Hi everyone

[Eiger120]

Morning everyone!  I picked up a 2003 4.6 just over a week ago, relatively high mileage (93,000) but with very good service history and a new gearbox not so long ago.  I had three and a half bikes so decided to down size the two wheeled fleet and expand the four.

We have had 3 & 5 series BMWs for a number of years but this is the first 4x4 we have owned.  It was quite an interesting process in choosing the X5; RS6, Range Rovers and another 5 series were all considered but discounted on running costs, horrific insurance quotes, ride and interior and the 5 series on no other reason than we had already run one for a few years!

The ride is very impressive though I am not sure the 20" wheels do it any favours; would there be a noticeable improvement dropping down to 19s?  Fuel consumption is as expected for a 4.6 V8!  Still no worse than my old 535 though, around 20mpg on mixed town & motorway.

We have had a few teething problems;

1. The folding wing mirrors had a mind of their own when pressing the fold button, the LHS went forward and the RHS does nothing.  I pulled the cover off and cleaned the sensors but didn't have the courage to test them again!
2. The screen kept freezing and switching off so i reloaded the DVD/software which seems to have done the trick but have not had the need to use the satnav since.
3. The coolant level warning came up, so topped it up with a coupe of pints, it appears to have an occasional  leak from the underside of the coolant tank.  The pipes below are covered in dried coolant so it has obviously been a problem for a while now but should be a reasonably cheap repair, new tanks on ebay seem to go for around £60 or so.
4. The tyre pressure monitoring system is inactive and the prices for new sensors seems a little steep (£120ea?)  but I might consider replacing them on the next tyre change, other wise I read on here you can re-programme the error code out.

I washed and polished her for the first time on Friday and was very surprised at the (poor) quality of the paint finish, orange peel on almost every panel so i don't think its a bodged repair job unless the whole car was resprayed!  Nt sure i would be happy with the finish if i were spending £55k+ on it new?! I was going to take it to KDS in Sittingborne to get the underseal done so might see what it would cost to get the worst of it polished out.  I now realise the extent of my foolishness in buying a black car - it is definitely the best colour for about 5 miles and then is looks dirty again!

The stereo sounds impressive, not sure if it is a standard setup but there appears to be a little sub unit mounted in the left hand boot cubby?  Sounds great!  Is there an easy way of hooking up an ipod and controlling it through the main screen?  The phone in the armrest is a bit of a brick, is it worth trying to find a payg sim card to fit?

Any way very impressed with the car as a whole, lovely looks, great ride in comparison to pretty much every other 4x4/SUV/SAV though i didn't try a Cayenne, lovely interior - nothing else really come close IMO!  She sounds lovely, a little subdued for my liking and the performance is amazing, something so big and heavy doesn't really deserve to go so quickly yet so effortlessly, coming off the slip road onto the motorway over the weekend was the first time i had it full throttle for any length of time and it did make me have a quiet little chuckle.

Fantastic website and having spent the last week lurking i thought it about time to contribute my first post! 

Enjoy the sunshine,

John

[wilkoturbo]

Hey welcome sounds like a good car , where's the pics we all need pics ! 

[X5Sport]

Welcome to the Club......

I had the phone in the armrest with a standalone SIM which worked fine for me, albeit was a pain to keep moving the SIM about.  At the time I ordered mine (2004) a couple of the networks were looking at offering customers dual-sim accounts but this was overtaken by Bluetooth and died away before anyone actually did it.  A PAYG Sim is one option.

BMW Paintwork is not known for it's mirror finish and all of the four BMW we have had have not been particularly good.  My X6 had to be completely re-done by a BMW Bodyshop to sort out the defects, and now looks much better.  Whether this is because of robot spraying systems or the speed or the paint itself I don't know, but 'could do better' is a valid note for their report card!!

The normal audio set-up does not include a sub at all.  If you have the top version then this does come with a sub woofer would put the sub in the right rear cubby looking in from the rear, not the left (which has the Amp, Nav and bluetooth).  If you have a DSP mode on the control head then you have the full system installed..

Black isn't the best colour for our filthy roads, but it does look good when spotless and gleaming.

Richard

[Raj]

Welcome aboard and congrats on the purchase. Does sound like a really nice example.

Black is an awesome colour when first washed, etc but as you say doesn't last long unfortunately. I detail (amongst other things) in my spare time so if you want any advice then let me know.

It certainly sounds like you have DSP installed which is much improved over the standard setup.

On the TPMS front my Alpina's appear to have the TPMS valves fitted and not sure if the relevant sensors are fitted goths back of them. I'm going to get the valves (and the sensors if fitted) removed on Friday so if I do have them and you need one then let me know again.

Look forward to the pics.

[Sanj]

Welcome to the forum!

Get some pics up when you can!

[Cannondale]

Hi and welcome,

Another V8 on here

Get some pics up


Rich...

[Eiger120]

Thanks for welcome guys, I will get round to posting some pictures ASAP.  I spent Saturday morning cleaning and polishing the car only for it to get driven through some minor floods yesterday morning so right back to square 1 again.  At least it looked good for an afternoon.

X5Sport - yes DSP it is, on the RHS (facing forwards  )!!!

A quick update on the issues:
1.  I followed Sanjs post about cleaning the sensors - it seems to have worked but the LHS doesn't always lock back into place so it can wobble a bit at high speeds.  From the info on here it may be something to do with the drive rings?!
2.  I updated the software again after the freezing came back but now the OBC is in French.  The freezing problem is still there but have reverted back to the OEM disc (2004 though) which appears to have cured the problem.
3. New expansion tank ordered and will be fitted today.  There was a small leak from the bottom fixing point.
4. I checked the tyre pressures and reset the system which appears to have cured the (French) error message!  Thanks for the offer though Raj.  Did you have them on the alpinas?

The latest drama which emerged last week after a trip down to Somerset was an oil leak which was demonstrated by white smoke coming from oil dripping onto the RH exhaust manifold.  I thought it was a leaking rocker seal however checking through the history these were replaced at the inspection II by BMW.  After taking off the cover, cleaning the slick up and a short run later the source of the leak was a knackered oil cap!   Sorted for £10.

I bought some 19" BMW Style 132 wheels fitted with winter tyres (6mm+ tread left) for £550 last week and a complete set of four new winter tyres for £500.  The wheels were a little pricier than i would have liked and I couldn't find new tyres for anything less than £900 fitted so for just over £1000 i have a good second set of alloys and lots of winter tyres;  man maths at work?  I get the impression alot of people are skeptical over the value of winter tyres but they made my old E34 535i go pretty well in the snow, and if they can do that with a 20year old rwd auto?!

[X5Sport]

That's a good price for a Winter set......definitely worth it IMHO.  Our E46 isn't allowed out in snow coz it has a habit of wanting the rear wheel drive for be at the front!!

[Raj]

[quote="Eiger120"]

4. I checked the tyre pressures and reset the system which appears to have cured the (French) error message!  Thanks for the offer though Raj.  Did you have them on the alpinas?

[/quote]

Glad it seems to be working. My Alpina's were bought secondhand and previous owner required the valves/sensors.

[AW8]

Hi and welcome.

Puhed for time but have skim read above.

Maybe get someone to take paint thickness readings each panel then post results or PM pvr as he knows what they should be at least on a facelift.

Failing that an experienced eye will tell you if it has had paint.

[shadrack]

welcome to the forum, i think the same about bmw paint jobs their s*** and the newer the car the worse they seem!  the retired bloke who does all my paintwork is x bmw and he blames water based paints hence the old bmws having a better finish, the whole car on my mates 10 reg is orange peel to look at in light but smooth to touch it was like this the day it was new!

[Rusty]

Welcome along.

Smooth paint would probably indicate a respray on an X, so it sounds original to me.




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