Used BMW X5 E53 Spares For Sale

About The BMW X5 E53

Debut

The nineties were the decade that registered a tendency of customers, initially less marked but gradually more and more sustained, to move towards multipurpose cars that combined the practicality of use of a station wagon and the possibility of moving even in rough terrain. like an off- road vehicle, but also the elegance of a sedan.

This type of car, usually high-end, had found its first and perhaps most famous exponent in the Range Rover , the first European SUV introduced as early as 1970 . In the United States this type of car was also appreciated in previous years, but it was in the seventieswhich began to spread rapidly thanks to models such as the Chevrolet K5 Blazer or the Ford Bronco, just to name the most famous.

In the following decade, the offer multiplied, especially overseas where the market was more receptive for SUVs. Between the end of the eighties and the beginning of the nineties, however, this trend began to spread also in the Old Continent thanks to the success of models such as the Jeep Grand Cherokee and the stainless Range Rover, which reached that point after more than twenty ‘ years of career without major changes compared to the original model.

It was in those years that two of the three German premium brands (BMW and Mercedes-Benz), after evaluating the possible commercial outlets that SUVs could offer also in the European market, as well as in the North American one, they started two projects relating to the construction of their respective large SUVs, SUVs whose assembly would take place in the United States, almost as if to underline the strategic importance of the two main North American markets (USA and Canada ).

The first generation of the Mercedes-Benz M-Class would have been born from the project of the House of the three-pointed star , but that’s another story. As far as BMW is concerned, it is worth mentioning the fact that on January 31, 1994 the House of Monaco took over 100% of the Rover Group share package.for a figure of 800 million pounds (corresponding to approximately 2,000 billion pounds at the time).

The event, which took the entire automotive world by surprise, including the specialized press, aroused perplexity as the synergies between the two brands were considered difficult. But the first step taken by BMW after the acquisition of Rover was precisely to exploit the know-how of the British group in the field of SUVs to realize the E53 project of BMW itself, a project aimed at the construction of its first SUV.

At the same time, the House of Monaco decided to refresh the best sellerRange Rover, thus giving life to the second series of the British SUV. From this model, BMW took some components that it mixed with the mechanical base of the E39 sedan to give life to the floor suitable for its brand new SUV.

As for the design of the car body, this work was entrusted to Chris Bangle , the controversial and much discussed Head of BMW Design. He relied heavily on the creative talent of his colleague Chris Chapman and together they gave life to a design that actually met with success at the top floors of the headquarters of the Casa dell’Elica: in 1996 the body design was approved and frozen by the BMW top management.

The choice of the production site for the SUV posed no problems, since the German company already had a plant in the USA where the Z3 roadster was assembled in the mid-nineties (but the plant had already been active since 8 September 1994 [2] ). Rather, the enlargement of the plant was more demanding to make room for the assembly lines of the new SUV. Therefore, 650 million dollars were allocated to double the area of ​​the plant in Spartanburg ( South Carolina ).

In mid- 1998 the first prototypes were surprised on American roads for the usual road tests, while at the end of the year the first official photos were released.

The presentation to the public took place in January 1999 at the Detroit Motor Show : thus the X5 was born , where the letter X indicated the presence of permanent all-wheel drive and the figure 5 indicated the technical relationship with the 5 Series of those years. From then on, and especially with the expansion of the BMW SUV range in the following years, we began to talk about the X Series. For the first year of marketing, the X5 was only present in the North American lists, while starting from the spring of 2000 it began to be marketed also in Europe.

Exterior and interior design

The work carried out by the BMW design team headed by Chris Bangle was aimed at giving the first BMW SUV an imprint typical of the cars of the Bavarian house produced at the time. In short, an attempt was made to give an indisputable family feeling to this new model as well.

The car body was about 15 centimeters shorter than that of the contemporary 5 Series E39 Touring, but was wider and taller than a 7 Series E38. The front showed the typical characters of the Casa dell’Elica, with for example the optical groups with split headlamps covered by a single glass parabola: these optical groups recalled in the design both those of the E46 launched the year before, and those of the of the older E39 5 Series dating back to 1995.

Another essential style in the front was the kidney grille, while the bumper shield was massive, only partially painted in the same color as the bodywork, in order to give the car an off-road look. The side view shows the bulging on the wheel arches that join together by means of a third camber in the lower central area.

Overall the side was quite sober and differed from the SUVs produced up to that time by the competition for a slightly sportier characterization, also visible in the rear area, where it was possible to notice the inclination of the C-pillar and the presence of a small spoiler on the roof.

Synergies with the Land Rover brandhave left their mark, for example, in the adoption of the luggage compartment door with rear window that can be opened separately, a solution borrowed from the Range Rover. The taillights were L-shaped, a solution introduced over ten years earlier with the launch of the E34 5 Series and which will be revived in the BMW range for many years to come, albeit revised and redesigned.

The passenger compartment, wider and more spacious than that of the 5 Series with which it shared the mechanical base, still took up different settings, but also proposed different solutions, such as the design of the center console. The boot capacity was also noteworthy, which in standard configuration had 465 liters of volume, but which thanks to the foldable and divisible sofa (1/3 – 2/3) increased to 1,550 capacity.

Structure, mechanics and engines

The X5 was born as already mentioned on the mechanical basis of the 5 Series E39, although revised and adapted to the new type of car. The structure was therefore of the load-bearing body type, unlike many competing models, including the M-Class W163 itself, which still were born on a separate chassis. 

The front end of the E53 was fixed on an auxiliary subframe and featured a double-jointed MacPherson pattern and a multilink rear end, also mounted on an auxiliary frame and derived from the rear end of the contemporary 7 Series. Alternatively, it was possible to order the car with air suspension. The braking system was dual hydraulic circuit with self-ventilated disc brakes on the four wheels (from 332 mm in diameter at the front and from 324 mm at the rear). The steering was rack-and-pinion and was power-assisted.

At its debut the E53 was proposed for the European market in two engines, both petrol:

• 3.0i : 2979 cm³ M54B30 engine with maximum power of 231 HP ;
• 4.4i : 4398 cm³ M62TÜB44 V8 engine with a maximum power of 286 hp.

There are two gearbox variants available: a 5-speed manual gearbox is fitted in conjunction with the smaller engine, while a 5 -speed automatic gearbox was provided for the version with the V8 engine.

Both types of gearboxes were produced by ZF. The traction was permanent all-wheel drive distributed between the two axles by means of a central differential that shared the drive torque 62% on the rear and 38% on the front, in order to give road behavior similar to that of normal sedans and station wagons.

As for traction, the X5 treasured some technological advances of the Range Rover, such as Hill-Descent Control, i.e. the electronic brake that slows the car downhill, and the Off-Road Management System.

Evolution

In 2000, BMW released a one-off high-performance version of the E53. Called Le Mans, it was equipped with a 700 hp V12 powerplant derived from the BMW V12 LMR . [4]

Until the first months of 2001 the range of the E53 remained restricted to the two versions described: the performances were brilliant in both cases, but the maximum speeds were electronically limited to rather contained levels (201 km / h for the 3.0i for example). However, it was possible to raise this limit thanks to an optional sports package that included a lowered suspension, 19 -inch wheels and more performing tires with a higher speed code.

In April 2001 the range expanded with the arrival of the X5 3.0d , powered by a 2926 cm³ common rail turbo diesel engine, capable of delivering a maximum power of 184 hp. In 2002 the new flagship version arrived, powered by a 4619 cm³ V8 with a maximum power of 347 hp.

At the end of the year, the Bavarian house presented a concept car based on the E53. Called the X Coupé and presented at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, it posed itself as a hybrid between an SUV and a sports coupe. As an engine it was equipped with a 3.0 six-cylinder turbo diesel engine derived from the BMW 530d and managed by a five-speed automatic Steptronic gearbox.

To compensate for the high performance, an electronically configured spoiler was added to the rear section of the vehicle, which came into operation when 100 km / h were reached. The top speed was 200 km / h. Being designed for off-road driving, the X Coupé was equipped with the off-road driving control systems typical of x models, such as All Season Traction (AST), Dynamic Stability Control (DSC-X) and in 2002 the designer Franco Sbarro presented a special version of the X5 model. Called XX5 and built in two specimens, it presented the front section modified with a new design.

In the second half of 2003 came the mid-career restyling for the E53 : the front was redesigned in several places (headlights, bonnet, bumpers, etc.), while retaining the general settings. Also appeared new fog lights on the front bumper, taken from those of the 3 Series E46 restyled.

Mechanically, the first generation of the xDrive all-wheel drive system made its debut , which will also be installed for years in future models of the Bavarian house, SUVs and more. The engine range saw the arrival of the new 320 HP V8, again from 4398 cm³ but with significantly improved performance. On the diesel front, the 3-liter unit experienced an increase in power and went from 184 to 218 hp. The 4.6is disappeared from the list, which however in April 2004 was replaced by the 4.8is , whose 4799 cm³ V8 was capable of delivering up to 360 HP of maximum power. From the point of view of safety, the X5 underwent improvements that brought the results of the EuroNCAP crash-tests from 4 [7] to 5 stars [1] .

At that point the range only underwent detailed updates, to arrive in September 2006 when the E53 range disappeared from the lists to make way for the next series, the E70 .

Related:

• BMW X5 E53 Vehicles For Sale
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_X5_(E53)