterday and this morning we hit the motorway to commute. Its very comfy which is ideal.

I really like tunnels again, I had gone off them in the diesel smile