Reasons not to buy an E90-

[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.

[freeride53]

your interior....... <3

[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.

[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 :)

[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. ;)

[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.

[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

[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.

[b*saint]

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

[mikeedler]

how about it costs 50 thousand fucking dollars? :p

exact! they are way too much money for what they are. used or not, I can't see dropping the cash.

[AWDE30]

exact! they are way too much money for what they are. used or not, I can't see dropping the cash.

For around $16k and above I am finding 07 328i 6 speeds usually without sports package and usually with maintenance warranty. Should the lack of maintenance warranty be the reason not to buy the car? I assume you work on a number of E9Xs in Germany. I don't know if you see any higher mile/kilometer cars in for service but do they become money pits after a certain point?

[TheEtaUnderdog]

apparently people haven't been car shopping lately because all of its competition are around the same price bracket. I wouldn't listen to the cheap fucks on here telling you to shy away on price.

The e30 is a fucking toy, not a comfortable DD.

[bmw2002tiiagave]

I've got a E60 535i. Same thing except like 200lbs heavier. JB3 + downpipes and the thing is pretty damn quick. Still like my E30 better, its a REAL car.

[mikeedler]

I wouldn't listen to the cheap fucks on here telling you to shy away on price.

The e30 is a fucking toy, not a comfortable DD.

has nothing to do with "being cheap"
it had to do with quality vs. price. I think e90 and family are great cars just overpriced.
actually, here in Germany you are not even going to come close to finding something that cheap-- hell, 13,000 euros will get you into a stripped down base mode (cloth seats with hand crank rear windows) 118d if your lucky.

I see quite a few cars everyday here- today I had a 06' that needs a new DME and possibly
a few injectors-- I am sure the owner is not going to have a very nice christmas. the steering column locking mech. seems to be the biggest problem chassis wise on these cars.

the various ecu's all over the car is what you need to watch out for-- overly expensive and then your car needs to be completely reprogrammed after install-- very expensive.

but, for 16,000 dollars, i would probably jump at one too. try to look for something as close to just out of the warranty as pos. and that has always been serviced by BMW, if something big does go wrong and you find a "good" dealership, you may have a chance at BMW covering atleast some of the cost- atleast thats the way it works here.

[1craze30]

The e30 is a fucking toy, not a comfortable DD.

you are so wrong. how old are you? 60?