Buying advice - History or lack of. 330i touring
Discussion
Looking to buy a 330i Touring and found a lovely one which I went to look at today. Lots of extras, lowish miles for age(~100k 2007) and very clean. no marks etc. basically perfect.
Only problem is other than the first 3 years history i managed to get myself from Sytner BMW it has no paperwork.
Would this worry you? I'm likely to do the future servicing of any car I get myself and i've done my research to know what I should be looking for but other than the usual oil leaks etc its hard to actually check for the usual issues like water pumps, injectors and Coils etc.
They're not the most common of cars and seems like a lot ore bog standard with no options so when one basically fully loaded its hard to know what to do. Take the chance on it or walk away.
Only problem is other than the first 3 years history i managed to get myself from Sytner BMW it has no paperwork.
Would this worry you? I'm likely to do the future servicing of any car I get myself and i've done my research to know what I should be looking for but other than the usual oil leaks etc its hard to actually check for the usual issues like water pumps, injectors and Coils etc.
They're not the most common of cars and seems like a lot ore bog standard with no options so when one basically fully loaded its hard to know what to do. Take the chance on it or walk away.
It's 12 years old so no worries about warranty and any recalls will have come up from your dealer search. I very much doubt its had no servicing since 2010 so it will not have been done by an independent , local garage or owner. Buying any car this age , do so on condition and use the lack of proof as lever for low price.
Private or Trader?
What's the reason for no history?
What does the MOT history look like?
HPI clear?
It'd be interesting to know what the OBC shows for the Service countdowns.
What's the reason for no history?
What does the MOT history look like?
HPI clear?
P700DEE said:
Buying any car this age , do so on condition and use the lack of proof as lever for low price.
Agreed.It'd be interesting to know what the OBC shows for the Service countdowns.
Edited by g3org3y on Thursday 20th June 17:41
P700DEE said:
It's 12 years old so no worries about warranty and any recalls will have come up from your dealer search. I very much doubt its had no servicing since 2010 so it will not have been done by an independent , local garage or owner. Buying any car this age , do so on condition and use the lack of proof as lever for low price.
Think it depends how good you are at spotting issue caused by the lack of an oil change 
I used to know a guy who ran a mondeo from about 75k miles to 150k miles without an oil change. Not surprisingly it did not make it to 160k miles!
I would be careful if there has been no service history for 9 years........
g3org3y said:
Private or Trader?
What's the reason for no history?
What does the MOT history look like?
HPI clear?
It'd be interesting to know what the OBC shows for the Service countdowns.
Trader.What's the reason for no history?
What does the MOT history look like?
HPI clear?
P700DEE said:
Buying any car this age , do so on condition and use the lack of proof as lever for low price.
Agreed.It'd be interesting to know what the OBC shows for the Service countdowns.
Edited by g3org3y on Thursday 20th June 17:41
No reason given for lack of history although claimed BMW had no record of it ever being serviced but 5 min phone call to Sytner(had Sytner Reg plates) managed to get the first 3 years of history!
MOT history is 9 years of slightly bald tyres and a chipped windscreen that took 4 years to fix! No major fails other than low tyres
Yep HPI clear
Doesn't matter now anyway. Not 100% convinced I want an auto over a manual so going to keep looking for a manual.
chunkytfg said:
Trader.
No reason given for lack of history although claimed BMW had no record of it ever being serviced but 5 min phone call to Sytner(had Sytner Reg plates) managed to get the first 3 years of history!
MOT history is 9 years of slightly bald tyres and a chipped windscreen that took 4 years to fix! No major fails other than low tyres
Yep HPI clear
Doesn't matter now anyway. Not 100% convinced I want an auto over a manual so going to keep looking for a manual.
I think I was quite was lucky to find my 330i Touring M Sport manual not long after I started looking. They seem to be quite rare. No reason given for lack of history although claimed BMW had no record of it ever being serviced but 5 min phone call to Sytner(had Sytner Reg plates) managed to get the first 3 years of history!
MOT history is 9 years of slightly bald tyres and a chipped windscreen that took 4 years to fix! No major fails other than low tyres
Yep HPI clear
Doesn't matter now anyway. Not 100% convinced I want an auto over a manual so going to keep looking for a manual.
I was looking for a 330i Touring early last year - E46 or E91 would have done - but they did seem pretty hard to find, and the E91s in particular were pricey.
So I compromised and got an E91 325i. I had it for a year, but was disappointed with the performance - or apparent lack of it.
So earlier this year I was looking again but any I found were nearly twice the price of my 325i! I found an E90 330i with the rare split/fold rear seat option and convinced myself that would work!
It had done 107K miles and had a stamped up book but little other documentation and only the first few were by main agents. I decided I couldn't expect much more on a 14 year old car and bought it. It drives really well and performs much more like I was hoping for.
So my only advice would be if you want a 330i don't consider anything else (unless it's a 335i maybe).
So I compromised and got an E91 325i. I had it for a year, but was disappointed with the performance - or apparent lack of it.
So earlier this year I was looking again but any I found were nearly twice the price of my 325i! I found an E90 330i with the rare split/fold rear seat option and convinced myself that would work!
It had done 107K miles and had a stamped up book but little other documentation and only the first few were by main agents. I decided I couldn't expect much more on a 14 year old car and bought it. It drives really well and performs much more like I was hoping for.
So my only advice would be if you want a 330i don't consider anything else (unless it's a 335i maybe).
Mr Tidy said:
I was looking for a 330i Touring early last year - E46 or E91 would have done - but they did seem pretty hard to find, and the E91s in particular were pricey.
So I compromised and got an E91 325i. I had it for a year, but was disappointed with the performance - or apparent lack of it.
So earlier this year I was looking again but any I found were nearly twice the price of my 325i! I found an E90 330i with the rare split/fold rear seat option and convinced myself that would work!
It had done 107K miles and had a stamped up book but little other documentation and only the first few were by main agents. I decided I couldn't expect much more on a 14 year old car and bought it. It drives really well and performs much more like I was hoping for.
So my only advice would be if you want a 330i don't consider anything else (unless it's a 335i maybe).
Did you not think about getting it remapped 1st?So I compromised and got an E91 325i. I had it for a year, but was disappointed with the performance - or apparent lack of it.
So earlier this year I was looking again but any I found were nearly twice the price of my 325i! I found an E90 330i with the rare split/fold rear seat option and convinced myself that would work!
It had done 107K miles and had a stamped up book but little other documentation and only the first few were by main agents. I decided I couldn't expect much more on a 14 year old car and bought it. It drives really well and performs much more like I was hoping for.
So my only advice would be if you want a 330i don't consider anything else (unless it's a 335i maybe).
chunkytfg said:
Looking to buy a 330i Touring and found a lovely one which I went to look at today. Lots of extras, lowish miles for age(~100k 2007) and very clean. no marks etc. basically perfect.
Only problem is other than the first 3 years history i managed to get myself from Sytner BMW it has no paperwork.
Would this worry you? I'm likely to do the future servicing of any car I get myself and i've done my research to know what I should be looking for but other than the usual oil leaks etc its hard to actually check for the usual issues like water pumps, injectors and Coils etc.
They're not the most common of cars and seems like a lot ore bog standard with no options so when one basically fully loaded its hard to know what to do. Take the chance on it or walk away.
Have you checked the MOT history for advisories? If you're that set on it but worried either get an indie to do an inspection or get the Carly app and Dongle and read the codes. Personally I would buy on condition and take a punt. Only problem is other than the first 3 years history i managed to get myself from Sytner BMW it has no paperwork.
Would this worry you? I'm likely to do the future servicing of any car I get myself and i've done my research to know what I should be looking for but other than the usual oil leaks etc its hard to actually check for the usual issues like water pumps, injectors and Coils etc.
They're not the most common of cars and seems like a lot ore bog standard with no options so when one basically fully loaded its hard to know what to do. Take the chance on it or walk away.
Mike335i said:
Not sure the 2.5 N52 gives much gains from a remap.
The later N53 does though.
No, the N52 in a 325i is a 2.5 litre engine so there isn't significant mapping potential. The later N53 does though.
Whereas the N53 325i is a 3 litre, so is effectively a detuned 330i - so presumably can be upgraded!
Anyway to get back to the question, if the MOT history is OK, the car seems looked after and the seller is OK I'd take a punt - which is what I did with my latest.
Mr Tidy said:
No, the N52 in a 325i is a 2.5 litre engine so there isn't significant mapping potential.
Whereas the N53 325i is a 3 litre, so is effectively a detuned 330i - so presumably can be upgraded!
Anyway to get back to the question, if the MOT history is OK, the car seems looked after and the seller is OK I'd take a punt - which is what I did with my latest.
Thanks for everyones input. Managed to find a nice specced N53 325 manual in the end so it doesn't really matter now. Just need to get it remapped to basically turn it into 95% of a 330i Whereas the N53 325i is a 3 litre, so is effectively a detuned 330i - so presumably can be upgraded!
Anyway to get back to the question, if the MOT history is OK, the car seems looked after and the seller is OK I'd take a punt - which is what I did with my latest.
SignalGruen said:
So this N53 mapping stuff, been googling this since I'm looking for an E90/91 at the moment, so basically you need a 330i inlet manifold as well as a remap ?
This was from E90 post about mapping the 325ipromaps on another website said:
On the standard N53 325i map the throttle only opens up to about 70% even with the foot flat to the floor, in other words a 325i N53 on a standard map is essentially like driving a 330i N53 but only letting you press the throttle down 70%! ... We normally see 270BHP on the N53 325i's which is dyno proven...The skill is identifying the correct maps to edit to allow the throttle to fully open - once you have done that the gains are impressive. A few other changes are made to the AFR maps, injector control, RPM limit etc but as I said previously the main bulk of the power comes from allowing the throttle to open to 100%. Please note though that the gain on the N52 2.5 325i are much less as they are not detuned 330i engines.
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