E9x 6 cylinder Diesels info

[SlowStig]

Afternoon all,

I have had an E90 330d Manual in the past and I am considering getting another after my monthly mileage is creeping up and wondered if anyone has some advice regarding the sub-£10k cars and where I should be concentrating my efforts...

I haven't driven one with the auto box so not sure how quick/slow the box is, and is it worth getting an older 335d compared to a newer(lci) 325d/330d? At this sort of price range, is higher mileage cars worth considering? Is there any inherent issues with these cars, I am hoping to get an estate and have seen they have a dual opening boot, can there be any issues with the glass hatch part?

What service intervals are involved with the autos? I know the engines are 20k but my old manual was supposedly not needing an oil change until 80k miles.

I haven't discounted a manual, but my old one had a heavy clutch and was difficult to get between 1st and 2nd gears smoothly which was somewhat irritating!

[JakeT]

325d facelift. They're not overly stressed, and still make good power. Not to mention you'll get a nicer one for the money.
Autoboxes are good, and suit a diesel better. Estates are good cars, and reliable on the whole.
Service intervals depend on how you drive. They can be very long though.

[Martyn76]

Hi

I've had my E91 330d (2006) with the 6 speed auto box for over 3 years now, this was my first auto and i really like it, makes for a casual drive and is nice and smooth to but if you are hesitant it can dither, stick it sport mode and the revs pick up and it the gear change is much sharper, it really is night and day. The only issue I can think of is when you step off the brake ( at a junction for example), the car will hold itself, useful on a hill bit of a pain if you try and pull out in a bit in a hurry.

BMW stay the box is sealed for life but I think ZF say the service interval is 70K, I had mine done a few weeks back, I'm currently on 88K, nothing wrong with the box just had some extra cash so thought I would treat the car, I must say the change is smoother and maybe a bit quicker to pick up.

[Huskyman]

Martyn76 said:

Hi

I've had my E91 330d (2006) with the 6 speed auto box for over 3 years now, this was my first auto and i really like it, makes for a casual drive and is nice and smooth to but if you are hesitant it can dither, stick it sport mode and the revs pick up and it the gear change is much sharper, it really is night and day. The only issue I can think of is when you step off the brake ( at a junction for example), the car will hold itself, useful on a hill bit of a pain if you try and pull out in a bit in a hurry.

BMW stay the box is sealed for life but I think ZF say the service interval is 70K, I had mine done a few weeks back, I'm currently on 88K, nothing wrong with the box just had some extra cash so thought I would treat the car, I must say the change is smoother and maybe a bit quicker to pick up.

I would echo what is said above. Don’t leave the auto box service past 100k km I did and it was almost too late... The LCI 330d has 245 bhp and is nice and quick and remaps well. I am not aware of any issues with the touring, just buy eyes wide open.

[helix402]

Great cars though some timing chain probs are now appearing on the later N57 engines. ;still rare compared to he N47.

[rayyan171]

In general it's always worth going for an older model if it means that you get more for your money. We went pre-LCI for an X5 3.0sd M-sport, with lots of options, over a similarly priced, 1 year newer, LCI xDrive30d. The newer one didn't even have fully electric seats, and the seemingly problematic N57 engine, and very little spec. We went pre-LCI and no regrets.

The engine in the 335d is very very good, seemingly more reliable as there is less stress on the turbos. Not only is it a great engine, the rest of the car is very reliable, much more so than the X5, but that is because the X5 is complicated, so there should be no real concerns in the 335d. Personally, that would be the car for me, as the 330d is just a bit normal!

[SlowStig]

Cheers for all the help so far guys, I am concerned a little bit about the CCC vs CiC computers, as the latter is much better but I can only seem to find either cars without any nav system or the earlier version. Can it be upgraded at all to the latter or fitting fresh by fitting systems from a later car?

I am leaning towards an older 335d as the later 325/330d are quite hard to come by with anything other than seats and a steering wheel!

Also, I have seen some cars have paddles like the newer F shape cars and others have silver ones which seem to sit near the thumb rests on the wheel, does this mean different gearboxes or is the same box, different paddles(presumably also changeable)?

[rayyan171]

I have experienced both CCC and CIC. Obviously there is more to CIC, faster, better functions, but we have CCC and it does the job just fine, quite well actually. It can be changed out for around £500 if done wisely.

The silver thumb paddles are the weird ones where both paddles do upshifts and downshifts. LCI has upshift on the right paddle, downshift on the left, with a + and - on the respective paddles. These were also fitted to the DCT for the 335i but thats a petrol. All pre-LCI diesels came with the unusual shift paddles. They also came with the 6 speed auto, some LCI had 8 speed gearboxes but not sure which ones got it.

[SlowStig]

Can the thumb paddles be changed to the other type? I would suspect they would get in the way from the photos I have seen and they look a bit out of place!

Regarding the auto boxes, its 6 speed pretty much for all cars unless I find a super late built one or a 335i? I doubt a 335i would do 35-40mpg so that's out the question anyway

[Smuler]

Check out the site , E90 post as I am sure there’s plenty modding tips for changing paddles.

I had a 2009 DCT 335i with the silver paddles , I liked the flexibility of up / down shifting from one paddle.

I averaged 22.7 mpg in the 335i so you may be better with diesel. But calculate , cos isn’t diesel fuel going up , road tax and all the restrictions. You might get a bargain 335i now and depreciation be (a lot) less.

[twokcc]

SlowStig said:

Can the thumb paddles be changed to the other type? I would suspect they would get in the way from the photos I have seen and they look a bit out of place!

Regarding the auto boxes, its 6 speed pretty much for all cars unless I find a super late built one or a 335i? I doubt a 335i would do 35-40mpg so that's out the question anyway

Think the dct box was only on the 335i and maybe 335d.
Got a e91 325d auto, dont use paddles at all, but push gearchange over to sport and can then change up/down with gearknob by puling back or pushing it forward. Hangs onto gears not sure at what point auto function takes over but a rewarding way to drive if you want to get more involved

Buy one they are great cars

[PTF]

SlowStig said:

Cheers for all the help so far guys, I am concerned a little bit about the CCC vs CiC computers, as the latter is much better but I can only seem to find either cars without any nav system or the earlier version. Can it be upgraded at all to the latter or fitting fresh by fitting systems from a later car?

I am leaning towards an older 335d as the later 325/330d are quite hard to come by with anything other than seats and a steering wheel!

Also, I have seen some cars have paddles like the newer F shape cars and others have silver ones which seem to sit near the thumb rests on the wheel, does this mean different gearboxes or is the same box, different paddles(presumably also changeable)?

They are rare with the nav option on LCI cars. I've had an E91 325d auto and also an E92 325i manual, both LCI and both with pro-nav. It does attract a premium (though not when it comes to p/x time!). Both cars were around 2010 models. And both were on about 50k-60k miles. I sold each for £10k about a year apart.

The E91 was great. The 325d engine in the E90s is the same (ish) as the 330d engine that was in the E46. M57 iron block. Pretty strong unit. I used to get about 42mpg average. The trip reckoned 45 but it was optimistic. That was taking it easy. It was possibly to occasionally seee high 40s but not sustainable in the real world.

Sports seats are worth hunting out (or retrofitting) as the SE seats aren't great.

[cerb4.5lee]

I took a 2006 E90 330d Auto from 3k miles to over 150k miles, and it was totally reliable and I didn't bother changing the gearbox oil and it still ran fine.

Regards the ZF6 Auto I hated that gearbox in my E90 330i and X5 4.8iS(very dim witted), yet it seemed to suit the 330d very well, it's as if BMW spent more time/effort programming that gearbox with the diesel engine.

The E90 330d was a brilliant all round car I thought, and it returned about 43mpg overall, highly recommended from me.

[cerb4.5lee]

PTF said:

Sports seats are worth hunting out (or retrofitting) as the SE seats aren't great.

Agree with this, and if I'd had the door open without a seat belt on going around a corner I'd end up outside on the road!!

The SE seats don't offer any support anywhere for me, I'm only little though and if you're bigger built it's not so much of a problem I would have thought.

[PTF]

cerb4.5lee said:

I took a 2006 E90 330d Auto from 3k miles to over 150k miles, and it was totally reliable and I didn't bother changing the gearbox oil and it still ran fine.

Regards the ZF6 Auto I hated that gearbox in my E90 330i and X5 4.8iS(very dim witted), yet it seemed to suit the 330d very well, it's as if BMW spent more time/effort programming that gearbox with the diesel engine.

The E90 330d was a brilliant all round car I thought, and it returned about 43mpg overall, highly recommended from me.

Agree with you regarding the gearbox. I test drove a 330i auto pre-LCI with the old style nav before going for the 325d. The 330i felt really really sluggish and just didn't suit the engine at all. That together with the old style nav made the whole thing feel much older.

The 325d with the newer style nav was worth the price premium. It was about £3k cheaper than the equivalent 330d, but was a 1 private owner car and had a decent spec. Still quick enough.

I also tried a 335d LCI auto at around the same time. It was the same price as the 325d and similar options, but had 120k on it vs 45k. Yes it did get down the road quickly once it had spooled up, but (for me) didn't warrant the added complexity.

The dealer was doing a 3 yr warranty for an additional £600, so with that the 325d was a no brainer.

I got a bit bored with it after a year and 15k miles. Sold it for £10k (paid £12k + warranty). As soon as the chap drove away i knew it was a mistake.

The 325i coupe was a knee-jerk reaction. Bit more "interesting" on paper, but that didn't last too long.

The 325d came back up for sale for £7.5k 6 months later and i couldn't shift the coupe quickly enough to get it bought. Missed out on it by 1 day. Gutted.

[SlowStig]

cerb4.5lee - I remember you helping when I was looking at my old 330d!

I think ideally the spec needs to be LCi and N57 engine, however much the 335d is a temptation, getting one as a tourer in budget will be not possible unless I am prepared to compromise on spec and age/mileage.
I am very interested to hear about the auto boxes though, as its an older model, I can't nip to a local dealer to try one out so the first time I try one will be test driving a new car. When described as "dim witted", can they be mapped to speed up changes or response times? I know people can code and activate features on the cars so presumably they can do something with the gearboxes?

So ideally, I need to find a car with the right age, engine and bodystyle(and colour), the rest of my "wants" can be added at a later date for additional cost if I have a burning desire for them.

I presume the x3/x5 are pretty much the same as a 3/5 series in regards to what to look for, just incase one of those appears in budget and spec?

[cerb4.5lee]

SlowStig said:

cerb4.5lee - I remember you helping when I was looking at my old 330d!

I thought I recognised your username.

[Martyn76]

SlowStig said:

cerb4.5lee - I remember you helping when I was looking at my old 330d!

I think ideally the spec needs to be LCi and N57 engine, however much the 335d is a temptation, getting one as a tourer in budget will be not possible unless I am prepared to compromise on spec and age/mileage.
I am very interested to hear about the auto boxes though, as its an older model, I can't nip to a local dealer to try one out so the first time I try one will be test driving a new car. When described as "dim witted", can they be mapped to speed up changes or response times? I know people can code and activate features on the cars so presumably they can do something with the gearboxes?

So ideally, I need to find a car with the right age, engine and bodystyle(and colour), the rest of my "wants" can be added at a later date for additional cost if I have a burning desire for them.

I presume the x3/x5 are pretty much the same as a 3/5 series in regards to what to look for, just incase one of those appears in budget and spec?

I think the 335d\i boxes can be "flashed" as can the LCI boxes I believe, I think it is an Alpina update or something.

[Eddieslofart]

I put 160k motorway miles on a 335d. No major dramas.

But if you get a higher mile one, and use it round town, it will, without a shadow of a doubt, st its dpf.

[rayyan171]

cerb4.5lee said:

I took a 2006 E90 330d Auto from 3k miles to over 150k miles, and it was totally reliable and I didn't bother changing the gearbox oil and it still ran fine.

Regards the ZF6 Auto I hated that gearbox in my E90 330i and X5 4.8iS(very dim witted), yet it seemed to suit the 330d very well, it's as if BMW spent more time/effort programming that gearbox with the diesel engine.

The E90 330d was a brilliant all round car I thought, and it returned about 43mpg overall, highly recommended from me.

Gearbox was updated around late 20078, better software and possibly some different internals. No difference in gearbox no. though, still the ZF6HP.
I wouldn't say its dim witted in our car at least. The gears hold on a hill, changes early as well. It all does depend on your driving characteristics as well, the cars do learn how you like to drive and over time adapt the gearbox to your driving style. This can also be reset and can solve some of the dimwittedness of these gearboxes. In S mode, they are responsive indeed, kickdown is great on the motorway and really has a shove, even in an X5, so must be rapid indeed in the 335d. On the windy roads, it holds the lower gears and provides power when coming out of the corner, maintaining it in the higher revs. These are twin turbo diesels and do perform much better at higher revs, similar to a petrol - this is exactly what BMW wanted out of the 35d engine.

I'm still a bit skeptical on the reliability of the N57, it can have reliability issues similar to the N47 2.0 litre diesel, so personally I avoided it. But, its not nearly as common for timing chain failure on the N57 to happen, compared to the N47. The previous gen M57 is generally bulletproof. Later cars had the better swirl flaps that don't need blanking, but some like to do it anyway.

Fuel economy should be good. We get 25mpg out of the X5, but that is expected! A 635d however gets a true 47-50mpg combined, when doing mainly motorway miles, so the 335d should see 50mpg no problem.

Edited by rayyan171 on Wednesday 22 November 02:21