We've had our 2004 X5 since new. It's been spectacular and at 20 years old we're keeping it. Very few repairs and a joy to drive.

@dadcars

3 ай бұрын

👏😊

@memeseller1706

Күн бұрын

I bought mine from my dad who said picked me up from the hospital when I was born in that car I drive it till this day and even thought about selling it but then realized I would regret it in the end

We have one that we're currently trying to sell but in such good condition, only selling since no longer need it. Timeless design and sooo fun to drive, makes you feel like a lion on the road haha. BMW hit the nail with this model

Adding spacers to the wheels makes these vehicles that much more of a beast! I own a facelift 05 4.4 around 100k miles and a 04 4.4! Heated seats front and back, heated steering wheel, nav system, panoramic sunroof, luxury seats with electric headrests, isofix etc. Very fun BMW’s!

We have had a 2001 e53 4.4 v8 model for about 6 years now, It's been a good vehicle, good amount of space, good amount of power, not too bad on economy, tows well and has great BMW character from the era. They are also not too hard to do DIY maintenance on either. If you keep it looking tidy on the outside, it's surprising that they are 20 or so years old now. Plenty of aftermarket parts support to help keep them running too.

Amazing how this is the same size as an x3 now! I remember driving this when it first came out, my parents got one as a loaner when their 3 series was in for service. It felt so big on the road and had a commanding driving position. Felt so great to drive, solid, high quality cabin. I think I drove the v8 as they had just launched at the time. Great video Ben as always, keep up the good work👍

@dadcars

Жыл бұрын

Thanks man, this was my trial with a 2 hour filming shoot!

Fantastic video mate! Saved me making one on it 😂 BX ready when you are

@dadcars

Жыл бұрын

Thanks again for letting me feature it! BX soon yeah! 😎

Love these cars, hope to get a 4.6is some day

Love these original X5's.

@dadcars

Жыл бұрын

Super cool

I have a 2001, M54 3.0 with the 5-speed manual and almost 200,000 miles. It runs beautifully, does not leak, and on the outside it looks terrible - peeling clearcoast, lots of dings and scratches, which is fine because then I don't have to care about leaving it at the airport for weeks, unlike my F30 which the one time I did park there for a week got about three door dings from asshats. Bought it from a BMW loon who rescued it from a side yard where it had been sitting for some time, spent a stupid amount of money in parts and repairs most of which he did himself, and now I've got a very reliable beater that I drive 350 miles each way multiple times a year with no problems other than its thirst for fuel. E53 is like the Volvo 240 of BMWs!

Hi Ben and daughter. Hope your doing good. That was one cool video. I like the old dash layout better.

@dadcars

Жыл бұрын

Very bland on my wife’s car…

Totally agree. Been looked at the F15 X5 for a while now. Have a G01 X3 but think we may just have to get the F15!!

@dadcars

Жыл бұрын

Go for it 👏😎

Gen 1 X5's are awesome. I've considered buying one and enjoying it for a bit, its a car from my childhood during the 2000s after all. Plus the Gen 1's are from arguably BMW's peak in terms of design. late 90s- mid 2000s is when BMW just made timeless designs.

@dadcars

Жыл бұрын

Honestly the feel you get from the steering is night and day compared to the newer ones

@joshuakhaos4451

Жыл бұрын

@@dadcars Oh yeah, for sure. I think BMW still used good old fashion power steering back then since the Z4 appears to be the first car to get it back in 04. In my opinion, Old school power steering is superior to Electric power steering. It had weight and resistence to it that you just dont really get nowdays.

Pop off the little plastic covers on the rear seats that look like some sort of a hinge cover down there the back rest and you'll find your ISOFIX! 😉

In Sweden, these old BMW X5 and X3 have no value, so they rebuild the gearbox so that the maximum speed is 30 km/h or 18.64 mph and you remove the back seat and put a mesh wall behind the front seats. These are then called A-Tracs, which can be driven by young people aged 16 who have obtained a tractor card.

@dadcars

Жыл бұрын

Lol that’s brilliant! 😅

@CarSoul

Жыл бұрын

Whaaaaa!

@ingvartorma9789

Жыл бұрын

Here you get an explanation of what A-Traktor in Sweden is. A-tractor is a motor-driven vehicle consisting of a converted car. It is originally intended to tow vehicles or work equipment and must be equipped with a coupling device. Nowadays, the A-tractor, which is often called EPA, is mainly used as a means of transport by young people. This applies to A tractors The design speed of the A-tractor is a maximum of 30 km/h. This means that it must not be designed to drive faster than that on a horizontal road. To drive an A-tractor, a driver's license with AM authorization is required, i.e. moped class I driver's license (sometimes called a moped driver's license), or a tractor license. You may also drive an A-tractor if you have a driving license with another authorization. The age limit for obtaining an AM driving license is 15 years and for a tractor license it is 16 years. The vehicle must be equipped with a so-called LGF sign at the back, which indicates that the tractor is a slow-moving vehicle. All A tractors must be inspected. When a car is converted to an A-tractor, it must undergo a registration inspection to be approved before it is put into traffic. After that, it must undergo regular inspections. Questions about how you should build your A tractor or what can be approved in the registration inspection are answered directly by the inspection companies.

@ingvartorma9789

Жыл бұрын

@@dadcars Here are some KZread videos about A-Tractors. Ronjas Scania Vabis 56 A tractor kzread.info/dash/bejne/eamm2cqNlsi5p9I.html Saga´s Audi A3 A tractor kzread.info/dash/bejne/d6Sm09ixhKmbpqw.html Porsche Cayenne Turbo V8 A tractor kzread.info/dash/bejne/kYGcl5SpZdTKn5M.html

@fredd3.14

Жыл бұрын

what the hell hahaha, feel bad for the cars but that's pretty funny to imagine

I'm surprised I didn't see this upload before. I'm a big fan of the first gen facelift. Funny enough I went in one about a year ago after many years. 3 of us in the back and it felt ok. 3 litre diesel was quick enough and still smooth

@dadcars

11 ай бұрын

It’s performance to economy ratio struggles against modern SUVs but it’s a very cool thing indeed 😎

Canada here. Just got my x5 an american import. 2001 3l manual, and I love it. City driving winter, I get 14L per 100km in the city. When I drove from where i bought it, I was getting 22 mpg. I love it but what i will say is I'm not getting into bmw after 2005 and 6 due to them removing the soul and quality, reliability issues. So i have me e30, e46 and e53 seeing a trend here. I wish we had the diesel variant. I like how you went through a 3l and not the 4.8 only like everyone else.

Good rival for the 955 / 957, but the Porsche badge still wins out for me. Love seeing these on the road though and the patina just adds to the character. Great vid!

@dadcars

Жыл бұрын

I’d consider swapping my wife’s 3rd gen x5 for a facelift 1st gen cayenne! That tells you how cool I think they are 😎 I really enjoyed driving Jayemms one

@JonWhitworth

Жыл бұрын

@@dadcars wow, that’s quite a statement! I miss my Cayenne S and think the perfect lineup would be a 957 Turbo and a 986 S for the fun stuff

Lol I just bought an x5 2003, 3.0 sport facelift, black, on lpg with 225k miles, the engine is still a powerhouse!

@memeseller1706

Күн бұрын

Holy fuck that is a lot of miles

I went from a 997.1 Porsche 911 to an E53 LCI X5 3.0, comparing the two, I actually enjoy driving the X5 more. Fuel economy is essentially the same between my E53 X5 and the Porsche I sold, I want to say I got 17.9mpg on the 997.1 Porsche and I currently get 18.6mpg on the E53 X5. I've been looking at the first gen X5M and one would essentially get the same fuel consumption as a 3.0 E53 X5. My E53 X5 LCI 3.0 has about 86,XXX miles on it and is immaculate inside and out. I added a Bluebus for Bluetooth streaming from my phone and the USB-C ports from later generation BMWs fit perfectly below the air vents in the rear. Solid experience for me so far.

@dadcars

11 ай бұрын

They are a nice thing to experience aren’t they. 👏

Great video. As someone on his 4th E53 now, I would always choose the V8 over the straight six petrol as the economy is pretty much the same, but the performance is significantly better. My 4.8is averaged 21.5mpg as it had the later 6 speed autobox, which put it above all of the earlier petrols. Obviously a facelift diesel is your best bet for a daily, but my current 4.6is is part of a fleet and I have a diesel E Class for long family runs anyway!

@dadcars

10 ай бұрын

Yep I think you’re right! I’ll have to try one at some point

@RafeAbrook

10 ай бұрын

@@dadcars I've had JayEmm borrow a couple of my previous cars (MG ZR & X5 4.8is) to review this past year so if you interested in the following - just get in touch! Porsche 996.1 Manual, Mercedes 300CE-24 (C124), BMW X5 4.6is (E53), Mercedes E350 CDI Sport Estate (S212)

I have a x5 4.4i e53 and x5 3.0 e53 and I love them. I think they're beautiful. I bought them cheap and did a little work on them and they are great.

@dadcars

8 ай бұрын

😎🙌

My current E46 330ci is my favourite childhood nostalgia car, but if I didn’t have that, without a doubt I’d have one of these.

@dadcars

2 ай бұрын

🤙😎

Almost certain those little plastic covers are the isofix points, im looking at an e53 as my next car, and my 2001 e46 has those covers with the isofix anchors behind them?

The looks have aged really well and while it’s not quick, that 3.0l sounded lovely, proper straight six yowl so at least it’s enjoyable.

@dadcars

Жыл бұрын

Yeah the engine sounded brilliant!

Have just bought a facelift E53 and you're absolutely right about flexing these cars these days 😂 they're all about wanting to own an older car with actually buttons, when BMW's felt like they were built with some sort of quality. I still own an LCI 535d touring which is miles better in every way, but I have just £1500 for a 56' reg 3.0d, can't go wrong these days

I've been running a 4.8is facelift version for little over a year now. Mine definitely does have ISOFix (two child seats in the back). I'm not a fan of SUVs and its not our primary car but its pretty good for those long Euro trips. In our use case it does manage a decent 25/26mpg average which isn't great by modern standards but pretty good for something of this age and size. I keep thinking to replace it, but everything more modern is so much bigger and even worse to drive (not really a fan of SUVs and how they drive).

@dadcars

10 ай бұрын

Sounds like a cool family wagon.. Our 30d 3rd gen only manages 30mpg

No mention on the wonderful m57 turbo diesel?

They’ve always been cool. These were the first SUVs to not roll over even when you think of tackling a bend, and they had big NA V8s too. Also pre E65 BMWs were built like bricks. My father has owned an E39 528i since brand new and of all the times it has been run into by some bellend, they walked away with much more damage than us (one Saab even crumpled its front grille while the 5 only sustained a scratch the size of a finger).

@dadcars

11 ай бұрын

That’s a big part of the suv appeal… safety

Spot on. You buy this if you love early 2000s bmw and a car that is the grandfather of todays motors

@dadcars

11 ай бұрын

👏😎

Top!!!

@dadcars

11 ай бұрын

😅

I’ve had my V8 X5 for 10 years. It’s a 4.6 and I average 19mpg. Very very rarely see another on the road which is great. Often look at different vehicles to replace it but can’t find anything suitable. I’m gonna buy another car to use while I keep the X5 safe..

Pretty sure AutoAlex isn't Mike Brewer's son just because he also says 'old out yer and'

As I have had this kinda vehicle for last 10y. Just don't get if you are not capable to service it or get it serviced. It's same as all old BMW's but a bit more expensive than casual rwd one. If you buy a cheap, you will have expensive services to do. It's though a great car, a classic. But in reality it's an old car and US made which makes it to rust also 😎

I'd reccomend the fuel economy re map

@dadcars

4 күн бұрын

What % difference can it make?

👍

@dadcars

Жыл бұрын

🫡

I have drove the 4th gen X5 3.0t petrol, and i still feel my 1st gen X5 4.6 is better than almost every way, that new x5 is just a modern any car, it is quieter than old one, and feels cheap in every way.

@dadcars

9 ай бұрын

Ah nice! I bet I would have love this even more if it was a 4.6 😊

auto alex is mike brewers son ??

@dadcars

Жыл бұрын

🙃

Cool at last? They have always been cool!!!!

@dadcars

10 ай бұрын

Lol 😂 I’m just not a big SUV fan as a primary car for myself! Lots of cool ones though 👏

So many reviews comment on the poor mpg. But it's only just worse than my wifes brand new Ford Escape which gets at best, 22mpg. And the Ford is nowhere near such a pleasant experience to drive. And don't get me started on the terrible fuel economy of my Dodge Crewcab. I'll be keeping our e53 x5 for as long as practically possible.

@dadcars

4 ай бұрын

Oh in America MPG isn’t an issue 😅 this is a tiny car buy American standards as well 😅

the roadtax for this car is too expensive.... the cost is like giving my goverment a new motorcycle every year... expensive

No, a big no