My Alpine White F25 X3 Xdrive20d Motorsport

tman

Well-known member
I have your clone in my household. Same model, year, colour, rims, msport etc on 80 000km.

Gem of a car, specially for road trippin'

My only gripe is overtaking above 100km/h can be a bit slow. There is literally nothing else to complain about, its an excellent car.
 

VinceM

Well-known member
Very practical day to day cars.

I loved the 3.0d motor in mine.

Looks good


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922-ZN

Well-known member
I have your clone in my household. Same model, year, colour, rims, msport etc on 80 000km.

Gem of a car, specially for road trippin'

My only gripe is overtaking above 100km/h can be a bit slow. There is literally nothing else to complain about, its an excellent car.
30d is where it's atđź’Ş
 

PsyCLown

Well-known member
I have your clone in my household. Same model, year, colour, rims, msport etc on 80 000km.

Gem of a car, specially for road trippin'

My only gripe is overtaking above 100km/h can be a bit slow. There is literally nothing else to complain about, its an excellent car.
If you want to sell, the GF is looking for a SUV and my first choice for her would be an X3.

Lovely car, they still look great despite their age!
 

tman

Well-known member
If you want to sell, the GF is looking for a SUV and my first choice for her would be an X3.

Lovely car, they still look great despite their age!
Thanks bud, but won't be selling this anytime soon. Can't get anything similar in the price class.

Reason I say it's slow for overtaking is - I am used to 3.0d sedan
 

CK4LIFE

Active member
My initial plan was to get F10 520d or a double cap but an X3 is really growing up on me, especially when i read write-ups like KPM3_30's. A reall motivation!
 

KPM3_30

Moderator
Staff member
Hard to believe its been 18 months since the last update on the showroom threads and some of the updates will be duplicated between threads, so please bear with me.. Time really has flown by and it has been a massive period of change for me personally, from a new job, to a new home in another province and the biggest blessing of all, a new addition to the family.. Not another car, as many may think but rather a baby boy that is already taking up all my time and attention (rightly so!).

Had a fantastic run with the car as it did duty over the entire festive period and into Q1. Experienced my first spot of trouble with the car some 8k km later toward the end of March 2021, had just started up the car and was on my way to fuel up when I got a warnings on the speedo and it felt almost as though the handbrake was binding (had a quadfecta of lights). Switched the car off and on again, the error disappeared and then reappeared some 5km later, at which point I was almost at my late friend’s workshop (they have closed down now), had the codes read and it pointed to a few things, transfer case, handbrake and wheel speed sensor. Decided to leave the car there for troubleshooting, it turned out to be a front left and rear right wheel speed sensor and I decided to just go ahead and replace all 4 at the same time with OEM. Once done, all the other codes disappeared and it was happy motoring for a while.




Had a stone chip on the windscreen from a prior trip to Jhb and it had gotten worse so decided to have it changed with an OEM one and had the guys come out and do mobile fitment at some point In June. Was pretty happy to have a spotless windscreen again and glad I pushed the insurer to go OEM, they always want to fit generic ones to save costs and cite the age of the vehicle as a driving factor.



I then booked the car in at Supertech for a brake fluid flush a month later and they were having a special on wipers, so I took advantage of that at the same time. As part of their service package, they read the codes and the car threw up an EGR code. I was told I could leave it there for a new cooler at the princely sum of R15k, which I declined. Took the car over to a new workshop now that the BMWorkshop had closed its doors and had the EGR removed and cleaned to see if it would fix the error. Thankfully it was just soot that had clogged the EGR and this was cleaned, at the same time I replaced the swirl flaps with a new unit from BMW as the old ones had massive amounts of play. Rounded the visit out with a stage 0 software tune from Xcede just to switch off the EGR to prevent further issues with the system. I will likely do stage 1 if I do XHP as I will not tune the ECU without doing the corresponding TCU software, personal preference. Looked like an X3 kinda day..



A few weeks later, I had seen that one of the rear taillights were not lighting up and did some research into it. I have seen many F25’s with taillights that don’t work and was prompted to do some homework. Turns out the Valeo LED drivers are known to fail after a while and some people replace the entire light as BMW does not sell them separately. I enquired with a forumite that managed to supply the boards and fit them at another workshop in Durban, decided it would be prudent to do all 4 for a considerable saving over the agent’s solution for 1. The replacements were actually a bit brighter than the OEM ones and it comes with a decent warranty, so was happy with the outcome.



Used the car in October to come view my now property and the car didn’t skip a beat since consuming funds a few months prior. Fast forward to March 2022 and the car made its mileage milestone of 100k km. Treated the car to an oil service at BMW and then proceeded to change all filters for good measure. Just before the relocation to Jhb some months later, I got a warning for rear brakes being due in a few k – opted to have them done as a matter of safety since the family would be with me in the car on the trip up. Just before we left, had the car cleaned and took some mandatory Blak shots for the last time.






Upon moving to Jhb I had wanted to do the Transfer Case and diff oils at ZF as part of the 100k service regime, I made a booking at ZF and tried to procure the diff oil but was unlucky in terms of timing. Decided to just do the TC oil for now and will complete the diff oils when I take the car back to ZF for another gearbox oil change. I also wanted to have the DP done and made arrangements with Xcede as part of the special they had, got this completed at PowerPipes and couldn’t be happier. Workmanship and service is streets ahead of anything I’ve seen prior (lets not forget my previous experience with the useless operation that is Roadmaster). DP has made the car a bit louder as you hear the turbo much more and there's no cat to kill some of the noise but it's fun.. Also gave me some performance gains according to the butt dyno, car definitely feels sprightlier.




Sadly, my place only has a double garage and in line with estate rules and regulations, I had to settle for a custom length, waterproof shade-net carport (really wanted an enclosed aluminum set up). It does the job nicely and surprisingly the car stays clean for ages.



That brings the X3 showroom thread up to date and for now, no plans to do anything more than necessary maintenance.. Thanks for following.
 

FILV

Well-known member
Glad she is doing well.
Have you noticed any difference in cosnumption and drivabilty after the down pipe?
 

Niven27

Member
Nice ride with the perfect mods.

I also have a x3 20d and contemplating doing downpipe, software and xhp on the gearbox soon as well.

Please can you point me in the right direction to get the taillight boards and installation done. Im based in durban.
One of my taillights have just gone out.


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tman

Well-known member
I have seen many F25’s with taillights that don’t work and was prompted to do some homework. Turns out the Valeo LED drivers are known to fail after a while and some people replace the entire light as BMW does not sell them separately.
Mine also failed @DannyBoyOPC assisted when BMW wanted to charge something mad.
 

KPM3_30

Moderator
Staff member
So, with the progress into 2023 I am currently thinking about letting the car go and up-trading to a G01 in the coming months.. Will look for the G01 first before I let the F25 go, as we still need a family car.

Comprehensive history and well looked after example with very low mileage. Currently doing 117k and just had a full service done in March, balance of 2 black oil services left. Will do a thread at some point, anyone keen on the car is welcome to contact me to chat.
 

KPM3_30

Moderator
Staff member
Viewed a G01 30d Msport yesterday with the intention to purchase.. Even had the F25 sale advert typed up with new pics, ready to post prior to viewing. To say underwhelmed is a bit of an understatement, considering it is three times the price of the F25.. Not sure what I was expecting or perhaps my expectations were too high. I thought I would be blown away and have the 'shut up and take my money' feeling that I've gotten in the past from other car purchases.

It is plenty fast compared to the 20d and rides a little better, beyond that though, I think that's where the positives end for me. Interior quality feels markedly cheaper than the F25 and really doesn't wear as well, this 4 year old car looked almost equivalent to my 11 year old car.. Actually a bit disappointed to be honest, just proved to me that newer isn't necessarily always better (definitions/iterations may vary).

It was a useful exercise for me as I've decided to hold onto the F25 for the foreseeable future. As much as the 20d is slower, it is no donkey and easily livable until I decide to change to something else later on, whatever that may be.
 

MR_Y

Well-known member
Agree with your point on the G01 (at least the early models) being cheaply made in some areas. F25 is old school, but solid.
Your next upgrade will need to be an M40d :)
 

VinceM

Well-known member
Agree with your point on the G01 (at least the early models) being cheaply made in some areas. F25 is old school, but solid.
Your next upgrade will need to be an M40d :)

The facelift seems very popular though the price is whack!


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KPM3_30

Moderator
Staff member
Agree with your point on the G01 (at least the early models) being cheaply made in some areas. F25 is old school, but solid.
Your next upgrade will need to be an M40d :)
To be honest, I don't know if I want to move to the G01 after my last experience. The M40d will definitely be a step up I'm sure, but at that price point I would be more inclined to go for a late model F15..

Not a G series but seems like a hell of a lot more bang for buck. I could do with more space than the G01 offers and the G05 is priced way out of what I would consider spending to scratch an itch I shouldn't even have.
 
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