E90 BMW 325i 2006

[andy118run]

I'd been looking to change my 2006 Vectra 2.0T since last summer but only really half heartedly. However, with the annual service due in March (as well as the insurance) and the tax at the end of February it seemed a good time to look a bit harder.

My criteria were pretty flexible - had to be a reasonably practical family car, have a reasonable turn of speed/be ok to drive, preferably low in miles with a decent service history. No great need for a diesel as it won't be doing huge miles - anywhere between 10-15000 miles annually. Budget up to £8k, though ideally a bit less.

Previous cars include a Subaru Impreza WRX, Civic Type R, Peugeot 206 GTI 180, 3 Vectras, various small engine VWs and a Mondeo 1.8. Of those, my favourite was the Impreza and I would have gladly had another this time but nothing much cropped up in the months I was looking (being Norfolk based can be a bit of a pain when it comes to car hunting, compared with other places I have lived). Cars I did consider along the way - a 4WD 2.0T Insignia, a Mazda 6 MPS (sold within about a day of appearing on AT), a Mazda 3 MPS, various Focus STs and (for some reason the ones I quite regret missing out on as they look really decent cars) a couple of Mondeos with the 2.5 turbo engine.

Anyway, I've never owned a BMW or even considered them when looking for a car. Probably because the quicker versions of them, and most of the premium brands such as Audi or MB for that matter, are outside my budget when considering my criteria. I know I shouldn't be scared to buy a car with a few miles on the clock if the condition and service history are all in order but I can't help myself.

So to the car I finally settled on -

-An E90 BMW 325i SE, 6 spd manual.
-Registered in December 2006
-1 previous owner, with 22258 miles and a full (mainly BMW) service history.
-Fresh MOT and service by the dealer, 3 month warranty (obviously checked the dealer out for any iffy reviews etc and couldn't find any so reasonably confident in this respect).
-The price was £7995 (- £1500 which they gave me for the Vectra). Again, did my research on the likes of AT and the car seemed sensibly priced.

Here's a picture or two on the drive back after picking it up -



So far as the ownership experience goes, it's obviously early days. I've maybe done a couple of hundred miles so far. It's certainly a really comfortable place to sit on a journey, even with the ride you get from the much maligned run flat tyres. Economy is around the mid 30s mpg, although I've mainly used it for a couple of longer journeys and driven reasonably sensibly.

Performance wise, the car has the 2497cc, NA 6 cylinder engine. The owner's manual tells me it does 0-60 in 7.0s and a top speed of 152mph. Depending where else you look it may be a little under or a little over 7 seconds to 60 although a lot of the stats out there seem to be for the 3.0 engine which was in the later 325i. Must admit I struggled a bit when researching the engines in the 325i and could not really work out when the 2.5 engines were officially replaced with the 3.0.

Anyway, it does not really feel like a 7 second 0-60 car, although I haven't really pushed it towards the redline yet, so that may be why. It does feel pretty swift when moving through the gears though, despite its modest torque figure of something like 185ibs/ft (my Vectra had more). Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how it drives, I certainly get where people are coming from when they talk about the smooth power delivery of these engines.

Before I bought this, I did a lot of reading over on the various BMW forums - if I had a quid for every time somebody said something along the lines of ignore the 325 as you'll just wish you got a 330/335 or even a 320d instead, then I'd be a rich man. However, that's certainly not me as those cars where never on my radar. Who knows, there may be a time when I wish I had a bit more oomph that the Impreza or Mazda MPS turbos would bring me, but that's probably just the yob/boy racer in me. The fact is, I'm now a 41 year old family man now, it's probably time to drive something a bit more grown up and I have a feeling this car may just fit the bill.

A pic from the dealer ad -


If someone said to me, what's the worst interior you can think of, I would probably go for light cloth!
(Another pic from the dealer ad as mine are more than 2mb apparently)





And a couple more from today, sorry about the dull location and the cropped photos (still having problems with the file size) -






And finally a picture with the other car currently in the Andyrun household. The thread is here -
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by andy118run on Tuesday 24th February 23:10

[andy118run]

Some interesting observations above^^^^^^^^^^

I think I will have to lower the window to fully appreciate the straight six soundtrack I've heard mentioned a few times now.

I'm not sure many people in their right mind would spec a light beige cloth interior but beggars can't be choosers now, I suppose.

[andy118run]

ShafzC said:

Also as yours is manual like mine, get the CDV (Clutch delay valve) removed or replaced with one with a bigger diameter hole in it, it improves clutch feel and gearshift smoothness by a massive amount, I did it 6 months into ownership and can't think to myself why I didn't do it sooner!

Interesting. It did occur to me that the gearshift is not as smooth as some I have experienced though I put that down to the new/different car experience and it taking a bit of time to get to know it.

[andy118run]

Should have given it a clean, really, but couldn't resist a few pics while by the Norfolk coast earlier -

[andy118run]

Court_S said:

Now we have a kiddie, I wish that I'd held out for a touring because the saloon is useless for ferrying stuff about.

Interesting! We have a 5 year old and another on the way in October. My first thought was that the boot does not look particularly large.

However, changing the car will not be an option so I think the plan will be a) purchase a fairly compact pushchair and associated baby equipment or b) Mrs Andyrun will replace her Saab shed with a suitable estate shed, maybe a Volvo or something similar.

[andy118run]

1. ######## UPDATE ##############

Well it's the best part of a year since I last posted, and a couple of weeks short of a year since I purchased the car so high time I posted a little update.

There's actually not a lot of news - the car hasn't missed a beat all year. My annual mileage stands at 8318, thanks to a short daily commute and the fact that I often use my wife's 307 to potter around in. The BMW has made quite a few longer journeys from Norwich to the likes of London, Manchester and Reading throughout the year to visit family and friends. MPG is usually between 32-36 on the longer trips, around the city it is pretty poor, low twenties is the norm.

It hasn't required a lot of maintenance - it's just been in for its annual service at a cost of £256 at my local 'German car specialists'. The same place also MOT'd it a few days later - all was good with just advisories for an under tray fitted and one tyre close to the limit.

Owning a rather common looking motor I'm not used to receiving compliments but the chap who worked on the car described it as immaculate and easily the best BMW of its era that they'd seen so I was pretty pleased with this (as well as relieved that there appears to be nothing pending in terms of maintenance, apart from the tyre).

As for the year ahead - more of the same I hope. I used to like changing my cars every year or so but I would really struggle to part with this one right now. The only grounds for this may be my growing family, but considering it's reliability, low mileage (30576), and general competence, I doubt it.

Finally, a few pics from today, though nothing much has changed -

[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.

[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...

[andy118run]

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

Definitely some food for thought there.

[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.