The £1200 facelift E53 X5 - Bargain barge or utter bork?
Discussion
Well, here goes nothing.. again. From a previous fleet of a well documented on here “£10k in 10 Months” V10 RS6 ownership, many Subarus, and some other interesting ones in between, I thought I would punish myself more by buying one of the cheapest Facelift E53 X5’s in the UK and seeing how s
t it was.
So it's a 2005 3.0 diesel, just shy of 140k on the clock. Few owners and huge spec from new.
The criteria - to use as a cheap runner, that I can leave sitting for 2 weeks when I am on shift and away from home, and allows a nice toy to be added to the stable next year.. more on that in a few months (I hope!)
Over the next few posts, I will document the last 6 months of ownership, up until now. Hopefully the info will help anyone deciding if buying a potentially ruinous E53 is the way to go.
Purchase
Got a call, relative of a friend wanting to offload their X5 to WBAC but they wouldn’t give a decent offer as it had a short MOT. All i knew was 140k on the clock, needed ‘some suspension work’ and that was about it. I knew the two last owners, so known the car for 5 years. Offer was made over the phone, and it came home that night. Didn’t have a clue what I was letting myself in for. Drove it home, and here it is, dirt and all.
At the same time, I had a Subaru Legacy Spec B 3.0 Flat 6, a car i had bought the previous year. Decided I would get an MOT on the X5, list them both, and see what one sold first and that would decide the one to keep. Well, accepting an offer on the Spec B before it was even advertised properly made that decision quite clear. Up on stands it goes, ready to assess.
More to follow…
t it was.So it's a 2005 3.0 diesel, just shy of 140k on the clock. Few owners and huge spec from new.
The criteria - to use as a cheap runner, that I can leave sitting for 2 weeks when I am on shift and away from home, and allows a nice toy to be added to the stable next year.. more on that in a few months (I hope!)
Over the next few posts, I will document the last 6 months of ownership, up until now. Hopefully the info will help anyone deciding if buying a potentially ruinous E53 is the way to go.
Purchase
Got a call, relative of a friend wanting to offload their X5 to WBAC but they wouldn’t give a decent offer as it had a short MOT. All i knew was 140k on the clock, needed ‘some suspension work’ and that was about it. I knew the two last owners, so known the car for 5 years. Offer was made over the phone, and it came home that night. Didn’t have a clue what I was letting myself in for. Drove it home, and here it is, dirt and all.
At the same time, I had a Subaru Legacy Spec B 3.0 Flat 6, a car i had bought the previous year. Decided I would get an MOT on the X5, list them both, and see what one sold first and that would decide the one to keep. Well, accepting an offer on the Spec B before it was even advertised properly made that decision quite clear. Up on stands it goes, ready to assess.
More to follow…
Edited by adafr on Sunday 13th December 15:40
Well, where to start. What have i done!
The list of things to get it through its MOT -
Mechanical -
4x Tyres
OSF/NSF track rod ends
Inner track rods (Rods seized, easier to change out the full lot)
Wheel alignment
OSF Front Arm
Front discs, pads, wear sensor
Rear discs, pads, shoes, backing plates, shoe fitting kit, wear sensor
Front rollbar bushes
Front droplinks
To tidy the car up -
Set of front grilles
Headlight restoration kit
Center Caps
New mats
Mirror glasses
Aux cable for the head unit
Total cost for the above - £1207. 7 quid more than what i paid for the car. bks. I like a challenge, so the parts were ordered. Note - for anyone ordering Discs and Pads from Euro Car Parts - stick the part numbers into Ebay - I found the complete rear discs and pads as a set for £40 less on their eBay store than buying them off their site with a 50% off brakes code!
Parts fitted, used a fence post to align the front end to allow me to drive it for a proper alignment, wasn’t far off!
Now at the point where it was alright to drive. MOT was 2 months away, so smoked about in it for a bit. Until i went to open the bonnet and it broke a latch and cable. Great! Time to break into it..
New catch fitted. Every catch sold on eBay was for a LHD even with the correct part number! So off to BMW, and put a new release cable on for good measure. Can at least open it now!
Quick clean and polish, good to go for a while yet.
Total Spend so far - £2500
The list of things to get it through its MOT -
Mechanical -
4x Tyres
OSF/NSF track rod ends
Inner track rods (Rods seized, easier to change out the full lot)
Wheel alignment
OSF Front Arm
Front discs, pads, wear sensor
Rear discs, pads, shoes, backing plates, shoe fitting kit, wear sensor
Front rollbar bushes
Front droplinks
To tidy the car up -
Set of front grilles
Headlight restoration kit
Center Caps
New mats
Mirror glasses
Aux cable for the head unit
Total cost for the above - £1207. 7 quid more than what i paid for the car. b
ks. I like a challenge, so the parts were ordered. Note - for anyone ordering Discs and Pads from Euro Car Parts - stick the part numbers into Ebay - I found the complete rear discs and pads as a set for £40 less on their eBay store than buying them off their site with a 50% off brakes code! Parts fitted, used a fence post to align the front end to allow me to drive it for a proper alignment, wasn’t far off!
Now at the point where it was alright to drive. MOT was 2 months away, so smoked about in it for a bit. Until i went to open the bonnet and it broke a latch and cable. Great! Time to break into it..
New catch fitted. Every catch sold on eBay was for a LHD even with the correct part number! So off to BMW, and put a new release cable on for good measure. Can at least open it now!
Quick clean and polish, good to go for a while yet.
Total Spend so far - £2500
Edited by adafr on Sunday 13th December 15:38
Edited by adafr on Sunday 13th December 15:42
MOT time.. the dreaded bit!
Well, it passed without any issues. Was noted that it was relatively clean underneath, no rust or brake pipes needing done, rear bushes all OK so that was a relief!
2 weeks later I drove from Scotland to London (during no lockdown I must add!), and on the return journey, I could start to smell fumes in the cabin. Not good… Stuck on Recirculate for the rest of the journey home with a window down after checking that nothing had catastrophically fallen off. Some googling later and it comes apparent that the exhaust manifold likes to split for fun, and even a new BMW manifold likes to split after 50k or so. Great. So managed to get a cast manifold with all the gaskets, studs, nuts etc for £65 off eBay. Bargain! Just the issue of getting time to fit it.
This takes us up until this week, and as I am currently facing a house purchase to complete in the next few days, and a change of job, I couldn’t put time aside to do it myself as the turbo needs to come out, so booked it in to a local garage that came recommended. Manifold fitted, and the car drives great again. New pollen filter and an air con treatment was the final job I done yesterday, and that’s where we are up to at the moment.
Quick wash and clean up the plastics, doesn’t look too bad for a 15 year old smoker!
So, a quick tally -
Purchase - £1200
Repairs Pre-MOT - £1207
Repairs Post MOT - £388
Total so far - £2795
Car is booked in for an oil and filter change just before Christmas, as I am away with work. Here’s hoping they don’t find anything that I have missed.
Will keep you updated on progress!
Well, it passed without any issues. Was noted that it was relatively clean underneath, no rust or brake pipes needing done, rear bushes all OK so that was a relief!
2 weeks later I drove from Scotland to London (during no lockdown I must add!), and on the return journey, I could start to smell fumes in the cabin. Not good… Stuck on Recirculate for the rest of the journey home with a window down after checking that nothing had catastrophically fallen off. Some googling later and it comes apparent that the exhaust manifold likes to split for fun, and even a new BMW manifold likes to split after 50k or so. Great. So managed to get a cast manifold with all the gaskets, studs, nuts etc for £65 off eBay. Bargain! Just the issue of getting time to fit it.
This takes us up until this week, and as I am currently facing a house purchase to complete in the next few days, and a change of job, I couldn’t put time aside to do it myself as the turbo needs to come out, so booked it in to a local garage that came recommended. Manifold fitted, and the car drives great again. New pollen filter and an air con treatment was the final job I done yesterday, and that’s where we are up to at the moment.
Quick wash and clean up the plastics, doesn’t look too bad for a 15 year old smoker!
So, a quick tally -
Purchase - £1200
Repairs Pre-MOT - £1207
Repairs Post MOT - £388
Total so far - £2795
Car is booked in for an oil and filter change just before Christmas, as I am away with work. Here’s hoping they don’t find anything that I have missed.
Will keep you updated on progress!
I think you've done well at sub £3k for a facelift model in what looks to be good condition. Even though you can pick up the newer model from £5.5k I do think this is the more prestigious looking.
The only thing I'd do - if the wheels needed it - would be to paint them silver. I imagine that would have been factory spec?
What's the interior like?
The only thing I'd do - if the wheels needed it - would be to paint them silver. I imagine that would have been factory spec?
What's the interior like?
HarryD said:
I think you've done well at sub £3k for a facelift model in what looks to be good condition. Even though you can pick up the newer model from £5.5k I do think this is the more prestigious looking.
The only thing I'd do - if the wheels needed it - would be to paint them silver. I imagine that would have been factory spec?
What's the interior like?
I thought the same - I do like the E70 but would rather go for an end of line older E53 that might not have some of the issues the slightly newer ones have. No swirl flaps in this one for example. The only thing I'd do - if the wheels needed it - would be to paint them silver. I imagine that would have been factory spec?
What's the interior like?
Wheels will be back to silver next year - thought about doing them this year but haven’t got round to it. They will be good enough to see winter through!
Full black leather interior, nav with TV (unbelievably that still works!). Here’s a list of the options on it - most new cars would come for this but it’s quite something 15 years ago!
adafr said:
I thought the same - I do like the E70 but would rather go for an end of line older E53 that might not have some of the issues the slightly newer ones have. No swirl flaps in this one for example.
Wheels will be back to silver next year - thought about doing them this year but haven’t got round to it. They will be good enough to see winter through!
Full black leather interior, nav with TV (unbelievably that still works!). Here’s a list of the options on it - most new cars would come for this but it’s quite something 15 years ago!
That’s quite a list! Although BMW are notorious for their options. I would think the original price of your X5 is rather eye watering! Wheels will be back to silver next year - thought about doing them this year but haven’t got round to it. They will be good enough to see winter through!
Full black leather interior, nav with TV (unbelievably that still works!). Here’s a list of the options on it - most new cars would come for this but it’s quite something 15 years ago!
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