BMW E92 Coupe, 320i, 325i or 330i?

[Tom-je44s]

Hi

I've got a max budget of £5,500 and want an E92 coupe, ideally msport. All my driving is on motorways, around 1100 miles per month.
Just test drove a 325i 2007 which i believe is 2.5ltr, sounded nice but wasn't amazing quick for the size of engine. I've looked up real world MPG on 325i and reports around around 30 mpg at best which isn't that great for long journeys.

I don't want a diesel as worried about things going wrong, as at my budget im going to be looking at around 100k miles.

Should I go for a 320, 325 or 330?

Any advice?

[MrAverage]

My mate has a 57 plate 325i convertible, I dunno if it's the 2.5 or 3litre but the mpg is pretty poor.
He does short runs to work but longer on the weekend and every time I've been in it the average mpg is showing mid to low 20's.

[InitialDave]

I've never seen any reason not to go with the biggest engine in these scenarios.

Are 335is down to that price yet?

[sixpistons]

You can expect similar economy out of a 325i or 330i, so all things being equal I'd go for the 330i. I would avoid the 4 cylinder petrol models - they are pretty gutless and don't have a great rep for reliability.

[ZX10R NIN]

None of them are going to be great fuel wise so get the car with the best balance Spec/Mileage/Service History & (if you found the 325i performance adequate then test drive a 320i before commiting) Performance:

335i

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

330i

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

325i

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

320i

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[Toed64]

InitialDave said:

I've never seen any reason not to go with the biggest engine in these scenarios.

Are 335is down to that price yet?

I totally agree. The 4 cylinder BMW petrol engine is not nearly as lovely and won't provide economy significantly better than the lovely 6 cylinder options.

I have a 130i and around town it returns mid 20s. On almost any motorway run it returns well over 30 and will climb to high 30s on motorway trips of 50 miles +. It goes well, not blisteringly quick, but it's a delightfully rewarding motor.

Many of the 325is have the same 3 litre engine as the 330i (& my 130i). BMW strangled them (electronically) down by about 50bhp, so they can be mapped up to 260bhp to 270bhp.

Cheap and leggy 335is are all equipped with the N54 twin turbo 3 litre engine. When they are working well they are lovely, but they are expensive to keep going. High Pressure Fuel Pumps, turbo wastegate controls & injectors are weak points and all cost serious money to repair. For a £5000 budget, I'd go for a 330i with the fantastic N52 motor - arguably one of the most reliable BMWs made in recent years.

[mike9009]

The 325i and 330i are both 3.0L, but a different state of tune.

I have an E92 330i, it came with two different engines (the N52 and N53). N53 was introduced in late 2007 - you can tell by the tax bracket as to what engine might be in a particular car.


N52 is reportedly more reliable without injector and HP Fuel pump issues. It is slower, higher tax and more thirsty though!
N53 (which I have) can do 40+mpg at 80 on the motorway. (Just did 42mpg in mine going to Cardiff this weekend). On my A/B road commute I get about 33mpg.

I have not had any 'real TADTS issues with mine in my 12 months ownership.....


Mike

[cerb4.5lee]

I had a E90 330i for 4 years and it was a lovely cruiser, it was a 2006 N52 model but it had the ancient fuel sapping Auto gearbox. I would search out for a manual preferably.

I did see 38 mpg once on a run taking it steady but overall it did 26 mpg. It was a great all round car, also had a E90 330d for 6 years and I'd say that the 330d(suited the Auto better/40+ mpg/much more gutsy low down) was even better than the 330i overall having had both.

[DoubleD]

I wouldn't bother with the 325i, its just a detuned version of the 330i. So you get all the bad points of the 330i, low mpg, without the good points, more power.

[Tom-je44s]

Thanks for all your advice. I'm considering a 330d as great mpg and power combined, but at my budget very unlikely to get one under 100k miles in good condition with history. So it's either a 320 petrol or diesel i think. The diesel will appear to be a better drive i believe as the low rev torque from the turbo, but as it's a diesel comes with many risks with turbo, erg etc..

Have to say when driving the 325i 3ltr straight six, it sounded nice but was underpowered for the size of engine.

[DoubleD]

I would definitely go for a 6 pot. The 330i and 330d are both great engines.

[ZX10R NIN]

This generation of 320d can have timing chain issues so look for the 6 cylinder engine if you don't mind a SE then you can get sub 100k models.

This is the one I'd go & look at once you can get some photos from them:

325d Highline

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

325d SE

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

330d SE

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[InitialDave]

ZX10R NIN said:

This generation of 320d can have timing chain issues

I think the later ones fixed that, didn't they?

[ZX10R NIN]

I've had clients with E90 series cars have issues unfortunately.

[InitialDave]

Hmm. I thought it was only up to 2008 or so, as my Dad has a 2010 320d, and it's one of the things he checked up about before buying it. They changed the tensioner design or something about that time?

[ZX10R NIN]

OP's budget doesn't stretch to a 2010 models when yes they were finally uprated, so you dads is fine.

[InitialDave]

Does it not? Ah well.

[DoubleD]

The 2.0 petrol had a lot of issues as well.

[underphil]

Driving on the motorway I doubt you will notice any difference between the 325i and 330i

You can get pretty good mpg but you have to be careful to get it, I saw 45mpg when really trying, but same journey not caring about mpg would get 33mpg

[Toed64]

The N47, 4 cylinder diesel, from Spring 2006 to date has had a number of changes made to the timing chain and tensioners, the last of which was (so I was told by a BMW tech) in 2013. This has reduced the number of catastrophic failures, but there are still chain failures - late models are less likely to snap. Clearly, it doesn't kill them all - there are lots of them out there in BMWs, Minis and (I recently learned) Toyotas too.

A £5000 E92 320d coupe would be in the most likely to give trouble category. If you want a 2 litre BMW diesel, you could buy a 4 door or estate from the first couple of years of the E9X shape that were fitted with the original, very tough, M47 diesel.

I disagree with the advice above, to avoid the 325i. It's the same engine, so if you are prepared to take it to a reputable company, like BW Chiptune, to get it remapped for between £300 and £400, you'll have an N52 powered car that's had a gentle life, but has the same output as the 330i. Remember that the petrol cars don't have DPFs, glow plugs or swirl flaps to challenge your wallet either...