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Took her out for my first sustained seat time - a good 3-4 hours exploring the Whitford / Pohutakawa Coast / Clevedon / Kawakawa Bay / Kaiua. Was an absolute blast, aside from choosing the hottest day of summer so far and my AC not working - nothing the windows couldn't handle to be fair. Looking forward to doing this fantastic drive again after I've fully serviced her plus a full suspension refresh.

Really? How would you know? Have you pulled the engine / gearbox / diff apart and measured the wear? Or are you just going on the “nothings gone bang so it must be all good approach”? In all honesty the level of gain you have got from your map wouldn’t really put the drivetrain outside its comfort zone so there is unlikely to be too much difference. If you’ve been making the most of the extra oomph it’s more likely to be suspension and brakes that have had more of a working out. It’s there to try to manage one part of the vast array of emissions, not all of them. And it’s most likely that your map has increased the particulate emission dramatically so your DPF will be working much harder, and will not be managing to keep the particulate levels down where they should be. Let alone the CO2, NOx, HC, etc that will be off the chart. But hey, at least you get to rest your leg as you’ve got a better throttle response.

Took the M5 to Matamata and back yesterday, easy run, hardly any load, managed to get the average consumption down to 13.6 which is the best its ever been!!

I always worry that at some point there will be a “smog test” as part of a WOF and you’ll get picked up for that - I guess you could always remap it to stock. I also feel that the logic is like saying if others dump a trailer of rubbish on the side of the road, I can throw a hamburger wrapper out there - I guess it’s how you feel about it. Really though, if you want a fast diesel I would just go for the 330D, that thing is a great driver's car.

Off the chart? Hilarious. My neighbour has a 1990s Prado which belches black smoke every time he starts it up. You run a race car. A small increase in emissions from my remapped 2l diesel are not worth your concern, just let people get on an enjoy their cars. For me, the remapping has been a thoroughly positive and enjoyable experience, and I would do it again in a heart beat.

the sunroof panel is, as is the cassette. if you are doing a full roof swap, then yes the sheet metal part number with BMW is the same, obviously B pillars are welded in a different place. If you pull off the A and C pillar trims you will see where the roof was welded on. i think you need you unstitch the rear sear back and parcel shelf to do it the way BMW would, but been a while since i looked closely.

Remember doing that same drive after installing a 4.1 LSD diff into my old 325i E30...roads like that really makes you appreciate the E30 chassis. Car looks fantastic!

^^ This! Also agree with @E30 325i Rag-Top's point about not bothering with the remap. You can extract more HP, more Torque, better economy... but something's got to give. How's the emissions or long-term reliability after the remap? Shocks? Yep, 100-125k kms and they're best replaced along with all the bushes, spring seats etc. OE Sachs are great value, and where the genuine item is alloy bodied, the Sachs are too; Bilstein Touring usually close to price yet steel bodied. Sorting the suspension provides long term enjoyment, better braking and steering, increased tyre life, increased safety - especially for the shopping trolley.

Finally fixed one of the more worrying previous repairs carried out on the old girl, at some stage someone had damaged the section of the drivers door card that covers the airbag, and decided to turn it into a home made Claymore mine by repairing it with a good solid layer of Araldite! I shudder to think what this would have done to me if the airbag had ever deployed!! As you can see there is some silicone in there as well, just in case. Replaced with a good door card from Pick a part, unfortunately it was from an electric seat car so it has the memory buttons which mine has no need for ( manual leather heated seats for the win) so I will keep an eye out for a correct replacement, but in the meantime this one won't cut me in half if the worst happens!

It all depends how sharp you want the cars handling to be. Most people put up with shock wear because its gradual and insidious and you just get used to it, day by day. 100,000km shocks will probably still work fine, but they won't work AS fine as a new set. Same is true of front arm bushes. If you just want a car to drive around in then dont bother changing them. If you want a car to enjoy driving then consider renewing shocks and bushes after 75km. You'll probably find aftermarket shocks cheaper and better than BMW branded versions. Bilstein is a good place to start. But if its just going to be used as a shopping trolley then dont bother.

I guess I did... something?

Ryan from Brisbane now owns the car. Money paid, and car gone. A very nice transaction from my point of view to a genuine car guy who I am very confident will enjoy and look after the car. It will stay in NZ for a short time at least until the Aus logistics are sorted.

X

^^This. The 320d in standard tune (no need to map it and screw all the emissions kit) has plenty of torque and does the 80-120kph overtakes easily even when we’ll loaded up. 330d / 335d would be nice, but obviously more $$$, but not necessary. The F31 really is a leap ahead of the E91 in most aspects.

The f31 320d is probably the most complete car around. Has enough torque to keep you happy whilst maintaining comfort. Plus the interior is a much nicer place to be over the e91. F31 all day.

@_ethrty-Andy_ lots of generations of X5s, lots of different models, and lots of different suspension set ups. One X5 is not necessarily like another. Inner rear shoulder wear is usually the first point of wear on the later E70 / F15 models, especially when they have staggered fitment wheels and tyres which prevents you from rotating them around. A lot of it also comes down to driving style, there are many that drive an X5 like a sports sedan and as a result see short life spans for tyres, brake pads and rotors.