Is It Weird That I'm Lusting After An Early BMW X5?
CTzens: it’s confession time. During one of my recent trawls through the classifieds, I found myself looking at early first-generation BMW X5s. Brought on partly by seeing them crop up a surprising amount of times in shonky films that spend one week in theatres before appearing on Netflix, I now haveuncomfortable feelings for the SUV.
A lot of it is to do with the way the older X5s look. SUVs seem to be becoming ever more blingtastic, but in comparison, the ‘E53’ X5 has a pleasantly chunky, utilitarian aesthetic to it. It’s another of Chris Bangle’s designs that seems to have aged rather nicely over time, while also losing its reputation for being a car bought solely by pompous douchebags.
If you want, you can have one of these with a 315bhp 4.4-litre V8 for a useful 7.6sec 0-60mph, or if you spend a bit more, a ‘4.8is’ that’ll do the benchmark sprint in just 5.8. But me? I’d be happy with the considerably less powerful, silky smooth 3.0-litre M54 straight-six.
The E39-based SUV first came along in 1999, with an emphasis on providing decent on-road manners as opposed to Land Rover-style all-terrain domination. SUVs that drive like actual cars are available in abundance these days, but back then the X5 was nothing short of revolutionary. So it’s largely responsible for the modern car buyer’s fanatical SUV obsession, but that still doesn’t stop me liking these things.
Despite their age, early X5s aren’t going for peanuts, but they’re not exactly expensive either. Take this 3.0-litre example, which is yours for £2495. Not bad at all for a car with a reasonable 100,000 miles on the clock, but it will inevitably be more painful to your wallet to run than to buy. And that doesn’t put me off either.
So what’s the verdict, readers? Have I gone mad, or do you see the appeal? Let me know in the comments…
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
They’re amazing vehicles…so no.
nothing interesting down here just some people agreeing with matt saying its a semxy beast then others asking matt if he’s stupid ( sorry its toned down for the little kiddies out there as carthrottle wont let me say fck and retrded )
The funny thing is I was looking at one of those X5s the other day and thought “Maybe I should get one in the future”.
I’ll just leave this here..
Had a x5 2002 4,4l v8 for 8 months it was the worst and best car I’ve ever had. It was full of electrical problem and even the easiest problem was expensive to fix,in 8 month I have lost about 4k euros in parts.
Anyway it was sensational to drive, the sound of the v8 was gr8
and the engine had enough power to move a tank like that.
But I will never buy a x5 again it was too expensive to run,a waste of money and time
I think you should seek therapy.
Not weird at all. I had the same itch a couple months ago. When a super clean 2005 with a 6 speed manual and truffle brown leather came up for sale locally I had to have it. Put on some bigger tires and a rack. And I’ve been loving it!
It’s definitely future classic material, but the V8’s will always be more desirable. But hey, if you like it, go for it!
Yeah, that’s pretty weird.
Used to have one and it was amazing. I get definitely get the appeal.