2009 BMW 3.0 325i Touring. Any advice?
Discussion
Hello
Looking at an advert on here at the above car, mileage under 40k. Not sure if I can post the link, is this allowed.
Its priced high but is very low mileage, is this worth so much more being low mileage, I suppose that's up to me. Would a high mileage say 100,000 put you off. looking at manual rather than auto
What would I be looking out for, injectors, is timing chain a mileage thing rather than age?
Had a 2007 z4 with the 3.0l engine before from BMW and warrantee work was over £2,000 in the first year, new head etc.
Would you expect issues with the engine. looking at family car and using loan to pay off rather than PCP.
is buying any 9 year old car a potential nightmare.
any advice ?
cheers
Welsh
Looking at an advert on here at the above car, mileage under 40k. Not sure if I can post the link, is this allowed.
Its priced high but is very low mileage, is this worth so much more being low mileage, I suppose that's up to me. Would a high mileage say 100,000 put you off. looking at manual rather than auto
What would I be looking out for, injectors, is timing chain a mileage thing rather than age?
Had a 2007 z4 with the 3.0l engine before from BMW and warrantee work was over £2,000 in the first year, new head etc.
Would you expect issues with the engine. looking at family car and using loan to pay off rather than PCP.
is buying any 9 year old car a potential nightmare.
any advice ?
cheers
Welsh
2009 will the n53 engine so yes there are well documented risks with that engine but a lot of them are now well understood or largely resolved.
Lingering issues are the piezo injectors which are the unique weak spot on this engine and are expensive. Nox sensor is another which is specific to the n53 but there is an aftermarket part now, at least.
Issues which are not unique to this engine which can still throw big bills are HPFP and coolant pump. The latter is also on the n52 engine and both HPFP and coolant pump are also present on the n55 so similar risk there I think.
In short post 2008 I don't think BMW built a six pot engine which doesn't have the ability to throw some very large bills your way.
That said with the mileage you can get a warranty so apart from the pain of dealing with BMW monkeys every now and then it's largely very good.
Ps I have an n53 engine and have done for past 3 years. I think it's pretty good overall.
Lingering issues are the piezo injectors which are the unique weak spot on this engine and are expensive. Nox sensor is another which is specific to the n53 but there is an aftermarket part now, at least.
Issues which are not unique to this engine which can still throw big bills are HPFP and coolant pump. The latter is also on the n52 engine and both HPFP and coolant pump are also present on the n55 so similar risk there I think.
In short post 2008 I don't think BMW built a six pot engine which doesn't have the ability to throw some very large bills your way.
That said with the mileage you can get a warranty so apart from the pain of dealing with BMW monkeys every now and then it's largely very good.
Ps I have an n53 engine and have done for past 3 years. I think it's pretty good overall.
OP, your 2007 3 litre Z4 would have had the N52 engine which generally seems to have less issues than the later N53 fitted to the 325i you are considering.
I've run Z4 Coupes for 4 years (although only 16K miles) and the only issue I had was an electric water pump dying - which I believe the N53 engine has as well.
But N53s seem to also have problems with High Pressure Fuel Pumps, Injectors and coking up.
Which is why when I went looking for an E91 325i earlier this year I specifically wanted one with the 2.5 litre N52 engine. A couple of thousand miles later it's now on 134K and still behaving.
I've run Z4 Coupes for 4 years (although only 16K miles) and the only issue I had was an electric water pump dying - which I believe the N53 engine has as well.
But N53s seem to also have problems with High Pressure Fuel Pumps, Injectors and coking up.
Which is why when I went looking for an E91 325i earlier this year I specifically wanted one with the 2.5 litre N52 engine. A couple of thousand miles later it's now on 134K and still behaving.
I've got an N53 330i. I like it overall, but the engine does seem to be rather flaky... mine had an injector fault almost immediately after I bought it last November, and after I rejected the car the dealer offered to have it fixed (to which I said yes). Total cost for all the various bits, plus labou: £2200+VAT. Rather them than me.
Time will tell overall, but it's been OK since then so far. The engine isn't super-great below 2000rpm - as well the rather clattery dieselly direct injection noise, it seems to have a special town driving mode at lower revs, with a rather limp pedal response curve - but past that it's a lot better, and goes pretty keenly all the way through the rev range. You can get to pretty much 70mph in 2nd gear, it sounds good when you do that, the pedal response is pretty sharp, the power curve is satisfying, and the fuel economy is OK.
Not sure I'd necessarily pay a lot of money for one with lower miles rather than higher miles, but if your budget can accommodate price of car + price of hilariously expensive set of engine fixes, and you want this sort of car, then why not. What else are you going to do anyway? Find another one?
Time will tell overall, but it's been OK since then so far. The engine isn't super-great below 2000rpm - as well the rather clattery dieselly direct injection noise, it seems to have a special town driving mode at lower revs, with a rather limp pedal response curve - but past that it's a lot better, and goes pretty keenly all the way through the rev range. You can get to pretty much 70mph in 2nd gear, it sounds good when you do that, the pedal response is pretty sharp, the power curve is satisfying, and the fuel economy is OK.
Not sure I'd necessarily pay a lot of money for one with lower miles rather than higher miles, but if your budget can accommodate price of car + price of hilariously expensive set of engine fixes, and you want this sort of car, then why not. What else are you going to do anyway? Find another one?
Just a thought, but there are some recall issues just now on these:- https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
You may want to take this into account.
You may want to take this into account.
to3m said:
I've got an N53 330i. I like it overall, but the engine does seem to be rather flaky... mine had an injector fault almost immediately after I bought it last November, and after I rejected the car the dealer offered to have it fixed (to which I said yes). Total cost for all the various bits, plus labou: £2200+VAT. Rather them than me.
Time will tell overall, but it's been OK since then so far. The engine isn't super-great below 2000rpm - as well the rather clattery dieselly direct injection noise, it seems to have a special town driving mode at lower revs, with a rather limp pedal response curve - but past that it's a lot better, and goes pretty keenly all the way through the rev range. You can get to pretty much 70mph in 2nd gear, it sounds good when you do that, the pedal response is pretty sharp, the power curve is satisfying, and the fuel economy is OK.
Not sure I'd necessarily pay a lot of money for one with lower miles rather than higher miles, but if your budget can accommodate price of car + price of hilariously expensive set of engine fixes, and you want this sort of car, then why not. What else are you going to do anyway? Find another one?
Good point on low miles vs high miles and whether it's worth it. Personally I don't think so. Modern cars and engines (post 2008) are generally very complex and can hit you with bills any time. Buy on condition and... price!Time will tell overall, but it's been OK since then so far. The engine isn't super-great below 2000rpm - as well the rather clattery dieselly direct injection noise, it seems to have a special town driving mode at lower revs, with a rather limp pedal response curve - but past that it's a lot better, and goes pretty keenly all the way through the rev range. You can get to pretty much 70mph in 2nd gear, it sounds good when you do that, the pedal response is pretty sharp, the power curve is satisfying, and the fuel economy is OK.
Not sure I'd necessarily pay a lot of money for one with lower miles rather than higher miles, but if your budget can accommodate price of car + price of hilariously expensive set of engine fixes, and you want this sort of car, then why not. What else are you going to do anyway? Find another one?
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