E70 Diesel M Sport or E53 D-Sport ??

[X5-D-Sport]

I have ideas of replacing my E53 D-Sport with an E70 M-Sport Diesel...
Are there any/many advantages/dissadvantages to the E70 ?

My D-Sport has privacy glass all round.
Fully loaded, Black leather, Black externally.
Matching set of 4 wheels with 295 x 19 tyres all round
Hub extensions to match track all round.
Lifted 2" front & back
Bull Bars
150 Watt HID's all front 6 lights
Nav screen
Wood centre console & matching trims
Remapped & oodles of torque
Rust free - totally
Every thing works - (except front left parking sensor)
The biggest (New) battery that will fit in the hole.
Bonnet wind deflector
4 side window wind deflectors.
serviced to the hilt.

Whats is worth ?

[CondorX5]

E53s are worth whatever someone will pay for them these days, likely worth far more to current owner, especially if a well kept example as yours seems to be.  Lucky to get a few grand for a nice one

[henrym3]

Been in your position, as I could I seemed to be forever thinking of changing but when you read the E70 threads they seem to have more problems than the E53. My 4.6is is in excellent shape and as a DIY'er I know it pretty well now. Everything works I've spent a fair bit on bushes, lights, exhaust and audio and should be good for as many miles as it's already done (140k). Historically I keep my cars for a long time although I doubt it will be the financial investment the M3 has been 4.5k to 60k I have decided to keep. Of course everyone must make their own decision but it sounds like yours has been well looked after and has few faults, you'll never get what it's worth.

[X5-D-Sport]

Good information.
Thank you gents

[graemeX5]

Hi

Given all the maintenance and upgrades you have done on your E53 it's a totally different beast to a standard E70, and as its reliable and it does what you want then I would say keep it, because if you are going to do the same type of changes to an E70 then it would be little difference except more cost.

As others have said and if selling its only worth what someone will pay, but to you in theory it would be however much you paid for it and put into it, or how much you were going to spend on the replacement car.

If buying a late E70 and keeping it they are nicely finished and powerful esp the 40 or 50d and smooth to drive. The runflats makes a lot of tyre noise but a change to non runflats could resolve that. The later car feels different to the E53 a bit tighter to drive but that could be down to it being newer.

The downside to an E70 for me is its electronics, there is less option to diy and upgrade it as there are more sensors and modules and so inbuilt restrictions.

Graeme

[henrym3]

Spot on with the electronics Graeme, which seems to be a black art to most people. We can all do the basics but there is so much integration of all the different modules it tends to become a bit of a nightmare, at least in my case.

[X5-D-Sport]

All good info.
My X5 owes me approx £8,000... which I will never see back or any where close.
I've done 65,000 miles in it, & now clocked 187,000 in total.

It seems there is a rush of shifting these vehicles recently, and here in the Midlands a good D-Sport can be got with under 110,000 miles for £3,500 or less... or much less with higher miles.

I was chatting with an Off-Roading buddy the other day, & he suggested retro fitting the X5 with a Mercedes 606 engine - straight 6,  4.0 Litre single turbo with matching gearbox & transfer box. This lump as standard pushes almost 400hp & a turbo swap gives some 500hp.

The engine has a manual injection pump, but can be retro fitted with the X5 water temp, oil pressure, & crank sensors & switch off the other sensing ie injectors etc to keep the dash display clear.
I understand the speedo sensing can be adapted with parts from the original gearbox.

So this is a potential summer project costing approx £4,000 all up.

As my X5 is almost valueless, I stand to lose nothing with the engine mods & also knowing that all the transmission drive shafts, bearings, steering, joints, body etc is in good order... and is fully loaded with all the luxuries... the engine & gearbox mod will ensure the fun remains for many years to come.

Due to the rough weather here in the Midlands, I want to keep a 4x4, and was toying with a Chrysler 300c for the summer luxury & load carrying potential, or go the opposite silly extreme for a Nissan 350 GT Coupe 2 seater for my mid-life-crisis needs...

Fortunately, drive way space is not an issue & both the Chrysler & Nissan are cheap at under £6,000 for a bit of luxury....

But I still love my X5.

[graemeX5]

Hi

From my recent experience of probs with injectors on the E70, and given the E53 ability to be repaired or upgrade or change the engine I would stick with that at the moment.

Remember diesels are being demonised by everyone so buying an expensive newer diesel could result in a bigger loss when you come to sell it.

Graeme

[X5-D-Sport]

Fair enough...
Looks like the E53 will stay & I will pop another gear box into her this summer.

Even with 187,000 miles on the clock, she runs beautifully & I still get 500 miles a tank with a heavy right foot.

I need to get another pair of rear tyres some time soon tho.

[henrym3]

I love all these stories of X's with nearly 50k more than mine and still going strong.

[Dan1502]

I've been seriously thinking about changing ours recently too, to either a E70 40D or 50D or skipping to the newer model 40D as we're planing on selling the Mini due to lack of use.  However ours has still only done 53,000 miles depsite being nearly 14 years old and I've kept the BMW warranty up on it.  I do have a strong itch for something more modern but keep thinking it won't really do anything any different and will cost a lot to change.  I thought about other things and came close to buying a RR Sport before hearing about the crank issues.  I have no idea what ours would fetch.  Although I've got as far as scouring the adverts pretty regularly lately I'll probably end up giving it a polish and keeping it.

[Colin]

I keep saying to myself better the devil you know    BUT still look at the newer Xs for sale lol

[Dan1502]

Yes.  I did have a new F15 M Sport for a weekend once when mine was with BMW and whislt it was smoother and newer I was left thinking it didn't really do anything different or at least not enough for the price difference to make sense so I'm left knowing changing would not be sensible or justified at all, it would just be driven by wanting something newer with a load of toys that don't really matter.  I spent a while considering all sorts of other cars too such as an RS4 Avant (always wanted one but would probably lose my licence), Golf R Estate (fast and practical but the looks just don't do it for me) and even a Maserati Gran Tourismo (gorgeous but small boot and coud be scary costs).  I've probably gone through this thought process for each of the the last 5 years now!

[X5-D-Sport]

Hi Dan,
for the last 4 weeks I have looked thru loads of ads & different motors.... still keep coming back to keeping my X5 & just replacing the Gear Box...

I even had ideas of getting a Chrysler 300c - SRT diesel... loads of luxury, reliable & cheap to run... but they are sooo butt ugly...
My partner says its ugliness will suit me ha ha - bitch....

Any way, after looking at a few E70's, they have the same seats, no more power than my D-sport which is nudging 285 HP, after a bigger turbo & mapping & exhaust mods... so i will gain very little.
The general consensus is that the E70 is more complex than the X5 & has its own set of gremlins too...