The E53 BMW may not go down as the prettiest in the company’s history, but it was responsible in part for the company’s genesis into the modern market. Launched in 1999, the X5 was the company’s first ‘truck’, though it was dubbed by the company a Sport Activity Vehicle and based heavily on the E39 chassis. That wasn’t a bad thing, as the chassis dynamics of the E39 are universally lauded. It also meant that you could get some pretty slick motors in the X5, and that was certainly true towards the end of the run. The 4.6iS was launched in 2001, and had beefy wheels, a body kit, and 342 horsepower from the M62 under the hood. Not done, the N62 version replaced it in 2004, and saw the first generation X5 out in the 4.8iS guise we see here with 355 horsepower on tap. They’re fairly hard to miss in terms of sheer presence, and I have to confess – I really have a soft spot for these. Let’s take a look at this Imola Red example:
