This X5 Got a BMW V10: A Bold E53 Restomod Tale Revealed

The sound hits before you see it. A high-rev bark where an SUV should whisper. At Pebble Beach week, Kit—the fashion-meets-restomod label led by Ronnie Feig—pulled back the cover on something improbable: a first-generation BMW X5 fitted with the S85 V10 and a six-speed manual.

Turning a family-hauler into a proper BMW oddity

Start with context. The E53 X5 launched as BMW's inaugural SUV and never received an official M badge. It flirted with performance through special editions—V12-inspired showpieces and the 4.6is and 4.8is models—but never a true M treatment. That absence is exactly what drove this project: a one-off restomod that finally marries E53 bones with M heart.

They began with a 2000 X5, stripped it to bare metal and rebuilt for more than a year. The centerpiece is the naturally aspirated 5.0-liter S85 V10, the same engine that thrilled the E60 M5 and E63 M6. Tuned here to 500 horsepower and about 520 newton meters of torque, the V10 routes power through a six-speed manual. The car retains BMW's full-time all-wheel-drive system with its fixed ratio, but everything around it—brakes, suspension and chassis bracing—has been upgraded with BMW M components and bespoke engineering to cope with the extra urgency.

This is the first time the S85 V10 has been installed in an SUV.

Visually the X5 honors its roots while looking purposeful. The shell wears titanium silver metallic, the E53's original launch tone, but the bodywork is reworked with wide fenders, deeper bumpers and side skirts. Five-spoke alloy wheels fill out the arches, and blue brake calipers peek from behind them. Inside there's a custom instrument cluster with re-calibrated rev numbers and Kit branding—subtle cues that remind you this is a crafted homage, not a wild departure.

Why does this matter? Because it blends two stories BMW fans have told separately for years: the raw, high-revving drama of the S85 and the practicality of an SUV chassis. The result is both theatrical and functional—an engineered curiosity that still feels honest to BMW's performance lineage.

Kit and BMW didn't stop there. Alongside the V10 E53, the teams will show a 2027 X5 finished in frozen titanium silver and two more restomods: a 1972 3.0 CSi and a 1987 M6, both in Inka orange with beige interiors. All of these will make their public bow during Monterey Car Week, where tradition and reinvention often collide.

There are questions hanging in the air. Will projects like this nudge manufacturers toward official, factory-built faithfulness to their past? Or are they simply celebrations of what independent builders can achieve when given a hand and a deadline? Either way, hearing a V10 howl from an SUV is a reminder that automotive culture still loves a daring idea executed well.