Turbo diesel’s are a little hidden gem that just has not caught on strong in the USA. Almost everything is a turbo diesel in Europe as the fuel economy is impressive along with the daily drivability and gut wrenching torque. Regardless of the VAG scandal, turbo diesel vehicles will continue to gain steam for manufactures and in the tuning market. Having owned both V8 Gas and Diesel SUV’s in this market segment, I can say that the diesel is the better of the two. I have personally had a 2004 and 2005 Porsche Cayenne S V8 which although fun to drive, just did not have the “Turbo” power. Even more recently I had a Volkswagen Touareg TDI with the V6 diesel which we did a ECU flash and was an incredible ride. Built on the Porsche Cayenne chassis in the Porsche factory, it preformed like a Cayenne with awesome diesel power. When that vehicle’s time came up, we moved to this 2015 BMW X5 Diesel with M Sport package. The power of the 30D X5 is nice coming with 254 HP and 413 ft/lbs of torque. If I were to compare vehicles, the BMW has a much nicer infotainment center but lacks that Porsche handling feel. But when it comes to pulling power of 5000 pounds, the X5D is no slouch. As mostly a DD for the family, a little more grunt can’t hurt at all. Like the other F Series vehicles, the ECU is hidden away and a pain to get to. Since we don’t anticipate doing EGR or cat deletes on this vehicle, the VR Tuned Tuning Box is the perfect upgrade. The plug and play tuning box takes the horsepower from 254 up to 324bhp and the torque from 413 to 470 ft/lbs. This is a major gain over stock. Now like most of these products, the question is always “are the gains really realized”. I can say from some test drives in standard and sport mode, absolutely! The wife even recognized it immediately. So now the X5 30D nears the power of the 40D but still aways from the M50D platform. So as the drivability, throttle response, and power were delivered, what were the challenges? Installing this on the 30D engine takes some work. I would say its about an hour. The instructions that are provided HERE are dead nuts right. But some of these clips are in hard to reach places. Once you take off the BMW engine cover, there is a 1 inch thick foam “blanket” that needs to come all the way off. The only way to get this off is to take off the intake tube. Other than those steps, a little patience, and making sure your connections are all good, the process is simple. I plugged the box into the harness and fired up the car. No lights, no issues, and just hammering away to the grocery store now! The BMW X5 30D Tuning Box is available here. The VRT-121133-5 also works on the BMW 2 Series Diesel, Mini Cooper R55 R56 R57 Diesel, BMW 1 Series Diesel, BMW F30 and E90 3 Series Diesel, BMW 7 Series Diesel, BMW X1 and X3 Diesel, BMW 4 Series Diesel, BMW 5 and 6 Series Diesel. Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment.
