Would you buy a lowish mileage 335d?

[AlmostUseful]

Following on from my previous thread about whether a 430D or 428i would be the right car for me, i’ve basically given up on life and searching and chosen a 335D GT Xdrive (I know, not exactly a 428 competitor right!)

I’m off to look at one later which is a 64 plate and thus about 3.5 years old, with 25,000 miles on. Would the fact that’s it’s done fewer than 10,000 miles per year worry you in terms of usual diesel related issues?

I’ll be getting a bmw insured warranty put on it, but at that mileage it will have barely been seen by any technicians at bmw so I wonder whether I would be better off getting something slightly higher in mileage.
What are your experiences?

[Gary Kinghorn]

I wouldn't worry about the mileage. Maybe it does 1 x 100 mile run every week and doesn't get driven on the other days.

I think too much is written about issues with low mileage diesel engines. Personally I'd rather buy a low mileage well maintained car for the right money. That's just my choice though.

[Mike335i]

As above, make sure the car is sound when you buy it and service it regularly from here on in. How many miles are you going to be doing in it?

[AlmostUseful]

I’ll be doing about 20k miles per year, 60 mile round trip up the M5 for work each day.
Will be serviced at Forza West in Caldicot or the local bmw dealer (Dick lovitt Bristol) so I’m not worried about my impact on it.
I’m going to see it tomorrow, hadn’t really thought about the mileage until I read something on here earlier, was more worried about the low mileage being from multiple short trips and the bolsters being worn or softened.

[E-bmw]

With a low mileage diesel like that I would be tempted to have the DPF off completely & have it properly cleaned, as with your mileage it will be fine for many years but it could be a bit clogged at the moment if they were all short-trip-miles.

[Fox-]

I've never had any 'diesel issues' on any of my F Series cars. Both were low mileage cars - first one had 30k on at 4 years old the other about 5k on at 1 year old. I also do a very short commute most days.

[AlmostUseful]

Fox- said:

I've never had any 'diesel issues' on any of my F Series cars. Both were low mileage cars - first one had 30k on at 4 years old the other about 5k on at 1 year old. I also do a very short commute most days.

To be fair we only ever hear about low mileage DPF blockage and other problems, you never hear about the ones that run on and on fault free!

[helix402]

Don’t worry about the low miles. Dpf will be fine.

[SuffolkIan]

Wife just bought an approved used 530d, it is 2015 and only done 15k miles, runs like a dream and pulls far stronger and smoother than my well used 530d ever did. Don't worry about low miles, especially with the driving you intend to do.

Ian

[Eddieslofart]

With your proposed use, it’ll be fine. Chugging around town all day, it won’t.

[Helicopter123]

Eddieslofart said:

With your proposed use, it’ll be fine. Chugging around town all day, it won’t.

This is the key, low mileage that includes a few decent runs, no worries.

Low mileage around town all the time and a chance that the DPF will be, or about to be, borked.

[AlmostUseful]

Feeling pretty positive about the car now, have been let down on a few so it’ll be nice if this one turns out to be worth having!

[smashy]

Maybe its because I live in London but I would never contemplate a euro 5 diesel......

[AlmostUseful]

Could you expand on that?

[E-bmw]

Helicopter123 said:

Eddieslofart said:

With your proposed use, it’ll be fine. Chugging around town all day, it won’t.

This is the key, low mileage that includes a few decent runs, no worries.

Low mileage around town all the time and a chance that the DPF will be, or about to be, borked.

And it is with regard to your comment "DPF will be, or about to be, borked" as to why I would get the DPF out now & then you pretty much know you are going to be good on the DPF front going forward.

[AlwynMike]

Speak to the previous owner if you can.

My 335d did significantly less than 10k per year, but in my 4 years of ownership it never did any short runs.

But that's just me!

[Slippydiff]

And just to be contrary...
I bought my ‘63 plate F30 330D Msport at 2 years old with 9000 miles on the clock from Sytner BMW . I thought it drove really well (it did feel quick compared with my mapped E90 330D Msport auto, though a large part of that was due to the improved gearbox)
However I noticed an annoying “diesel rattle/knock” at certain revs, and asked my local BMW dealer to look into the issue on three separate occasions.
This culminated in them supplying me with 3 or 4 cans of diesel additive to put into the fuel tank at subsequent fill ups.
This had no effect whatsoever, so I took the car to another BMW dealer near me.
They removed the inlet manifold and found it to be so coked up that the swirl flaps had jammed open and the inlet air temperature sensor was unable to function correctly.
But worse still the inlet ports were reduced to 50% of their cross section due to the heavy coke deposits.

The walnut blasting took 6 hours to clean the inlet ports, and a new inlet manifold/swirl flaps assembly and temperature sensor were required (all under warranty fortunately)
The engine was whisper quiet once the remedial work had been undertaken (but the diesel knock/rattle has since returned, but that’s another story) and the performance made even my old E90 335D feel pedestrian.

Low miles, town driving AND poor quality fuel does modern diesels no favours, and the DPF isn’t the problem, as I suspect BMW have gone to great lengths to ensure that the necessary criteria needed to ensure DPF regen are met after the issues they experienced with the early E9X diesels , however the issues (if my local BMW master technician is to be believed) now centre on the induction side as opposed to the exhaust side of modern diesels.
Google “BMW diesel walnut blasting “ ...

Something for the OP to consider before handing over his hard earned ...

[Fox-]

AlmostUseful said:

Could you expand on that?

Euro 5 and older diesels are impacted by the London Ultra Low Emissions zone.

But I am almost certain the 335d GT is Euro 6 compliant, so I don't think its relevant?

[smashy]

AlmostUseful said:

Could you expand on that?

Hi as fox says ..yes london is run by a lunatic but remember the old saying when new york sneezes....out of interest maybe google ulez vehicle checker put the numberplate in see if its euro 5 or 6 ....if its 5 then a decision has to be made because sooner or later you may have to pay a premium to drive in to any City in a 5.....I need a cpz to park outside my home ALL inc 6 diesels get a 50% Increase on premium..it really is just moneymaking........from sept 2015 all new diesels were 6

[AlmostUseful]

Ah well, it’s all academic, the car was a dog. I’ll stick to main dealer stock now as I’ve rarely seen a crap one there. Also I couldn’t care less how they’re affected driving into London as I never do that, will worry once they start charging us in the sleepy south west.