Considering a 330i - Questions

[cerb4.5lee]

Yes you've found an absolute belter I reckon, enjoy picking it up.

[Mad Dave]

Thanks. Hopefully it's as good as it looks

[Mr Tidy]

Mad Dave, that looks like a fantastic car in every way - one owner, colour, spec, etc.!

When you pick it up I bet you'll go home the long way.

Might not help the mpg though.

[Mad Dave]

Thanks, it's about 90 miles away anyway but I'll be seeking out the twisties rather than the motorway

[Matt_N]

That's lovely and the kind of thing I'd be looking to replace my E46 330i with, I've got Topaz blue over biege and tbh at first wasn't sure but it does brighten the interior up a bit and was the best 330i I'd seen at the time.

Btw I do a 9 mile each way A & B road commute in my manual 330i and my trip is showing 30.3mpg av, calculated is just below 30 so I would expect the newer model to be better.

[BaronVonVaderham]

Our e91 330i M Sport Touring usually gets 23mpg. The straight 6 sounds too good to drive like miss daisy.

[Sam.]

That looks a very good spec. Only 14 miles from me. I paid £8995 for my 2008 N53 engined car with the same spec.

So looks a good purchase.

[bigalx]

Hi there.

I run a N52 330i Manual as a commute car and do about 15 miles each way. I average 27.7 which is about 2 miles in stop start traffic and then motorway for the rest.

I tend to use the premium Tesco fuel and would say I average about 420 - 430 miles a tank - however I don't let it run down past about a third of a tank mainly to make sure its not pulling the dredges through.

I would also recommend looking at the "golf tee" mod since I don't want to change the exhaust bit this disables the exhaust pipe flap so they both stay open all the time - a little more fruity.

Just waiting for the run-flats to wear out to replace with non run flats - other than that its been a great car so far with little to no faults.

Enjoy

[Mad Dave]

Thanks for all the replies. My commute is only about 12 miles, half A roads then the rest along rural back roads so we'll see what I achieve!

To the chap who's only 14 miles from the dealer; any experience of them?

[Sam.]

Mad Dave said:

Thanks for all the replies. My commute is only about 12 miles, half A roads then the rest along rural back roads so we'll see what I achieve!

To the chap who's only 14 miles from the dealer; any experience of them?

Ah looking at it im 14 miles as the crow flys.

Its in wales im in England

[Smuler]

Mad Dave said:

Thanks for all the replies. My commute is only about 12 miles, half A roads then the rest along rural back roads so we'll see what I achieve!

To the chap who's only 14 miles from the dealer; any experience of them?

I'm close to these, don't know them but have not heard anything bad about them. They're situated close to where there are a lot of main dealerships. If you did feel the need for a car to be checked, or any answers about it given, Sytner Cardiff who I find excellent are just a couple of miles away.

You probably know at least as much as me, as you have a E9X, but I thought it would have visited the dealership more than 8 times (ad mentions 8 stamps) in 10 1/2 years given that I drive requests service items more intermittently; for example if oil was changed every 2 years, there would be 5 oil services. It needed pads, in 2011, so that's 6. Plus there's usually a vehicle check every few years. I'm not casting doubt that this is a good car, hell it's a N/a s/six should be bulletproof, just thinking like a cheeky bugger and wondering if there was something slightly askew whether you could get a bit knocked off, pay for a few trips round the mountain roads of Wales.

[Mad Dave]

That's a very good point actually. Is it 2 year oil change intervals on these? Looking at the MOT history online, it did 21k before it's first MOT then around 4K a year thereafter. What should it have had as a minimum in that time?

[Mr Tidy]

Mad Dave said:

That's a very good point actually. Is it 2 year oil change intervals on these? Looking at the MOT history online, it did 21k before it's first MOT then around 4K a year thereafter. What should it have had as a minimum in that time?

It is mileage / condition based servicing. So depending on how many miles you do and the conditions you do them in (i.e. from rush hour / stop and start to motorway cruising) this will affect the mileage element.

So it is 2 years MAXIMUM, but when you start it up the OBC will display mileage until the next one which seems to be about 16,000 tops, less for short journeys and commuting grind.

So I would expect to see a service by 15/16K miles then intervals no longer than 2 years after that given the limited annual mileage.

BMW also recommend a brake fluid change every 2 years at most, and some owners are keen on an interim oil and filter change (so every year or 7/8K miles).

You really need to see all the service invoices to check it through, but even if some deadlines have been missed by a thousand or two so long as it is in good health now I wouldn't be overly concerned!

Even when I had newish ones I was told 1,000 miles or a month either way wouldn't cause any warranty issue.

Anyway, I think you have already bought it! Enjoy!

[Smuler]

Mad Dave said:

That's a very good point actually. Is it 2 year oil change intervals on these? Looking at the MOT history online, it did 21k before it's first MOT then around 4K a year thereafter. What should it have had as a minimum in that time?

Just had a look a BMW video (actually a E92 M3 but it's same I drive as my 335i) and the oil service is either within a mileage, or a date, and that date is within 2 years of the last service.

Therefore, I'd say this one should have had an oil service every 2 years as it won't have hit the mileage threshold (15-18k in my experience) within any 2 year period. Therefore, 5 stamps for oil alone.

As Mr. Tidy said, there's also a brake fluid change, every 2 years from my records, so unless this was always changed when the oil was changed, that could incur a further visits/stamps.

Plus these cars class brake pads, front and rear, as service items, plus the vehicle check which is the bigger service, cos I think that's when spark plugs are changed? Would have thought 2 of these big services in 10.5 years.

My 335i (now sold) will have at least it's seventh stamp at 7 years old this month; maybe it had 8. That's why I thought this one would have more stamps if all it's service requirements were handled by BMW and duly stamped?

That said, a 1 owner car, decent milage, if all looks/feels good I wouldn't likely pass it up, just maybe angle for a little off.

[Mad Dave]

Thanks for all the advice. I've queried it with the dealer and the car has had:

Pre-delivery Inspection - 29/03/06 - N/A
Oil/Filter/Brake Fluid - 14/05/08 - 12,422
Oil service - 23/09/09 - 25,660
Vehicle Check - 21/4/11 - 34,048
Micro Filter, Brake Fluid - 5/5/11 - 34,139
Micro Filter, Brake Fluid - 16/5/13 - 39,572
Oil, Micro Filter, Brake Fluid - 28/4/15 - 48,394
Vehicle Check, Front Brakes - 10/9/15 - 51,055

All BMW main dealer

Now, that means according to the book it didn't have any fresh oil between 23/9/09 at 25k and 28/4/15 at 48k miles. So it's missed two oil services potentially. Seems incredibly odd as it went into the dealer 3 times in that time so i'd be shocked if it wasn't done at the same time.

Additionally, I was able to find out the previous R/K's details and put them into street view and, not to put too fine a point on it, the bloke's clearly not short of a bob or two (image below). You can actually see the 330i sat outside. A bit more googling reveals the RK to be a millionaire property developer (possibly, tho the hi viz in the back of the car backs it up) so I can't imagine he's scrimped on the oil changes considering the car was in anyway. I did speak to BMW and they could only tell me that their records show the same thing; no fresh oil for 6 years.

Are these engines fragile if not given fresh oil for that period or mileage?

[Swervin_Mervin]

Personally I wouldn't worry about. It seems to have been in a garage at least every couple of years. I'd bet the oil has actually been done, just maybe not logged at one of the other services. Might be worth having a look under the cap and seeing if you can see if it's sludged up at all in the cam cover - it shouldn't be, but seemingly can be on cars that have run on the same oil for too long.

To correct a point above - there are no "big services" on these. It's all CBS, which may include a time based limit as well (e.g. oil). Plugs come up as a CBS item for example. The vehicle check is literally just a check over.

[Smuler]

Mad Dave said:

Thanks for all the advice. I've queried it with the dealer and the car has had:

Pre-delivery Inspection - 29/03/06 - N/A
Oil/Filter/Brake Fluid - 14/05/08 - 12,422
Oil service - 23/09/09 - 25,660
Vehicle Check - 21/4/11 - 34,048
Micro Filter, Brake Fluid - 5/5/11 - 34,139
Micro Filter, Brake Fluid - 16/5/13 - 39,572
Oil, Micro Filter, Brake Fluid - 28/4/15 - 48,394
Vehicle Check, Front Brakes - 10/9/15 - 51,055

All BMW main dealer

Now, that means according to the book it didn't have any fresh oil between 23/9/09 at 25k and 28/4/15 at 48k miles. So it's missed two oil services potentially. Seems incredibly odd as it went into the dealer 3 times in that time so i'd be shocked if it wasn't done at the same time.

Additionally, I was able to find out the previous R/K's details and put them into street view and, not to put too fine a point on it, the bloke's clearly not short of a bob or two (image below). You can actually see the 330i sat outside. A bit more googling reveals the RK to be a millionaire property developer (possibly, tho the hi viz in the back of the car backs it up) so I can't imagine he's scrimped on the oil changes considering the car was in anyway. I did speak to BMW and they could only tell me that their records show the same thing; no fresh oil for 6 years.

Are these engines fragile if not given fresh oil for that period or mileage?

Sadly to say, even with main dealer, it's not uncommon for them to forget to stamp the book and/or miss of items ticked! And also for owners, even those who care for the car, not to notice. My father didn't notice the glaring service book error on his well maintained 64 plate X1.

However, if you have contacted BMW then either it didn't have an oil change which is strange or for some reason he did not use BMW and did not give the service book to whoever carried out the work?

Have you considered that although there is one registered keeper, the car may have been driven, say in the period of interest, by someone else who paid less care, say a family member?

Another thing, in 2011 the MOT advisory on rear pads means they must have been changed and yet this is not mentioned in the service history given either?

Can you get photo/pdf of the actual book, cos maybe the selling dealer has not given you all the info. Spark Plugs another service book item surely must have been changed for example?

I'm still leaning to this looking like a good car, but if it's a London car (LT) and the previous keeper lives in that area, how did it get to Cardiff. I can only think by auction. Did it get part ex'd to BMW and there was something amiss, such as not really having a complete s/history that meant it couldn't be retailed as an approved used car, was auctioned and these guys picked it up?

[Mad Dave]

I did ask how they came to have it and asked if it was from auction and they say they got it from the main dealer it was traded in at. It could easily have been traded at a Cardiff dealer. Would they sell a 10 year old car on their AUC scheme? I didn't think they would. My gut feeling is that it's had the oil changes done by the dealer and it's not been recorded for some reason - I can't think of a reason why he'd send it to the dealer three times in that period yet not get a basic service item attended to when he's getting brake fluid changed etc.

[cerb4.5lee]

Smuler said:

Spark Plugs another service book item surely must have been changed for example?

Spark plugs only get changed at 60k miles on these if sticking to dealer requirements, I had mine changed at 60k miles and the computer says they don't need doing for another 60k miles.

[Smuler]

Mad Dave said:

I did ask how they came to have it and asked if it was from auction and they say they got it from the main dealer it was traded in at. It could easily have been traded at a Cardiff dealer. Would they sell a 10 year old car on their AUC scheme? I didn't think they would. My gut feeling is that it's had the oil changes done by the dealer and it's not been recorded for some reason - I can't think of a reason why he'd send it to the dealer three times in that period yet not get a basic service item attended to when he's getting brake fluid changed etc.

BMW would sell one at that low mileage, providing the prep involved to bring it up to standards didn't remove the profit. They still sell E46's, in fact my E46 I use as a runabout is Approved Used , Sept 2002 first registered, 1 owner, 63k and only about 300£ internal invoice or prep to do, plus I have every service receipt as it was all one dealer by one elderly owner


I share your gut feel, as I said it's sadly common to see not only stamps missing but on this generation to find they've not ticked everything they've done in the service.

If the car is mint, I don't think it would put me off unless I was only going to keep it for a short time doing low mileage, and hoping the value would perhaps appreciate, in which case a future buyer might be asking the same questions you are now.

• Thanks for clarifying Lee, I never knew s/plugs could last than long