Reasons not to buy an E90-

[b*saint]

I don't find e90's appealing. I'd rather have some domestic car like a Ford Fusion Sport.

[AWDE30]

I'm getting ready to buy a car this week and am having trouble finding a 07 328i with a 6 speed manual tranny and low enough miles within my budget. Where would be the best place to look for this car? I've been all over cars.com, autotrader, CarLocate, ebay, BMW dealer network and BMWCCA classifieds the cars I see either make me nervous with high miles or don't have options or warranty. I have found a few 1 series that I like a lot. What would be some other options of foreign luxury sports cars with rear or all wheel drive and under 20k that I should consider? Might have to get a Subaru Legacy if I can't find a BMW of my liking and that would suck.

[joonsup]

I leased an e92 for 3 years and recently turned it in this past October. It was a 335i and gave me no fuel pump issues. Yes they do cost more than the 328 but if you are shopping for an e92 I would definitely get the 335. It has 300hp/300tq compared to the 240hp the 328 has. It's night and day when you drive both of em. And plus nowadays the e92 335i used with twenty something thousand miles go for under 30 and the e90 can be found for even less.

If you're shopping for one, don't be scared by the fuel pump issues as there is an official recall on them as of a month or so ago when ABC aired a story on tv about it. Plus bmwna warranties the fuel pump up to 100 or 120k miles instead of the standard 50K miles on everything else.

Whenever I took my car in for service i usually received a 328 as a loaner and initially you're like wtf why is it so slow. But after a couple days you adjust to the power and it still has some pep at 240hp. Do you need 300hp? no, but it's nice to have if you can afford it. Add a piggyback tune such as a juicebox or procede for under 1K and just on the tune itself you can get around 360-370 to the wheels.

If you want to tune your car, get the 335 b/c the 328 is pointless to tune to make it go faster. You can still make it look nice though. There are so many more mods available to gain power on the n54 motor. I've taken my e92 to the track and my e30 to the track and I honestly think the e30 is more fun. I feel more connected with the e30 and although my m20 powered 168hp 20 year old car gets burned by all the subys and evos and other high hp cars, i love how raw the e30 is w/out any traction control, etc.. And I'm sure for those of you who threw in an s50/s52 motor in your e30, I bet it's a blast to take it on the track.

Anyways, if you can afford an e9x you should choose which model depending on what you want to do with a car. You want to just cruise and use it as a dd? get the 328. Want to make it go fast? get the 335.

Here's a couple threads of mine on e90post.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=414844

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=244115

[mar1t1me]

$250 + the flatbed ride for a dead battery? BS! Why isn't there a small Li-Ion battery somewhere that preserves all the settings while the main battery is replaced?

That and the shitty drivetrain parts. The diffs are nowhere near as well-built as the 80's parts, and these things still need to go back to the dealer for too much.

Run flats should be optional, too.

Frankly, I have no interest in a new BMW. Overly complex rolling annuities for dealer service departments is what they're building now, not relatively easy to understand and service cars that will go 300K without issue.

[glucklich21]

I am really glad it had the refined design and not the old one. Hell, I think I like this one better than the '10 model. But the '10 model's cup holders are larger in dia.

WTF are you talking about? :loco:

your interior....... <3

Thanks. ;)

[kishg]

Her first track day:


Since these pics, I put a set of 15mm spacers on the rear for teh pokes. I think I'm going to move those to the front and get 20mm for the rear. I actually like the stock wheels, no plans on changing them.

Nothing quite like LRP in the rain :)

[xLibelle]

I'm not sure what to say about e90's in general... I own an '09 335d and LOVE it but all the other versions of the e90 that I have driven haven't compared on a number of levels.

No group of words arranged in any form will help you understand my personal view of the car - you'd just have to drive one (the diesel that is) in order to understand.

I am really glad it had the refined design and not the old one. Hell, I think I like this one better than the '10 model. But the '10 model's cup holders are larger in dia.

On the country roads, I'm getting a solid 47mpg. In the city, it rarely goes below 30mpg.

[freeride53]

your interior....... <3

[kway]

Great info kway. I think what you said just reinforces the fact that i need to skip the 06 325i and either get the 330i or 328i. I know that they all have the same engine, just the intake manifold is different, correct?? 330i's have come down a lot in price, it's easy to find a clean one for under 20k. Again any huge worries about buying this car (330i) at 60,000 miles previous CPO without warranty? I don't want to be stuck with a $20,000 hunk of metal.

-Kway what has been the priciest bill you have had, even if you didn't have to pay (CPO). Did you buy the car new, used, CPO and when? Have any pictures I love looking at E90s.

Yeah, I'd definitely say skip the 325i. 328 is going to be better, but keep in mind the 330i is another 25hp up on that. I'd say drive both, I don't have enough seat time in 328s to say whether the extra power is that dramatic. Pretty sure the difference is that the 328 and 330 have a variable length intake manifold, 325 does not. Downside is, if you're looking to do any tuning later on, you're not going to find much. 335i leads that department.

I actually bought mine at relatively high mileage, 68k. It was from a BMW dealer but not CPO. I was a bit nervous about it at the time for the same reasons as you, but the price was right, options were right, so I jumped on it. No regrets.

I've put about 15k on it, no problems to speak of. The only real work I've done outside of maintenance is the valve cover gasket and bolts. The N52s with metal valve covers have been known to get broken bolts at the front of the head on the exhaust side causing a big oil leak. Mine weren't broken, but I wanted to do a preemptive strike before it became a problem. Book time is like 5 hours, and it's a suckier job than it has any right to be. I'm a mechanic so I do all my own work, but if I was to bring it into my shop, 5hrs @ $90/hr + parts would have been $500-$600. I don't even want to think about what the dealer would charge. If I had it to do all over again, I would have just changed the bolts one by one and I think it would have been fine. I'll probably do that in another 70k miles or so.

I actually haven't taken too many pics of it, but here are a few (all phone pics, sorry):

The night I brought it home:



Her first track day:


Since these pics, I put a set of 15mm spacers on the rear for teh pokes. I think I'm going to move those to the front and get 20mm for the rear. I actually like the stock wheels, no plans on changing them.

[naplesE30]

I like our 07 e90 328i. Its a good car, but I would make sure you buy one CPO. You get a great warranty that will make it worth the extra $$$ the first time something goes wrong. Runflats suck but that can be changed easily enough. I only wished we had bought a touring. My wife drives ours, with my 3mo old son, so we wanted a safe car that is still sporty. The e30 is more fun to drive, but the e90 would spank the shit out of the e30 on any track. All in all its a good car but I may be looking at the audi's for our next family car. BMW has just gotten away from their core values, or shifted them to efficiency blah blah blah. Also the lexus is350 is another great car to look at. I was impressed with it in test drives.


Also BMW is no longer in the buisness of selling cars, they are now in the biz of leasing cars which means you can pick up used low mileage cars pretty cheap, and they will go down on price pretty easily, although not to many 6spd on lease turn ins.

[glucklich21]

I love my E90. I don't care how many issues the N54 has, it will still be my favorite engine. Although mine has only had one HPFP failure. It's a blast to drive and constantly wants to please. My only issue I dislike about it is how much bigger it is than my E30. If I go from the E30 to the E90 it feels like I'm driving a very agile tank. Given once I've driven it for 20 mins I'm use to it, but it is slightly unsettling how much the 3er has model bloated.


Also it's tits to thrash around the track.




And I love my interior. Note I row my own gears. ;)



Plus I have the M-Sport package so I get all the M-Tech bits. It's just like my M-Tech E30, just 20 years later.

[freeride53]

That's a shitload of vents.. By any chance do you guys cook meth?

Idk why our houses look like that. Shitty town houses around here cost like a million dollars.

Oh he's selling it? Is it a 6 speed? Looks like a 06 325

yes, yes, and yes.

Look how huge it is next to the e30. :rofl:

I know, but it handles like a dream. His previous daily driver was a volvo 240 station wagon, so I guess it's an improvement. I drive the Volvo every now and then.

[gwb72tii]

gwb72tii & gkurey nice E92s are you guys on E90 post?

no

[TheEtaUnderdog]

335i + jb3 = fucking amazing

a kid at my college a few years back had one and it was a beast. something like 400 ponies to the wheels

check the youtube videos

[kishg]

330 or 328 e90 will be our next car most likely. great value right now..