Well as some of you read I recently took and passed my driver's test. Well today was the day to go shopping for my first car, which we found, ordered and awaiting them to go through all the pre-sale preparations. I'm expecting it next weekend.

The problem is I wasn't expecting this particular model, I was expecting to get a BMW 330ci coupe, so I looked into all the mod's and upgrades decided what I could and could not afford and decided what looked good and what just looked rice.

I ended up getting a black BMW X5 and I have no idea what I can do to it to modify it. So far here is the list of what I want to do...

Window tints
Steel running boards
Navigation system (out of console)
Satelitte radio

Throw some ideas my way, especially if you own one yourself.

Nick

Major Kick Ass Sound System! Every Car Needs One! Huge Subwoofer in the trunk.

Black BMW X5 as your first car right of driving school? I would have gotten myself something cheaper/used first and drive the first 10,000 km on it to actually get used to the road and gain experience.

In the meantime, I drive the same X5 (silver) - by the way, black is a great choice, I'm a little sick of silver by now.

Here are the extras that I got:

GPS Navigation with an on-board computer (highly recommended)
Parking Distance Control - helps you a great deal when parking.

That's all you need. From the list that youv'e mentioned you can also get Window Rain Censors (useless practically) and Headlight Washing things, but I passed on those as well, as well as on the CD-player - cause you even have a Navigation or a a CD-player. If you want both, the the CD-player will go in your trunk.

Steel running boards are for showing-off.. If you like the idea, get those cause they look good.

In the meantime, look forward the new X7 coming out in 2004.

Good luck.

wow I am just looking at it nice SUV man.

what did you pay? the MSRP is 41k

Originally posted by Artashes
Black BMW X5 as your first car right of driving school? I would have gotten myself something cheap first.

In the meantime, I drive the same X5 (silver) - by the way, black is a great choice, I'm a little sick of silver by now.

Here are the extras that I got:

GPS Navigation with an on-board computer (highly recommended)
Parking Distance Control - helps you a great deal when parking.

That's all you need. From the list that youv'e mentioned you can also get Window Rain Censors (useless practically) and Headlight Washing things, but I passed on those as well, as well as on the CD-player - cause you even have a Navigation or a a CD-player. If you want both, the the CD-player will go in your trunk.

Steel running boards are for showing-off.. If you like the idea, get those cause they look good.

In the meantime, look forward the new X7 coming out in 2004.

Good luck.
I really REALLY wanted the navigation w/ on board computer but it's a used X5, we got an awesome deal on it, really REALLY low miles and everything...I have in dash CD and it has premium sound system.

Originally posted by NickRac
premium sound system.

Nice!! few things to tell

What Year?
How Many Miles?
Price?
Interior?
Extirior? We know is black :)

Originally posted by Stephen
wow I am just looking at it nice SUV man.

what did you pay? the MSRP is 41k

It's a 2001 with only 13,000 miles on it!!!1 It sat in this families garage. We're getting it from the dealer for $37,000, I forgot all the options it had but it had alot of fun stuff...

Interior is black leather w/ wood trim.

Originally posted by NickRac
I really REALLY wanted the navigation w/ on board computer

Keep in mind that GPS is great if you travel. If you stay in one city - then its just a waste of money. I travel a lot and honestly, to get in Manhattan and places like that would have been a real pain in the ass without it. I also travelled from my house to Niagara Falls. Never looked at the map and planned my route as I was backing up from the driveway.

I'm sure you'll enjoy the ride just as much even with no extras.

Well it does have extras, just not that one. I move around alot too. I go to private school in the suburbs of Westchester county, just outside of NYC and I live in CT...I have friends as far as an hour and a half from my house, I travel alot...it would have been a nice thing to have which is why we are getting the out of console system...

as far as options go this is what I can remember...
Automatic Transmission
Leather Interior
Wood Trim
Moon roof
Xenon headlights
Harmon Kardon(sp?) Premium Sound
In-dash CD

I will update if I remember anymore...

Hopefully I will have pics when we go back to the lot on tuesday, and even more when I bring it home later next week.

Back to topic though, what else could I do to it?

Originally posted by NickRac
It's a 2001 with only 13,000 miles on it!!!1 It sat in this families garage. We're getting it from the dealer for $37,000, I forgot all the options it had but it had alot of fun stuff...

Interior is black leather w/ wood trim.


Thats not bad for you first car man, not bad at all! I mean hell most people get a crappy chevy as there first car. or an old 1994 poniac for 5,000 at the local used car shop but you got a f-ing bmw, >_> lucky bastard :P

Originally posted by NickRac

Harmon Kardon(sp?) Premium Sound



Harmon Kardon is very good, although I prefer BOSS Harmon Kardon is good! Put it this way if you crank it can the neighbors hear it if so its good. My moms Acura TL has a BOSS Sound system if she cranks it up you can hear it up to 3 blocks down :P lol well its 12:30 and school starts Wensday better get some shut eye and get used to waking up at 6:30 again :'(

Whoa nice car man, I wish I could afford something like but I would have to say between the two I would pick the X5 they are really nice, esp with the bigger wheels (19''s?) but anyway good luck and if I were you I would put a nice system in it and some decent 22" rims on it none of that bling bling crap just something nice to add to the looks) as far as performance mods I am not sure where you would even look as the 330ci would be more of a sports car to add performance mods, also one peice of advice is make sure you do a clean install on anything you add such as a system and anything extra to the engine as most people who can afford a car like that look down on things like that if you go to sell of even trade in and also make sure it is still under warrenty to do things that will not void it.

Hey, is the DSC - Dynamic Stability Control installed on your model? Cause it actually boosts the car on-road performance in winter time - on snow or ice especially.

Originally posted by Artashes
Hey, is the DSC - Dynamic Stability Control installed on your model? Cause it actually boosts the car on-road performance in winter time - on snow or ice especially.

I'll have to check on that on tuesday. I'm so excited about it I can't sleep, I hope this doesn't last all week...

http://maddox.xmission.com/civic.html

Sorry, couldn't resist. :stickout:

NickRac, congrats on your liscense and your first car (X5 is sweet!) :D

http://www.wreckedexotics.com/x5/x5_042102_02.jpg

this it? :D

I'm kidding- nice car man...

Zak

C'mon.. here's what you need:

SPREEWELLS!
2 15" Orion HR Subs
1 BOSS 4000w Amp
Apine Head Unit

Lowering Springs
Cool Air Intake
30 Shot of Nitrous
Supercharger

and last but not least...

to sign the title over to ME!

Originally posted by Stephen
Harmon Kardon is very good, although I prefer BOSS Harmon Kardon is good! Put it this way if you crank it can the neighbors hear it if so its good. My moms Acura TL has a BOSS Sound system if she cranks it up you can hear it up to 3 blocks down :P lol well its 12:30 and school starts Wensday better get some shut eye and get used to waking up at 6:30 again :'(

BOSS sound system :confused:

I recommend sound systems from the following companies (aka wallet emptiers :p):

Bose, Denon, B&O, TAG-McLaren, Yamaha, Meridian, Dynaudio, Runco.

Not sure if all of them do things for cars, but I know some do.

Get 20 inch rims at least:)

Originally posted by sHosts
Get 20 inch rims at least:)

I don't know about that, I like teh BMW wheels...maybe if I can find a good deal on wheels and tires.

Also I remebered in my sleep...
cold weather package
Power seats with memory

Nice car! Keep this baby clean looking, don't get to much rice on it. No neons etc.

I'd do the following mods:
-One 12'' JL sub w/ a 600 watt amp (just for a bit of clean bass)
-LCD below the deck with a ps2/xbox and maybe 2 more in the head rests
- Window tint
- Catback exhaust with dualies (if you want a little more performance you could also add an intake and header)
- Air ride if you want, would be nice to ride low when cruising but be able to lift up for off roading. If you dont plan on off roading then get adjustable coil overs so you can raise it up in the winter

Thats about it really as the car is already nice. Whatever you do though, don't take multi-caps advice on the NOS and Super. The block would not be able to handle nos and a super, the tranny probably wouldnt be able to either. You'd have to build the block up before you do mods like that, else you're just asking to need a new engine.

Originally posted by N9ne
BOSS sound system :confused:

I recommend sound systems from the following companies (aka wallet emptiers :p):

Bose, Denon, B&O, TAG-McLaren, Yamaha, Meridian, Dynaudio, Runco.

Not sure if all of them do things for cars, but I know some do.

He probably meant Bose... *drool*.

FW-Mike:

One 12" JL sub - do you want any sound? Go Orion or Diamond subs...

600w amp: My sister has two 12" Rockfords that hold 200w each and runs a 600w amp to it.

Now... NOS and Supercharger:

First, I hate when people grab the NOS term from "The Fast and The Furious"... just call it Nitrous because NOS is not (by far) the best type of Nitrous.

I was joking about the supercharger and nitrous, but you are wrong. I could put a shot of nitrous in MY car ('94 Eclipse) and it'd be able to handle it with no problems.

Engine size and the driver is what you need to take into consideration when determining how much nitrous you want to throw at your car. You don't have to spend a ton of money to put a nitrous shot in any car. Hell, you could put a shot of nitrous in a Geo Metro if you wanted to.

Here it goes:

Lower it, put on that body kit that you mentioned, and take off the muffler so it purrs. :D

One 12" JL sub - do you want any sound? Go Orion or Diamond subs...

600w amp: My sister has two 12" Rockfords that hold 200w each and runs a 600w amp to it.

Now... NOS and Supercharger:

First, I hate when people grab the NOS term from "The Fast and The Furious"... just call it Nitrous because NOS is not (by far) the best type of Nitrous.

I was joking about the supercharger and nitrous, but you are wrong. I could put a shot of nitrous in MY car ('94 Eclipse) and it'd be able to handle it with no problems.

Actually, the JL w6v2 is one of the best subs on the market. One 10'' w6 outperfoms nearly ever other sub, if not by clarity then by sheer dB. How do I know? I installed one into my friends jeep and have tested it againts loads of other subs. Have you heard the w6v2 yet?

600 W is actually a bit excessive for one sub. I run 800w into two subs, so probably one 400 would be right for this application.

As for NOS, I just assumed he would go with NOS as really I think a nice wet NOS setup is the best out there, plus there is just something about that blue bottle. However, I still disagree with you. Putting NOS on a stock block (for most cars) WOULD blow the engine. I can go into detail as to why if you need proof, or you can just take my word for it. The only reason the driver is a factor with nitrous is for shifting really.

As for a SC you would put far to much strain on the crank, sleeves, and rods. The block would HAVE to be build to run it for a long time or on high boost.

I have two off-brand 12" subs and run a 1400w Legacy to them and they rock cars next to me. But a good friend of mine has two Orion 12's with a 800w amp that blows me out of the water.

My friend has a 50 shot of nitrous in his Pontiac TA Ram Air and it still runs like a champ (since '00). He has a supercharger on it as well, (downgrade from the previous TurboCharger) and has had no problems. If you know someone who can actually put it on and do it right, you'll be fine... trust me.

Ask him how much boost he runs on that super. If its like 3 - 4 lbs, then sure thats fine. But thats almost worthless, too. The most boost I'd run on stock internals in 6 lbs for most cars. I personally one person who has thrown a rod using a decent amount of boost on his stock internals. I also know 2 people who ran a 75 shot of NOS in a wet setup and blew there motors (one had a grand am GT and one had a civic with a b16a1 swap). When it comes down to it, you are talking from experience only, I'm coming with both technical knowledge and experience. As I said before, if you'd like for me to explain from why it is not safe to run a sc or nitrous on stock internals from a technical view point, I can.

A friend of mine had two JL w6v2's with a kicker 800W amp but crashed and one went out the window so he sold those and put two audiobahn 15's in it, absolutely no comparison what-so-ever. The w6v2's truley are as good as it gets. You don't seem to be the type of person who is too concerned with clarity (just going by "they rock cars next to me") however I think clarity is very important (and I'm not talking about not coiling over) and the Orion 12's can't match the w6v2's (i know this becuase I've actually compared the two outside of a bass competition). I think the w6v2's are louder too, but I can't back that up as I didn't take a reading.

Originally posted by PlacidHost
Here it goes:

Lower it, put on that body kit that you mentioned, and take off the muffler so it purrs. :D

No lowering of a pimpy luxury SUV

Originally posted by NickRac
No lowering of a pimpy luxury SUV
I think getting it just off of its tires is actually a better look. Thats why i suggested an air ride or adjustable coil overs. Air ride is easier, but it won't ride the same and might not be available for your car. My back tires have 1/2 inch to the fender and about 1.25 between the front tire and fender :) Granted, I have a car. I still think it looks nice even on SUV's



http://www.forgedweb.com/15.jpg

I would have bought myself a really really fast computer! lol Best video card, LCD, sound card, etc..

p.s. Don't let anyone ELSE drive it!

It's a nice car already - there really isn't much need to do anything to it. Seriously, it's not a sports car, so any lowering would be stupid looking, it basically has every electronic feature you'd ever need, looks good and has an excellent engine (all beemer engines are though ;)). The only thing you should do is perhaps consider tinted windows, don't bother with a loud exhaust, coming from a 4x4 it would just be stupid :p It has a ton of power already and I'd suggest you drive it around as while you get used to it before any more performance mods.

If you want more power at a later date - get 2.5", maybe 3" exhaust and some good quality extractors, and perhaps some minor head work done. For that car I wouldn't bother with any aspiration unless you are obsessed with owning a fast family 4x4 :p If you want serious power and are want something you can swing doughnuts in and pull a good standstill, buy a different car. :D