E91 Straight Six Bearding

[ferrisbueller]

survivalist said:

ferrisbueller said:

d_a_n1979 said:

ferrisbueller said:

Eight grand? Blimey.

It's fair rare to see a manual one

330i, that spec, price is about right give or take £500 or so...

Buyers market and the prices are just going up

Sounds like a seller's market then. 8k is a significant uplift over recent years. I'm not saying they don't merit it. IMO they're better than the cars that came after.

It is indeed a sellers market at the moment. That said, with a 2006 car it comes down to condition more than anything else. Buy a tatty one for £4k and you could easily spend half the difference or more getting all the little jobs sorted out. I just sold a 2006 335i for significantly less than that, but it had a list of jobs as long as my arm that needed doing. As I was selling anyway, it didn't make sense to get it all done just to try and sell at a higher price.

Absolutely. You'd want to see evidence of water pump/stat, and rocker cover gasket. Also CCV system could need doing and my inside DISA got noisy at that age, as did my diff. Any car can look shiny, I'd want to see invoices. I'm also not keen on 16k service intervals.

[Court_S]

ATM said:

The 330i is rare in manual but these not so much

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304053843662

The 130i seems to be getting appreciated a bit more as they get older. Jay Emm talks positively about his and the Car Throttle chaps keep mention them as a cheap RWD.

Good ones are thin on the ground as people hang into them and the dogs die off.

Chuch’s chanced their arm would an LE for £12.5k at one point.

Edited by Court_S on Saturday 3rd July 23:27

[to3m]

ferrisbueller said:

survivalist said:

ferrisbueller said:

d_a_n1979 said:

ferrisbueller said:

Eight grand? Blimey.

It's fair rare to see a manual one

330i, that spec, price is about right give or take £500 or so...

Buyers market and the prices are just going up

Sounds like a seller's market then. 8k is a significant uplift over recent years. I'm not saying they don't merit it. IMO they're better than the cars that came after.

It is indeed a sellers market at the moment. That said, with a 2006 car it comes down to condition more than anything else. Buy a tatty one for £4k and you could easily spend half the difference or more getting all the little jobs sorted out. I just sold a 2006 335i for significantly less than that, but it had a list of jobs as long as my arm that needed doing. As I was selling anyway, it didn't make sense to get it all done just to try and sell at a higher price.

Absolutely. You'd want to see evidence of water pump/stat, and rocker cover gasket. Also CCV system could need doing and my inside DISA got noisy at that age, as did my diff. Any car can look shiny, I'd want to see invoices. I'm also not keen on 16k service intervals.

I'm sure the vendor would suggest you find another and buy that one instead. After all, 330i touring, sport suspension, xenon headlights, manual gearbox... how hard could it be?

[Court_S]

to3m said:

I'm sure the vendor would suggest you find another and buy that one instead. After all, 330i touring, sport suspension, xenon headlights, manual gearbox... how hard could it be?

Exactly. It’s a bit of a unicorn.

My 130 is on 103k and it’s still on the original water pump (I might change it soon just because) but it’s not leaking from any of the usual places.

My old 330 was sold at 95k, no leaks and still on the original water pump. The part isn’t that expensive these days (£350 for a Pierburg pump).

[ATM]

The 130 uses basically all the same hardware as the 330 right. Engine, Box, Diff, Suspension and I think the front seats are the same too. It's basically the same platform just a little shorter right?

[g3org3y]

Generally petrol E91s seem to command strong money and always have done, but as mentioned, market has gone a bit silly.

The example linked looks nice. You don't often see mudflaps on E9Xs. I note the floppy rear wiper.

Court_S said:

Exactly. It’s a bit of a unicorn.

My 130 is on 103k and it’s still on the original water pump (I might change it soon just because) but it’s not leaking from any of the usual places.

My old 330 was sold at 95k, no leaks and still on the original water pump. The part isn’t that expensive these days (£350 for a Pierburg pump).

Or buy it with a thermostat from Germany for a bit less.

g3org3y said:

pmorg4 said:

g3org3y said:

Charges total £61.40

I bought for £224.38 inc delivery + £61.40 = £284.78 for both the waterpump and the thermostat.

Sorry I missed this, thanks for posting. It adds a fair chunk onto the cost percentage wise, but still appears to be the cheapest option for Pierburg/Mahle parts.

I wonder if the seller in Germany included VAT, in which case it should be re-claimable. I have no idea how you would go about doing so however.

No idea about reclaiming the VAT. Regardless of charge, still cheaper than anything UK based.



The waterpump is surprisingly heavy!

Court_S said:

The 130i seems to be getting appreciated a bit more as they get older. Jay Emm talks positively about his and the Car Throttle chaps keep mention them as a cheap RWD.

IIRC with the facelift they changed the steering from hydraulic to electric (or have I made that up!?)

Edited by g3org3y on Sunday 4th July 07:52

[Court_S]

g3org3y said:

Generally petrol E91s seem to command strong money and always have done, but as mentioned, market has gone a bit silly.

The example linked looks nice. You don't often see mudflaps on E9Xs. I note the floppy rear wiper.

Court_S said:

Exactly. It’s a bit of a unicorn.

My 130 is on 103k and it’s still on the original water pump (I might change it soon just because) but it’s not leaking from any of the usual places.

My old 330 was sold at 95k, no leaks and still on the original water pump. The part isn’t that expensive these days (£350 for a Pierburg pump).

Or buy it with a thermostat from Germany for a bit less.

g3org3y said:

pmorg4 said:

g3org3y said:

Charges total £61.40

I bought for £224.38 inc delivery + £61.40 = £284.78 for both the waterpump and the thermostat.

Sorry I missed this, thanks for posting. It adds a fair chunk onto the cost percentage wise, but still appears to be the cheapest option for Pierburg/Mahle parts.

I wonder if the seller in Germany included VAT, in which case it should be re-claimable. I have no idea how you would go about doing so however.

No idea about reclaiming the VAT. Regardless of charge, still cheaper than anything UK based.



The waterpump is surprisingly heavy!

Court_S said:

The 130i seems to be getting appreciated a bit more as they get older. Jay Emm talks positively about his and the Car Throttle chaps keep mention them as a cheap RWD.

IIRC with the facelift they changed the steering from hydraulic to electric (or have I made that up!?)

Edited by g3org3y on Sunday 4th July 07:52

That’s a good price for the parts; either way it’s not the massive wallet killer that it was once upon a time.

Yeah, the facelift 130 changed to EPAS. My 130 has it and it’s alright, it seems nicer than the EPAS in the later cars like my M140i.

[d_a_n1979]

ATM said:

The 130 uses basically all the same hardware as the 330 right. Engine, Box, Diff, Suspension and I think the front seats are the same too. It's basically the same platform just a little shorter right?

Of sorts; but deffo a smaller cabin; I was literally shoulder to shoulder with the passenger/driver in whichever seat I was in

I wasn't in my pals E91 335D

Still a great car and I'd get one for the wife if she wasn't so tight-fisted

Edited by d_a_n1979 on Sunday 4th July 13:33

[g3org3y]

d_a_n1979 said:

Still a great car and I'd get one for the wife if she wasn't so tight

No comment...

[Court_S]

g3org3y said:

d_a_n1979 said:

Still a great car and I'd get one for the wife if she wasn't so tight

No comment...

[JakeT]

ferrisbueller said:

d_a_n1979 said:

ferrisbueller said:

Eight grand? Blimey.

It's fair rare to see a manual one

330i, that spec, price is about right give or take £500 or so...

Buyers market and the prices are just going up

Sounds like a seller's market then. 8k is a significant uplift over recent years. I'm not saying they don't merit it. IMO they're better than the cars that came after.

I agree. Not sure I’d pay 8k though unless the expensive jobs that end up needing doing had all been done. Bodes well for my 170k model though

[JakeT]

g3org3y said:

IIRC with the facelift they changed the steering from hydraulic to electric (or have I made that up!?)

You have not. I only know because yesterday I changed the electric rack on a mates 130i LE after the motor went noisy.

[d_a_n1979]

g3org3y said:

d_a_n1979 said:

Still a great car and I'd get one for the wife if she wasn't so tight

No comment...

Court_S said:

g3org3y said:

d_a_n1979 said:

Still a great car and I'd get one for the wife if she wasn't so tight

No comment...

Oi... Get out of the gutter please

[g3org3y]

d_a_n1979 said:

Oi... Get out of the gutter please

It's a place I call home.

[Mr Tidy]

JakeT said:

g3org3y said:

IIRC with the facelift they changed the steering from hydraulic to electric (or have I made that up!?)

You have not. I only know because yesterday I changed the electric rack on a mates 130i LE after the motor went noisy.

Yes, the facelifts came out in March IIRC. The easy way to tell with a 130i is to look at the Road Tax, HPAS models are Band M and EPAS ones are a ban lower - which may have been the reason for the change as I imagine the BIK would have been a bit less too!

I've had 3 BMWs with EPAS (one was a facelift 123d) and 5 with HPAS. For the sake of a few quid a year on tax I'd much rather have HPAS.

But good 130is are quite hard to find and are fetching strong money so I'll just stick with my 330i!

[pmorg4]

to3m said:

I'm sure the vendor would suggest you find another and buy that one instead. After all, 330i touring, sport suspension, xenon headlights, manual gearbox... how hard could it be?

Agreed. When I was looking to buy an E91 330i Touring manual, I had a few "nice to have" options such as HiFi and iDrive (mainly so that I could easily upgrade to CarPlay), and my one "must have" option was bi-xenon headlights as I think halogens are hopeless. After months of searching I finally accepted that I was going to have to forego my "must-have" and accept a car with halogens.

330i Touring manuals are so thin on the ground that it really is a seller's market, and most of them are pretty poorly specced aside from leather and iDrive both of which are quite common. I got around the lack of xenon specced cars by buying a set of xenon headlights and the requisite parts to retrofit, although the parts are still sitting in the garage until I get time to do the job

[beambeam1]

Battery in the boot, has anyone had issues with it sliding/moving around? I have been getting errors flashing up on the dash and managed to trace it back to battery being loose. Have secured it (or thought I had!) with the clamp and long bolt but within a couple of days it seems to dislodge itself again. Any suggestions?

[pmorg4]

Are you sure it's the right size battery and is therefore fully secured by the clamp? If so, I can only guess that the bolt thread has been stripped and thus while it might appear to be tight, the weight of the battery combined with the forces from driving are exerting a force stronger than the thread can hold. I think it's very unlikely that it's slackening itself off in such a short space of time, although you could always apply some threadlock to be sure.

[d_a_n1979]

beambeam1 said:

Battery in the boot, has anyone had issues with it sliding/moving around? I have been getting errors flashing up on the dash and managed to trace it back to battery being loose. Have secured it (or thought I had!) with the clamp and long bolt but within a couple of days it seems to dislodge itself again. Any suggestions?

As 'pmorg' said; is it deffo the right battery?

Not sure about the E9x range; but the E39 battery (the right one) is the size of a boat and fills the whole battery cavity, so has nowhere to move around etc

[beambeam1]

You are on to something! E91 physical size should be 353x175x190mm according to Google. I just remembered I have one of that size tucked away in the garage so sticking that on the charger and will swap it over. Thanks - glad/hope it's one of those simple fiddles to fix!