Test drive BMW X5 E53 2000 - 2003 SUV

BMW X5 (2000-2003 release)

X5 is not just the first SUV from BMW. He is the first in popularity ratings in many countries.
After the Bavarian concern bought Land Rover in the mid-90s of the last century, rumors about the imminent appearance of the BMW SUV circulated with enviable constancy. The intrigue was resolved when the long -awaited X5 was born at the very end of 1999. The car was the first experiment of Bavarstsev in this market niche, but the first pancake did not come out lumpy. Either the British spied on something useful, or they prepared for the debut very carefully, but among all the now produced models in terms of reliability, BMW X5 divides the honorable first place with the third series.
Analysis of discharge. In the secondary market, the majority of the BMW X5 have a 3 liter engine. This modification is much more profitable to import from abroad, since customs requisitions are significantly less than on a more powerful model with an engine of 4.4 liters. And in our country, cars with a 3 -liter engine were bought mainly for firms - it seems like for representative purposes. Private buyers usually chose more powerful modifications: first with an engine of 4.4 liters, and then with a 4.6 -liter engine developed with the participation of Alpina specialists. The last model appeared much later, it costs noticeably more, and it practically does not occur in the secondary market. But fake BMW X5 4.6i appeared. To catch pathos, you need to spend quite a bit of money compared to the real difference in the price of these modifications. Mystifiers install extensors of wheeled arches, the lower bumper overlays, painted in the color of the body, tips of exhaust pipes and, of course, nameplate with the inscription 4.6i. Yes, they almost forgot, wide 20-inch rinks. It turns out so realistic that often the service employees, until they open the hood, cannot recognize what kind of car is in front of them. However, you can stand out in the crowd of owners of the BMW X5 easier and cheaper. It is enough to buy a diesel version of the car - there were such. But this modification was not officially supplied to our market, and five such vehicles brought in private for all of Moscow, so the likelihood to meet such an extremely small one.
Three -liter opera. When buying the most common BMW X5 modification with a 3 liter engine, keep in mind that you will have to run and wash your nerves before you can register the car. Moreover, independently, a car was brought from abroad or from scratch running along our roads. The fact is that from January 1, 2003, a resolution prohibiting the registration of cars without labeling body and engine has been in force. The body number is clearly read on all modifications of the BMW X5, but the engine number on the 3-liter motor coquettically covered with one of the engine supports. To read it, there are two ways. The first is to arm yourself with an official request from the traffic police and customs and go with him to the Moscow representative office of BMW, from where he will be transported to Munich, and pretty soon you will receive an answer. In principle, you can try to do this through one of the official dealers, but they will try to politely refuse. Do not be offended, this is really not their business. If you were still refused, order the same dealer to set the engine number. This operation requires incomplete disassembly-assembly of the front suspension, lasts 4 normal hours and costs about $ 230. Like this.
A 3-liter engine car can present a couple of surprises. So, in the first batch of cars there were problems with the thermostat. If in winter the stove blew out of the stove, and when accelerating, the engine temperature suddenly begins to crawl down, then the thermostat’s working body dangles inside the case, like a flower in a hole. The main thing is not to miss the symptoms, otherwise the owners of the BMW X5 with such a motor living in the northern regions, with a quick (140 --160 km/h) driving along the highway at a street temperature below minus 20 degrees sometimes expelled all the oil through the valve through the valve Carter gases and the motor jammed.
It also happens that the machine begins to twitch, trigger, and the control lights on the instrument panel are dancing under color music. Most likely, the problem is in bad contacts of plugs on a motor cable. Contact stripping and abundant watering their WD -40 will not help - only replacing the entire beam, which, however, is not so expensive - $ 290. In machines with other engines, a similar whistle occurs due to the stolen paths of the potentiometer in the control unit of an electronic throttle. It is also treated - replacing a faulty block, and it costs even cheaper - $ 125. All of the above defects relate only to cars from the very first deliveries - when replacing you will be delivered to the details of the improved structure, with which there will be no problems later.
The fourth power. A 4.4 -liter engine is very sensitive to gasoline quality - the distillations learned this on their own sad experience - it was enough to refuel in Belarus a couple of times. To reanimate the car, you have to completely drain gasoline, rinse the tank and change the gas pump, which sometimes also fails - $ 500 with work. In Moscow, there were no such cases, but if you were brought into the hinterland, do not refuel from the first barrel. In 8-cylinder engines, gasoline-like rubbish causes premature wear of cylinders and parts of the piston group. For prevention, it is recommended to periodically clean the nozzles and fuel system-$ 50-120. The fact is that when constant driving, as well as during short trips, when the engine does not really have time to warm up, a large amount of soil forms in the cylinders. Until some point, it does not interfere with the operation of the engine, but when this moment comes, it is already difficult to remove all this amount of dirt at once.
For a year-after ?? After driving around Russian expanses, a catalyst fails with a 4.4 -liter engine, so much so that its filling either crumbles into pieces or sticks into a monolith. Then the owner has an alternative: either to return everything to the original state, which will cost somewhere $ 2.9 thousand with work (not cheap, but each branch of the muffler costs about $ 1.4 thousand, and there are two of the 8-cylinder engine) , or transfer the car to the Cobested operating mode with a change in the program in the electronic engine control unit. The second and cheaper ($ 600), and is guaranteed to eliminate possible problems with the launch in the cold season, as the motor begins to work in a lesser Euro-3 mode.
Nervous work. Our roads could not but leave their mark on the chassis - in this case, very inconspicuous. This is a light knock in the steering rack, especially noticeable with wheels turned into an extreme position or when passing small road irregularities. Sound can appear in the range from 1.5 to 10 thousand kilometers, depending on the sharpness of the hearing of the owner.

Source: "Autopilot"