320d 120k longevity?

[FlamingM0]

Looking at taking a first step into Beemerworld with a 320d tourer, gotta be practical with the littlelun and a reasonable commute. Seem to be a few about ex-fleet with 120k+ on the clock but only three years old and well serviced. Would these be a reasonable buy or problems likely here on in, e.g. clutch etc? Anything else particular to watch out for? What sort of mileages can be expected out of these? I'll be looking at doing to do 10-15k per year max. Thanks.

[Methane Bloke]

I ran up 50K in 18 months in my E46 320d SE Touring and it never missed a beat, just regularly serviced and it averaged over 45MPG. Was a really good car.

Regards

Chris

[emicen]

FlamingM0 said:

Looking at taking a first step into Beemerworld with a 320d tourer, gotta be practical with the littlelun and a reasonable commute. Seem to be a few about ex-fleet with 120k+ on the clock but only three years old and well serviced. Would these be a reasonable buy or problems likely here on in, e.g. clutch etc? Anything else particular to watch out for? What sort of mileages can be expected out of these? I'll be looking at doing to do 10-15k per year max. Thanks.

Apparently the turbo can go and its a bit luck of the draw whether it'll go on any given car. Believe it typically occurs in the 120-140k mile region.

Also at that mileage there's a fair chance the bushes and arms around the front will need changing as they are a known E46 weak point.

[FlamingM0]

What was the impact of the turbo going? (apart from the obvious!) I've read horror stories of them taking the whole engine down too? Huch much approx was a new turbo, big job?

Thanks.

[Egbert Nobacon]

If you are only doing 10 - 15k a year and are looking at a high mileage car, have you considered petrol.

An equivalent petrol car will be cheaper to buy and doesn't have expensive turbo's, glow plugs etc to replace.

Do the maths, there may not be that much difference.

[Muzzer]

FlamingM0 said:

What was the impact of the turbo going? (apart from the obvious!) I've read horror stories of them taking the whole engine down too? Huch much approx was a new turbo, big job?

Thanks.

I've got a friend who bought an '01 facelift 320d with 120k on it. Lovely car. He took it to 145k and the turbo blew, taking the rest of the internals with it. The engine was junk, literally...

He sourced a new engine from an '03 car, but was then told it wasn't compatible with an '01 ECU. Ouch. In the end he flogged it off for spares. Paid £7500 for it in 2005, flogged the car for a grand and the new (un-useable) engine for £1800 in 2007. Double ouch....

[FlamingM0]

I've always had petrols (longer legged V6's in the past) I'm not sure there are many NA 150+bhp petrols in the every day car bracket to choose from that aren't V6? I suppose a 318 is about 143bhp tho but I'm sure it wouldn't feel as responsive without winding it right up. Mpg is 34 versus 47 is quite a difference in economy though appreciate not such an issue with lower mileages and that increased servicing costs can offset the difference. I usually do servicing myself and one of the appeals of the 320d is it's chain cam, not sure if this is the case on a 318? Service intervals are long on the 320d and should be relatively simple. I do like the power delivery on diesels I've tried too. My commute is 64 miles round trip, but I car share most of the time at the moment cutting my mileage - this could change. I thinking of hanging out for one sub 100k.

I wonder what mileages have people reached without a turbo failure? Forums can skew things as people rarely post to say there's nothing wrong with their car.