aaronmartin

My car already has factory HID for the low beams, but normal halogen for the high beams. Would it be ok to upgrade my high beams to HID as well, since scatter on high beam shouldn't bother other drivers? Or would I still fail a WOF? The high beams are reflectors, not projectors.

I really only use my fog lights as daytime running lights, as the HID low beams actually work much better in real fog than the fog lights anyway. Do the bulbs you have match the colour of HID lights?

One of my H3 Fog Lights has blown a bulb, so I am thinking of replacing the stock bulbs with something that will more closely match my HID low beams. I have seen alot of LED H3 bulbs for sale, has anyone used LED bulbs in their car? Do they work well, nice and white? Does the computer give any errors i.e. Check Foglights?

I've seen a few X5's with the silver / titanium trim (only avaliable on SportPac) and it doesn't last very well, chipping, flaking and scratching easily once it is a few years old. The 'wood' trim defintely seems to take the knocks alot better over time.

(Late) congrats on the X5, they are an excellent SUV, and the SportPac corners very well, it just has to be driven a bit different to a car. I drove most of the competition before buying my X5, and nothing else came close for handling and power in the same price range.

I remember this was all over the news at the time, and I wondered whether it was just because it happened at the 'aviation estate' that John Travolta lives in. American media is obsessed with any news item if a celebrity is somehow able to be linked to the story.

I've had my X5 4.4i for just on 10,000km now, and I reset the second trip computer (CONSUMPTION2) when I drove out of the yard. Since I bought it the CONSUMPTION2 says I have averaged 13.7L/100km. CONSUMPTION1 I reset each tank, my best tank so far I got 11.3L/100km, worst tank so far 15.8L/100km. I do a 80%/15%/5% mix of openroad / town driving / boat towing. To make it sound better I can always say that I can get 800km per tank in my V8 SUV :-)

After seeing a black X6 at Coombes Johnston BMW in Hamilton, I will say they look better in person than in photos. But I still would rather have an X5 (especially the new 3.0sd twin turbo diesel, damn what a beast!)

Welcome Phil, there are a few of us on here from Hamilton, and more joining all the time!

Software Developer, no company car

Has anyone here used a tube subwoofer? Are they any good? I am looking at getting a Fusion 10" Tube Subwoofer for the back of my X5

My wife has exactly the same unit in her car (Pioneer DEH-7950UB) and it is a Ipod controller, thats why I bought it! When the Ipod is connected to the USB cable, I can then select from songs, artists, genre, playlist etc on the head unit. We mostly use it either playing Playlists that we have created in Itunes, or on Shuffle All mode. Pioneers own documentation even says "Direct iPod Control allows access to your music stored on Apple iPod players" We only had to buy the head unit itself, no additional Ipod Controller cable.

A manual (stick shift) in USA? You really are bucking the trend :-) Nice looking car.

Congrats on the TowRag, its a good choice, I tried a few before I got the X5, in the end it came down to wanting the V8 (TowRag V8 still too expensive). Towrag V10 Diesel will hopefully be my next car to replace the X5.

Well Ive got a 2000 X5 4.4i but Ive only had it a few weeks so cant give much advice yet sorry! Ive done about 3000km in it so far, and the trip computer is showing that I have averaged 13.7 litres/100km so far. When I was shopping around, it seemed to be the interior that suffered from high milage rather than the engine and transmission. Broken speaker grills, scratched kick panels, rips in leather seats etc. Shop around, you will defintely find one without all these problems for the right price, and the dealers are bringing more into the country all the time. Mechanically the only things I found ( I test drove about 12 X5's) were ticking sounds from the engine, bad tracking (wheel alignment) and one had a small amount of oil leaking from the valve covers. The dealers will tell you that they sell quickly, and the good ones do. There are some for sale on Trademe now that have been there since I started looking (December 2007) so those are the ones to avoid :-) I was told to make sure the transmission changes smoothly, and try and avoid getting anything that has been accident daamaged

I see your point, but from what I have seen on Dension's website, YouTube and various other forums, the interface provided by the DICE is not that great, and alot of people seem to revert to using the Ipod directly instead. The Ipod has a bloody good interface, is easy to use, and I rarely need to skip songs anyway, as I have already selected all the songs on it to only be songs I like. I generally choose a playlist to suit my mood before I even back out of the driveway, and then for the entire trip, Im happy with what I have chosen.

Maybe mine sounds bad because there has already been a DVD player installed in the boot which I can watch on the TV by selecting AV? It must have been wired into the same AV In circuit somewhere in the panels of the car. My other option is a tape adapter, but Ive been told they dont have very good sound quality.

Awesome thanks for that Jochen. Do you think I am best to splice the cables in the boot near the cd changer, or behind the head unit? I would like to route the cable for the Ipod either in the glovebox or the centre console.

DICE would be nice, but it is still a couple of hundred dollars, when a spliced cable would cost about $5. I would like to get the AUX in cable for the back of the headunit, but I through that my car was too early a model to have that plug (2000). In the center console in the back there is a Aux In / Aux Out socket, but the sound quality is really bad, and I have to have the TV on for it to work, which means I dont get to see the trip computer.

Would it be possible to cut the left and right audio cables from the CD changer to the head unit, crimp them to a new cable to the glovebox, fit a 3.5mm plug and connect in my Ipod instead? I know the stereo would think it is playing a CD, and I would need to leave a CD in the changer for it to work, and obviously I wouldnt be able to control the Ipod from the headunit or steering wheel, but I rarely change songs on the Ipod anyway, since it is all music I like. If this is possible, does anyone know which pins on the CD Changer plug are the audio ones?

Maybe we should do a group buy from Germany, I'd be keen.

I was also looking at a diesel, but the extra $10k plus that they cost pays for alot of petrol, and after driving both, the petrol v8 is just an amazing drive, so much more power than the diesel. I know the newest diesel models (twin turbo) ones are now a hell of alot more powerful, but I defintely couldnt afford one of them :-)

Yep it sure is, and for the record the guys at Hoffmans have been good to deal with so far, there was a fault with the fuel tank senders the day after I bought it, and they paid for my local BMW dealer to fix it without any argument or hassle.

Dumb question, how do I get into service mode?

Wow thanks for that jochen, Ill keep track of my actual fuel consumption for a while and then see how it goes.