My wife's X3 E83 Sportpack Build.

Thought I should put up a build page for it as I cannot keep a car std for more than 1/2 an hour, lol. This X3 is the replacement vehicle for my wife's silver '02 330i with 274 000km, its a Sept 2004 built registered 2005 BMW E83 X3 Sportpack 2.5lt Black Sapphire Metallic on 155 000km but with a low mileage M54B30 swap, awesome! Plus the 2.5lt is thrown into the deal and I got the lot for R6000 under trade value, plus the former owner is a friend who lives close by.
Reason for the upsize is because of a recent holiday to the Kruger National Park in my E46 touring, we saw game but not enough compared to the SUV's and 4x4's who could see over the tall grass, plus we didn't see any cats as we didn't venture onto dirt roads in the park in fear of getting stuck, there and then my wife and I said the next vehicle will be a SUV. Upon arrival back home I started searching for white X5 E53 facelift 3.0d models but they were too expensive for us to buy cash and tyre prices scared us alot, then I found out that a friend was selling his wife's black X3 and I got hold of him and he said we could borrow it for a few days and see what we think, the X3 sold itself to me in the first day, wife needed another day or two to come round but now loves it! White was the first choice but this black one was way cleaner and way more vehicle for the money than the white X3's I had seen. I did test a X5 and it felt too heavy and cumbersome in comparison to the X3, Im looking for something that still feels attached to the road like a 3series but has good ground clearance and the X3 did that and won my heart, perhaps a X5 at a later stage but not right now. Anyway onto pics.

Start off with a comparison shot next to my wife's favourite car.

At home in the garage.

Dogs have more room in the X3 vs the touring.

10mm/13mm spanner missing.

Horrid E90 steering wheel.

There are a few niggles around the car which I am already attending to, to be expected from a 10year old car and no big deal for me as the X3 shares many parts with E46 parts and those I have plenty of.
Brake fluid needs replacement.

Hood lining shrunk.

Was it too hard to paint that bit or what?

LF Indicator has chromium, RF has orange.

Window is a 2nd hand OEM replacement.

1 carpet missing.

No books

Torch still works.

The glove box was rattling, turned out to be 2 loose screws.

Spring action is missing.

Front passenger door card.

Wear and tear.

Future Nav screen position.

Wife isn't a fan of the wood trim.

But is a fan of this cup holder...

RR door trim chipped, also missing screw covers on both rear doors.

Rear seat armrest, these open via a button unlike the E46 touring one, had me stumped for a while until I found the open button.

Rear interior lights needed new bulbs.

One Boot light out.

Not sure what would go into that strange hole.

2lt bottle maybe?

Behind the cover.

Other side has good space for a large amp.

Swapped the 652 for a 668

Even with the bigger battery there is still room for more battery.

Nifty way of holding the boot board up.

No map reading lights?

Fixed!

Rear bumper has some parking lot damage.

Only some curb rash on the left side, right side is clean.

First mod, ugly E90 steering wheel out and beautiful E46 M3 SMG wheel in. Will try get the paddles to work with the steptronic box at a later stage.

Side by side.