E92 330i Opinions / Reliability

[toon10]

I've had my E90 325i MSport for 2 and a half years. It's got about 60k on the clock now and so far has been reliable. I've only ever paid for tyres. I only get 23 to 25mpg but most of my driving is around the doors. I'd not expect to see much more than 30mpg with runs in a 330.

I've only driven the A4 diesels we have as pool cars at work and the BMW is a lot more dynamic and fun and I do love the straight 6 engine. I could do with a few more horses but mine's only the 2.5 version.

My wheels are fine but the last time I took the car in for a slow puncture the guy did say that they are well known for cracking although I was lucky, it just needed re-sealing.

[timbob]

Mackey444 said:

Well I didn't get the one I went to see.

It had a lot of stone chips all over the bonnet and bumper, I know you have to expect some at 62k, but it seemed like a lot. Other than that the bodywork was clean. Inside the leather was good, but some of the plastic near the buttons on the steering wheel had been worn off (by rings?) and and metal trim on the door was badly pitted. Also the catch on the armrest lid no longer work. The dealer had got the wheels painted gun metal grey himself, they looked good but I always want things as they came out the factory. It was a great drive, engine felt lovely. A red tyre light came on while we were driving, he said one of the runflats probably just needed pumping up a bit, but could this be hiding another issue?

Also it said full BMW s/h but the last BMW one was in 2012 at 40k, and then he has just done an oil service himself now at 62k, so it must have been long overdue, he tried to explain it away. I would be the 5th owner.

Think I was justified to pass on it, but maybe I am expecting a little too much for the money I want to spend. Are the coupes very bad for stonechips at this sort of milage?

I looked at quite a few cars just recently before I found my E91 325i the other week. Every one I looked at had the "rubberised" plastic near the buttons on the steering wheel wearing a little round the edges, and the metal trim covered in dings on the interior aluminium effect trim on the door - that bit of trim looks and feels fairly flimsy and must be quite susceptible to dents. Some were worse than others, but I noticed these two bits of trim on at least 3 separate cars all looked more worn than I would expect given the rest of the interior.

That said, he car you saw sounded like it wasn't "the one" anyway!

[nickfrog]

mosc7pc2 said:

Got my 330i a few months back as a AUC. Within 3 weeks, 3 injectors and cat convertor all went boom.

It has been fine since though. Just done 2000 miles to Germany and back in 3 days, absolutely faultless drive.

It is a sept 08 model registered as a 09 plate so pre LCI. I don't know exactly which N engine it is?

From my experience, I wouldn't want another 6 cylinder from BMW again unless it's an AUC.

mosc7pc2 said:

I chose the 330i as I thought it was meant to be quite reliable. No turbos to fail. No waste gate rattle to worry about. I actually wasn't so fussed on AUC or non AUC when I bought mine.

But now I gained that little bit of experience and realise I won't want a non AUC 3 litre straight 6 from BMW. If I could choose again, I would've gone for the 335i for the full experience!

That's how the internet can be ever so misleading.

1 - Your sample is 1 and I assume it's a N53 engine.
2 - Autobild did 100k kms in a 130i N52 engined car. Then they stripped it down to the last bolt a few years back. It still is the most reliable car they ever tested. Again, a sample of 1 though.
3 - N52 engined car owners report superb reliability, not just for 6 pot BMW engines, but by any standards. The N52 engine is the most reliable engine in the E9X / E8X generation of cars which the OP is looking at, ahead of the 4-pot petrol and diesel units.
4 - No need to buy AUC to get the warranty. It's actually a superb Mondial/BMW product available online (it takes 5 minutes) to privately bought cars too.
5 - You posted the same info twice so to the average casual reader it starting to sound like 6-cylinder BMW engines are pretty ropey, when it's quite the opposite.

I think you've been unlucky.

OP, can I suggest a N52 125i (remapped to 130i power for less than £400 - same engine) ?

Edited by nickfrog on Thursday 24th April 22:04

[Mr_Sukebe]

Prior to buying our E91 330i (SE), did a whole bunch of reading around.
In general, the new N53 engines are apparently more complex, powerful and economical, but as a side result, less reliable.
Personally we went with an N52 series auto, which doesn’t have the complex direct injection, a DMF or a DPF. Two years on, and nothing has gone wrong with the car at all.
Just a lovely creamy engine that tends to not get pushed that hard most of the time. Sure, economy is pants (20mpg in London traffic, 30mpg on a run), but excluding that, it’s ACE.

[banjowill]

Actually I'm surprised it's only 30 mpg on a run. In my 328i with the M52TU engine I would regularly see 35-6 mpg on a run - manual gearbox. The N52 is light years ahead of that engine

[Derek Chevalier]

nickfrog said:

mosc7pc2 said:

Got my 330i a few months back as a AUC. Within 3 weeks, 3 injectors and cat convertor all went boom.

It has been fine since though. Just done 2000 miles to Germany and back in 3 days, absolutely faultless drive.

It is a sept 08 model registered as a 09 plate so pre LCI. I don't know exactly which N engine it is?

From my experience, I wouldn't want another 6 cylinder from BMW again unless it's an AUC.

mosc7pc2 said:

I chose the 330i as I thought it was meant to be quite reliable. No turbos to fail. No waste gate rattle to worry about. I actually wasn't so fussed on AUC or non AUC when I bought mine.

But now I gained that little bit of experience and realise I won't want a non AUC 3 litre straight 6 from BMW. If I could choose again, I would've gone for the 335i for the full experience!

That's how the internet can be ever so misleading.

1 - Your sample is 1 and I assume it's a N53 engine.
2 - Autobild did 100k kms in a 130i N52 engined car. Then they stripped it down to the last bolt a few years back. It still is the most reliable car they ever tested. Again, a sample of 1 though.
3 - N52 engined car owners report superb reliability, not just for 6 pot BMW engines, but by any standards. The N52 engine is the most reliable engine in the E9X / E8X generation of cars which the OP is looking at, ahead of the 4-pot petrol and diesel units.
4 - No need to buy AUC to get the warranty. It's actually a superb Mondial/BMW product available online (it takes 5 minutes) to privately bought cars too.
5 - You posted the same info twice so to the average casual reader it starting to sound like 6-cylinder BMW engines are pretty ropey, when it's quite the opposite.

I think you've been unlucky.

OP, can I suggest a N52 125i (remapped to 130i power for less than £400 - same engine) ?

Edited by nickfrog on Thursday 24th April 22:04

Make it two (for the N53)

[jediali]

nickfrog said:

OP, can I suggest a N52 125i (remapped to 130i power for less than £400 - same engine) ?

Edited by nickfrog on Thursday 24th April 22:04

Interesting option. Not to get off topic but what does the software do? Just undo a detuned fuel map/valvetronic thing?

My understanding is the x30i has a 3 stage manifold facilitating induction conditions for 'improved' low down torque and high end power whereas the x25i is fixed. Has anyone compared the stock 25i and 30i torque curves to see where the optimization lies for the 25i? I have seen threads where people complained about a x25i auto shifting about more, particularly on hills, due to a poorer torque spread, making it slightly more frustrating than the x30i auto. Also read an interesting article comparing the M54 and N52 engine and the power increase between them seems to come from the extra rpm. May seem obvious but it less to do with actual efficiency or compression ratio.

You could maybe tune to a higher performance but that is different to getting the the equivalent x30i characteristics.

Edited by jediali on Saturday 26th April 10:54

[nickfrog]

The 125i has the 3-stage manifold of the 130i. In other words both cars have mechanically identical engines.. Evolve and P-Torque offer a simple remap with a more aggressive throttle map. The confusion comes from the US only 128i that doesn't have the 3-stage DiSA.

[jediali]

OK thanks for the clarification, makes sense now!