E90 BMW 325i 2006

[toon10]

I have had mine for nearly 5 years and I'm trading it against an M135i due next month. It's been a great car. I looked long and hard for a 330 mSport but after trying a few dogs, I ended up with the 2.5 325i. It's not lightning quick but it is more than enough to see off your average sales rep special or normal hot hatch on the dash to get home after work. Mine's a 56 plate and the only problem I had was a coil pack (£110 to fix). If you want any info drop me a PM and I'll be happy to pass on any obsevations.

Dealer pic

[andy118run]

toon10 said:

I ended up with the 2.5 325i. It's not lightning quick but it is more than enough to see off your average sales rep special or normal hot hatch on the dash to get home after work.

Nicely put, pretty much my feelings on how the 325 performs.

Part of me would like something with a bit more oomph, but considering its generally good in so many respects (comfy, economical, reliable), I can live without it being 'lightning quick'.

[andy118run]

Barchettaman said:

Does it also qualify for the cheaper road tax? Bonus if it does!

Hmmm. £290 for the year. Not sure if that's what you mean by cheap.

I struggle to keep up with the road tax bands, though I seem to remember it gets a bit silly after a certain year (£400+, without googling the info).

[andy118run]

bigalx said:

I thought the 325i E90s were the same 3.0 N/A engine with a different tune?



I cant wait to get rid of the run flats

All in all a risky ebay car

- No, the later 325s were the detuned 3.0. I assume mine would have been one of the last 2.5 engines (N52?)before they made the change.

- Must admit the run flats really don't bother me. Certainly no plans to change.

- Love trawling ebay for a bargain - am determined to get a shed (maybe Saab, Volvo etc) to bumble around in sometime soon. Would have to be sub-1K though, I don't think I could chance the sort of money you did, but looks like you have a bargain.

[toon10]

andy118run said:

Nicely put, pretty much my feelings on how the 325 performs.

Part of me would like something with a bit more oomph, but considering its generally good in so many respects (comfy, economical, reliable), I can live without it being 'lightning quick'.

It's been such a great all rounder that I've never felt the need to change it until now. Hopefully the M135i will sort my craving for more speed. I tested one as I was after a hot hatch to go back to my youth (mid life crisis) but it's more of a mini GT car than a hot hatch, especially with the sports auto.

Anyway, I digress, your car looks really nice. The 325 was my first BMW and after I ditched the RFT's, it served me well over the years.

[cerb4.5lee]

toon10 said:

It's been such a great all rounder that I've never felt the need to change it until now. Hopefully the M135i will sort my craving for more speed. I tested one as I was after a hot hatch to go back to my youth (mid life crisis) but it's more of a mini GT car than a hot hatch, especially with the sports auto.

I think you will enjoy the M135i I also often fancy more poke from my 330i but it does so many things well so I can almost forgive it and I can see me keeping it for a while.

Would love a M235i big time though.

[Hitch78]

I have a 2008 LCI 325i with the 3.0 lump and it is a great car. Before I bought it I was guilty of only looking for 330s or 335s but I think the 325 is a fantastic package as a daily driver. If it was an estate it would be even better.

[andy118run]

• **** Annual Update time ************

Yep, almost a year to the day since my last update. My trusty 325 has now travelled -


or taking the figures from the MOT records, 12633 miles over the last year. I'm a little surprised as my commute to work is a round trip of 6 miles and I also have a couple of other cars in the household which I use.

Yesterday the car had a major service - all the filters changed, new spark plugs, £52 worth of oil and whatever else they do. Along with the MOT, the cost was £493. I was wondering whether to change the car in the coming months but as with last year, the chaps who serviced it commented on what a tidy car it is, that the underneath is near immaculate and how good these engines are compared to some of the more recent BMW offerings. So a change is not really on the agenda for now.

MOT was passed with no advisories. This is the MOT history and the MOT mileage chart (clearly showing a spike in the 2 years I've owned the car!)





Overall, it's been another good year for the car - it's been utterly dependable and apart from the copious amounts of fuel it consumes when used in urban areas, the only other costs I can think of -

-£17.99 to have a nice chap at Halfords change a headlight bulb.
-£15.00 x 2 for oil when the car produced a low oil warning light on a couple of occasions - once in the summer and then a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, topped up with a litre on each occasion and things seemed fine. Annoying not having a dipstick as I find the computer one a pain to use.
-£200 or so for a couple of new run flat tyres fitted to the rear.

Oh, and this little mishap happened around October time -


Reversing in a hotel car park in Manchester and not paying as much attention as I should have.
Anyway, £360 later it was restored to its former glory -


Actually, there's a thread here, if those pictures don't work -
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Plans for the year -

-If the car stays then I really fancy getting the windows to the rear tinted as my 1 year old seems to be constantly bothered by the sun, thus hindering her sleep on longer journeys.

-Wondering whether to de-badge it, the 325i bit that is. Don't know why, just had this in my mind for a while and I did see a technique involving tooth floss and a hair dryer on YouTube!

-I suspect the runflats will stay but if I did happen upon some reasonable M sport alloys with decent tyres on the likes of gumtree I might be tempted.

Finally, a couple of pictures from today -


And here it is with its little brother, readers car thread here - http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[bigalx]

Have a look for OE spec rear window blinds.

I have the 330i SE which I have put the M sport Body kit on and BMW 18 alloys on - but I have the chrome rather than the shadow/black window surrounds like yours. I have a child due in a few weeks and looked at tinting but against the chrome I thought it could look a little odd. So I looked on eBay and picked up an set or rear window blinds which cover the entire rear windows of the door, and you can still open the windows yet don't look quite as gangster as a full tint - more about the performance than the looks and my second hand as new pair were about £35 delivered - even new they were cheaper than tinting.

Just a suggestion since I wasn't aware that you could get OE spec sun shades/blinds and really didn't want ill-fitting square ones.

Oh and lovely car by the way.

Regards

Alex

[Harrison-91xcg]

bigalx said:

Have a look for OE spec rear window blinds.

I have the 330i SE which I have put the M sport Body kit on and BMW 18 alloys on - but I have the chrome rather than the shadow/black window surrounds like yours. I have a child due in a few weeks and looked at tinting but against the chrome I thought it could look a little odd. So I looked on eBay and picked up an set or rear window blinds which cover the entire rear windows of the door, and you can still open the windows yet don't look quite as gangster as a full tint - more about the performance than the looks and my second hand as new pair were about £35 delivered - even new they were cheaper than tinting.

Just a suggestion since I wasn't aware that you could get OE spec sun shades/blinds and really didn't want ill-fitting square ones.

Oh and lovely car by the way.

Regards

Alex

Can you send me a link for these? I want the same but I know some of the ebay blinds don't fit properly - did you fit them yet?

[Harrison-91xcg]

Oh and OP great car by the way.

I have a 330i SE.

Recommend upgrading the steering wheel and finding an m sport gear knob.

http://royalsteeringwheels.com/ - I had mine done for £150. From the crappy SE wheel to proper thick (a bit thicker than M sport) means you can manhandle the car. The gear knob is weighted and makes the shift feel a lot better.

I also went with MV3s from the 158s which you have on. The balance of the car is great, but the MV3s being lower profile and wider width provides a better feel (at least in my opinion)

One thing all E90 owners should know are tyre pressures. The recommended values are c 38psi front and 42 psi rear. I had always run my previous cars at around 30. I decided to try the recommend values and wow what a difference! The car became ultra responsive! It reminded me of my previous Clio 182, although of course not as agile. I actually had to dial the psi down to 34 front and 38 rear in the end because for dual carriage or motorway driving the responsiveness was not ideal!

[bigalx]

Harrison-91xcg said:

Can you send me a link for these? I want the same but I know some of the ebay blinds don't fit properly - did you fit them yet?

Link to the full price brand new ones:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Genuine-Rear-Side-Wi...

Might be able to find cheaper else where or second hand. they fit really well and yes I have fitted them - just had to get new double sided sticking pads for a few £ and then fitted them in a few minutes.

[andy118run]

Thanks for some of the tips above, regarding gear knobs, steering wheels and the sun blinds.

Definitely some food for thought there.

[BlueHave]

bigalx said:

Harrison-91xcg said:

Can you send me a link for these? I want the same but I know some of the ebay blinds don't fit properly - did you fit them yet?

Link to the full price brand new ones:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Genuine-Rear-Side-Wi...

Might be able to find cheaper else where or second hand. they fit really well and yes I have fitted them - just had to get new double sided sticking pads for a few £ and then fitted them in a few minutes.

£90 for a sun blind

[Mr Tidy]

andy118run said:

- No, the later 325s were the detuned 3.0. I assume mine would have been one of the last 2.5 engines (N52?)before they made the change.

- Must admit the run flats really don't bother me. Certainly no plans to change.

- Love trawling ebay for a bargain - am determined to get a shed (maybe Saab, Volvo etc) to bumble around in sometime soon. Would have to be sub-1K though, I don't think I could chance the sort of money you did, but looks like you have a bargain.

Great thread - I have a Z4 Coupe with the 3 litre N52 engine for special days.

But for daily duties I have an E46 325 Compact - leggy ones must be drifting into shed territory, although I don't know why! Just such a great car.

Wouldn't want anything with the N53 engine, so no 3 litre 325s for me thanks!

[bigalx]

BlueHave said:

£90 for a sun blind

I paid £30 for a second-hand set which were effectively new.

Based on the quotes I had of getting the widows tinted £90 was cheaper and in my opinion looks far less like I'm going to "turn up the bass" than having window tints and they are a 1 minute job to remove if I wanted too.

So £90 isn't cheap but equally neither is window tinting and you could buy these and sell them on for likely £30 when your done - so worst case £60.

Each to their own

[andy118run]

Mr Tidy said:

Great thread - I have a Z4 Coupe with the 3 litre N52 engine for special days.

But for daily duties I have an E46 325 Compact - leggy ones must be drifting into shed territory, although I don't know why! Just such a great car.

Wouldn't want anything with the N53 engine, so no 3 litre 325s for me thanks!

I've wondered about the 325 compact as a second car. My main fear is it would be much the same as driving my main car, whereas I would really want something a bit different.
Anyway, my Alfa is getting way too little use so I suspect it may be replaced with something a little more practical in the coming months.