E70 Information Thread

This thread is designed as an information pack in relation to the E70 X5, which made it to UK shores between August 2007 and December 2014. It took over from the original E53 model and was superceded by the [F15] from 2015 onwards. It midlife facelift took place from March 2010 onwards.

Below is a description of the engines available during this time, split between pre and post LCI (Life Cycle Impulse – BMW speak for “facelift”).

Pre-LCI – August 2007 through to c. March 2010

Originally launched with just one diesel engine – 3.0d (231bhp), single turbo, straight six and two petrol engines – 3.0i (236bhp) naturally aspirated straight six and a 4.8i (355bhp) naturally aspirated V8, the E70 built on the solid foundations set by the E53; the original and class-leading SUV of its time. All engines were offered as auto only transmissions and badged only with reference to their engine sizes and fuel types. Available from launch with just the SE bodykit (standard with 18” wheels), M Sport was added later in the year with standard 19” wheels, but most of the M Sports were upgraded to 20” wheels to complement their standard extended wheel arches. Note: SE came with non-extended wheelarches as standard, unless the wheels were upgraded to 20”.

From Spring 2008, the award-winning twin-turbo 3.0d straight six made it to the line-up and was differentiated from the single turbo by the addition of ‘s’ before the ‘d’ to create 3.0sd, superior to the 3.0d. In practice, the additional turbo dropped the 0.60 time by around 1 second, to 7.2secs over the single turbo unit. The 3.0i petrol sat between the two diesels for performance and the 4.8i at 6.5secs.

By late 2008, BMW amended the badging to “xDrive” with the model delineation as follows:
- xDrive30d
- xDrive35d
- xDrive30i
- xDrive48i

All models were fitted with 6-speed ZF automatic transmission, halogen headlights, runflat tyres and leather as standard, with the V8 model getting xenons as standard and 4-zone climate control (to be confirmed).

Popular Options (in no particular order):-
- Xenons (also available with Adaptive Xenons)
- exterior folding & dimming mirrors
- Professional Nav
- Business HiFi
- Electric Front Seats w/Driver Memory
- Heated Seats Front
- Dynamic Pack (for SE models only – upgrade to 19” wheels, anthracite headlining, sports seats, sport suspension) In reality, most went further an upgraded the following alloy wheels
- style 214 Y-spoke 20” staggered alloys

Rare Options
- Comfort Seats
- 4-zone climate control
- Rear Heated Seats
- Panoramic Roof
- Individual Leather
- Individual HiFi – a 2.5k option from new!
- Electric Towbar (note that from factory, this option required “Uprated Towing” which included a more powerful cooling fan for the radiator to take account of towing loads in warm weather. BMW specifically required this to be upgraded if a towbar was being added subsequently although most caravanners will confirm they have rarely had problems with the cooling whilst towing. However, in the event of an overheating issue, BMW will not honour warranty claims if a towbar is fitted without the fan upgrade).

Special Edition – for the run-out pre-facelift and to commemorate 10years since the first E53, BMW launched the “10yr Anniversary Edition” in mid-2010. There is some overlap with the early LCI cars and were on 59 and 10 plates. The additional options, now as standard on this car were: Space Grey, M Sport bodykit, 20” style 233 (differentiated from other pre-LCI cars by ‘stealing’ these from the LCI cars as they are diamond cut faces), Individual Leather seats, door and dashboard trim, ProNav, Xenons and Pro HiFi – although many were specced well beyond this. These cars still fetch a premium over the equivalent LCI car and are a very nice place to be sat with the upgraded interior trim. But they do miss the main event of the LCI car – that wonderful 8-speeder ZF auto gearbox.

LCI – March 2010 through to year-end 2014

The LCI car managed the usual BMW trick of taking an already good looking vehicle and tweaking it. For both the SE and M Sport, front fog lights were repositioned much higher and slightly outward, front and rear valence was re-profiled, new wheels were offered (most notably the diamond cut faced 223 20” alloys on the SE), the wonderful new ZF 8-speed gearbox, LED and smoked rear lights and the adoption of xenons as standard across the range, as was leather.

For the first time, the SE with Dynamic Pack became as popular as the M Sport and although still sold in slightly less numbers, the improved and purposeful styling means that residual values aren’t anywhere near as weak as the pre-LCI models.

With the facelift came new equipment – the upgraded, faster, higher resolution ProNav was an option with shortcut buttons around the iDrive controller rather than the single menu button. And new engines released and upgraded with the 3.0i dropped. This was relatively unsurprising since the 3.0i was known to be as fuel inefficient as the V8 for less performance.

New line-up was as follows:-

- xDrive30d (now with 245bhp)
- xDrive40d (formerly 35d, now with 285bhp)
- xDriveM50d (triple turbo now added to the fleet – numbers to be confirmed)
- xDrive50i (the 4.8i V8 making way for a more fuel efficient and powerful 4.4i twin-turbo V8, producing 400bhp)


[More to come......!]