Will BMW E36 leather front seat fit in a 2005 x5 without modification?
No. Modification is required to retrofit a e36 seat in a e53 x5. First there is size of the actual seat and different seat rail bolt down lcoations, there a simply not the same. You would probably have to modify or customize some sort of seat rail to the e36 seat and then resecure it te x5. Now that you have the seat in the car after 1st set of modifications now you have to modify the wiring. Take into consideration airbag lights from the seat occupancy that is now missing from the x5, and also your airbag might work properly, if at ALL. Also if the X5 has electric seats, and or heated seats these used to be options might not be available to you anymore. E36 wiring schematics are different from a E53 wiring. Please take into consideration if wiring mods are done incorrect and wiring harness or connectors get burned that could cost you $1500-$4000 for a dealer to fix. The reason would be is because a complete wiring harness for a x5 is not cheap and consider the labor it would strip the
