Your fleet running reports

[Sundayjumper]

Was is everyone buying X5's all of a sudden?

It's because people are slowly catching up with me !

In 2011 I bought an E53 X5 & a 996. Both very unloved at the time.

And yet now....

[Sundayjumper]

In my experience they are pieces of unreliable badly built shit.

It was a lot better than my 530i !

[Nic]

Replacing the 330 was relatively straight forward, looked at 3 X5’s

Was is everyone buying X5's all of a sudden? Should we all be buying X5's now? Is this in preperations for the Brexitopocolypse? Slap a cow-catcher on the front and some metal grills on the glass?

As said earlier, car for towing, I’d already had a first generation ML which was a real turd of a car so X5 it is. I walk to work and use the Golf for fun, Q7 with the family, I doubt buying anything more expensive will be any more fit for use.

[Sundayjumper]

What are you towing ? The Golf ?

[Sundayjumper]

Glad to hear it hasn’t been ruinous to run!

...yet ! I can do most stuff myself so labour is more-or-less free, so on the assumption I can get parts at a decent price I'm taking a chance on it.

They seem such a bargain to buy at the moment, and I can’t work out if that’s because of their reputation with owners or whether it’s internet myths about running costs (or perhaps a mix of both).

Err, yeah, probably both. I spent ~£500 on parts fixing the front suspension, taking it to a specialist would probably have been more like a grand, and godknows how much at a main dealer. See above re: DIY.

It still has scope for some fruity costs though, anything to do with the turbos or associated gubbins is an engine-out job as it's incredibly tightly packed in there.

What made you choose that particular car?

It had big chunky tyres. That was it. This was the only one I viewed.

Seriously, I'm terrible at this. Off the top of my head I can't even remember if it has any service history beyond the first few stamps in the book.

I wanted a 4x4 for towing The Compact. I don't like Japanese cars so those are all out despite their obvious capability - nobody does plastic quite like the Japanese. A Discovery would work but they never came with a proper engine. The RRS is for cnts so that's out. A FFRR, maybe, but reliability is not inspiring. I considered a Cayenne but the styling bothered me. Reading up about the Cayenne reminded me that it shares a lot with the Touareg but the Touareg was available with a V10 I have a mental checklist of engine configurations that I need to own and a V10 had not been checked off yet so here we are ! And in an odd way I like the image of the Touareg; it has no image. Compare to a Range Rover or a Cayenne and you have a preconception of the owner. The Touareg is just a bland blob of large estate car. That works for me.

[Nic]

What are you towing ? The Golf ?

Yep!

[Sundayjumper]

Cool. I couldn't remember the towing capacity of the X5 but I'm guessing the Golf + trailer is probably no more than 1500kg so you'll be well inside.

[Swervin_Mervin]

For Sale

BMW 125i Sport Auto 5dr

Clickety

It's been a long time since I sold anything privately - probably well over 10 years, so any pointers on the ad welcome. When I tried selling my 197 privately I got literally zero interest despite ads on PH, the Renault sites etc, and it was a fairly common story from what I recall. I traded that in, and sold the 120d to a WBAC equivalent.

ETA: Would you mention in the ad that it's had new cylinder head and turbos (all done under BMW Warranty)?

[Richard]

I might have taken the car round the block to scrub the rust off the brakes. Idiots might think it’s a problem

[Swervin_Mervin]

I might have taken the car round the block to scrub the rust off the brakes. Idiots might think it’s a problem

Well spotted - I'll do that later ta.

[ste]

UPDATE

E53 4.8is

One of the original aims when buying this was to have something nicer than the 330d to go on holiday in. With some of the jobs done and quite a few quid spent it was ready for our half-term trip to Bruges. I'd intentionally not had the wheels refurbished as I had concerns that the car would be tight when loading onto the Eurotunnel with the 60mm wider track. I hadn't appreciated just how tight though.



The trip was ace and the car was utterly perfect. It cruised across France and through Belgium in comfort with loads of space for 3 ever-growing kids and our stuff. I got lost on the outskirts of Bruge when Waze directed me into an underground carpark that was being renovated. The workmen there smiled as it burbled around the carpark and one of them gave me the universal signal to rev it, so I obliged to a cheer and round of applause. On leaving when the barrier raised I treated them to a full-bore emergency start back onto the ring-road too much to Mrs Ste's dismay.

The hotel was great. The owner asked me to park out front and unload and then jumped in to show me around to a hidden carpark behind an electric gate and the car then got put into it's own garage with rollershutter. I had zero use for it while there as I spent the weekend trollied on all the amazing Belgian beer. On the way back we worked our way along the coast road taking in some beaches and historical spots.


Bruges




Ostend




Dunkirk



I thought MPG for the trip was incredible for a 4.8 V8, my diesel X5 hardly ever did better. I think the 6 speed box really helps when it's cruising.



Wheel refurb on Weds...

[DeskJockey]

UPDATE

E53 4.8is

One of the original aims when buying this was to have something nicer than the 330d to go on holiday in. With some of the jobs done and quite a few quid spent it was ready for our half-term trip to Bruges. I'd intentionally not had the wheels refurbished as I had concerns that the car would be tight when loading onto the Eurotunnel with the 60mm wider track. I hadn't appreciated just how tight though.



The trip was ace and the car was utterly perfect. It cruised across France and through Belgium in comfort with loads of space for 3 ever-growing kids and our stuff. I got lost on the outskirts of Bruge when Waze directed me into an underground carpark that was being renovated. The workmen there smiled as it burbled around the carpark and one of them gave me the universal signal to rev it, so I obliged to a cheer and round of applause. On leaving when the barrier raised I treated them to a full-bore emergency start back onto the ring-road too much to Mrs Ste's dismay.

The hotel was great. The owner asked me to park out front and unload and then jumped in to show me around to a hidden carpark behind an electric gate and the car then got put into it's own garage with rollershutter. I had zero use for it while there as I spent the weekend trollied on all the amazing Belgian beer. On the way back we worked our way along the coast road taking in some beaches and historical spots.


Bruges




Ostend




Dunkirk



I thought MPG for the trip was incredible for a 4.8 V8, my diesel X5 hardly ever did better. I think the 6 speed box really helps when it's cruising.



Wheel refurb on Weds...

I think I spotted you in Bruges! We were there on Sunday and I heard, then saw a grey 4.8iS. If it wasn't yours (can't remember the number plate), then it looked very similar. Definitely was a UK car.

[Matty]

I'm a month overdue for the Evora service because I'm still waiting on my new aux belt to arrive. It's been revised to a 4-yearly replacement, and as mine is now 8.5 years old, I should probably get it swapped. Still, £50 from eBay is a bit cheaper than £160 from Lotus, so it's not all bad.

New rear tyres are due really soon too. I was planning on Michelin PS4S, but they don't do the "S" in my size on the fronts, so it'll be plain old "4" for me - currently shod in P-Zero's, and the fronts still look quite fresh so reluctant to throw those away just yet....I'll live life on the edge for a while.

Lastly, after numerous deliberations, I've decided against the SR pack - which was further solidified will by a poll of Evora owners who voted 60-40 that Laser blue looked better without it. That being said, I am toying with the idea to just do only the sills, it pinches the waist a little and makes it look a little sleeker. I've got some offcuts of vinyl wrap, I might mock something up to see what I think....

[scotta]

I'm a month overdue for the Evora service because I'm still waiting on my new aux belt to arrive. It's been revised to a 4-yearly replacement, and as mine is now 8.5 years old, I should probably get it swapped. Still, £50 from eBay is a bit cheaper than £160 from Lotus, so it's not all bad.

New rear tyres are due really soon too. I was planning on Michelin PS4S, but they don't do the "S" in my size on the fronts, so it'll be plain old "4" for me - currently shod in P-Zero's, and the fronts still look quite fresh so reluctant to throw those away just yet....I'll live life on the edge for a while.

Lastly, after numerous deliberations, I've decided against the SR pack - which was further solidified will by a poll of Evora owners who voted 60-40 that Laser blue looked better without it. That being said, I am toying with the idea to just do only the sills, it pinches the waist a little and makes it look a little sleeker. I've got some offcuts of vinyl wrap, I might mock something up to see what I think....

Sports Racers are for bell ends anyway

[ste]

I think I spotted you in Bruges! We were there on Sunday and I heard, then saw a grey 4.8iS. If it wasn't yours (can't remember the number plate), then it looked very similar. Definitely was a UK car.

Ha. I’d have been very surprised if it wasn’t me. I had to collect it from the secure car park on Sunday morning and then do a lap of the one-way system to get back to the hotel to load the bags and family. Mrs Ste then decided she wanted to go to a shop she’d seen the previous day, so I had to drive around pretty much the rest of the one-way system and back streets to get there before we left. I think everyone in Bruge on Sunday morning got to hear then see us.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Dunkirk

I wasn't sure at all with your previous pics when you'd first dropped it. But nope, it looks right. I actually like the wheel colour though

[JLv3.0]

New rear tyres are due really soon too. I was planning on Michelin PS4S, but they don't do the "S" in my size on the fronts, so it'll be plain old "4" for me

Super Sports > PS4, aren't they?

[V8Granite]

Dunkirk

I wasn't sure at all with your previous pics when you'd first dropped it. But nope, it looks right. I actually like the wheel colour though

Wheels to some BBS ones and it can be a V12 special copy.

Big engines make a lot of sense when doing long drives, that’s pretty much exactly what we get mpg wise on a long run.

Dave!

[Jobbo]

When driving from Bruges to Amsterdam in my 545i Touring I saw this on the nav:


I'm even more impressed with Ste's figure though; the X5 is heavier and has worse aerodynamics.

[Rich B]

I don’t think I’ve ever broken 25 on my V8 BMW.