Thinking about buying a BMW as a daily
01-22-2019, 06:18 AM
#11
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Waterford, MI - America's High Five
Posts: 683
Received 82 Likes
on
70 Posts
I've owned both an E82 and now an E90. The E82 has significantly cheaper materials. Get the E92 homie.
Edit: And yes it's in the shop because the heater core is clogged. One of the only damn things I refuse to do....take out the dash. Come oooooooooon bill less than 2 grand!
Edit: And yes it's in the shop because the heater core is clogged. One of the only damn things I refuse to do....take out the dash. Come oooooooooon bill less than 2 grand!
01-22-2019, 10:50 AM
#12
Registered User
I had a 335i msport with 6 sp manual , 2013, for three years. It bounced about allot in the rear, the engine cut out a few times and went into limp home mode, with a restart fixing it till next time. I hated the run flats and would no recommend anything about them. i went right out and bought a 6 speed m3 in 2016, no regrets, no problems in three years. I love it....this is the bmw you may want. An M3.
A used car depends allot on who had it and , how it was treated, and if it has good bones....great design and well built....bmw is a good brand and I have had 4 of them. Just go drive an m3. Yes the v8 had a proglem or two, which can be fixed, it's a nice ride....my son had a 2008 and one drive of that and I was hooked, the m cars are different, period.
A used car depends allot on who had it and , how it was treated, and if it has good bones....great design and well built....bmw is a good brand and I have had 4 of them. Just go drive an m3. Yes the v8 had a proglem or two, which can be fixed, it's a nice ride....my son had a 2008 and one drive of that and I was hooked, the m cars are different, period.
01-23-2019, 08:01 AM
#13
I've know more people who thought they found secret treasure buying a nice used bmw, and talk about how its overblown about the running costs, only to get rid of it a few years later to buy a Prius or civic or something along those lines. The NA cars are stout, I know countless folks with over 200k miles with dramatic but reasonable problems, but the i6 turbo cars are a different story.
The folks that do keep them and enjoy them tend to be less thrifty in their spending habits which it sounds like you sorta are. Understand you may luck out, get a unicorn car, tune it to 600whp and do donuts all day and never ever have an issue, or you could deal with random overheating, coolant, suspension issues, or have all sorts of sensor issues.
The folks that do keep them and enjoy them tend to be less thrifty in their spending habits which it sounds like you sorta are. Understand you may luck out, get a unicorn car, tune it to 600whp and do donuts all day and never ever have an issue, or you could deal with random overheating, coolant, suspension issues, or have all sorts of sensor issues.
01-23-2019, 02:40 PM
#14
Thread Starter
I've know more people who thought they found secret treasure buying a nice used bmw, and talk about how its overblown about the running costs, only to get rid of it a few years later to buy a Prius or civic or something along those lines. The NA cars are stout, I know countless folks with over 200k miles with dramatic but reasonable problems, but the i6 turbo cars are a different story.
The folks that do keep them and enjoy them tend to be less thrifty in their spending habits which it sounds like you sorta are. Understand you may luck out, get a unicorn car, tune it to 600whp and do donuts all day and never ever have an issue, or you could deal with random overheating, coolant, suspension issues, or have all sorts of sensor issues.
The folks that do keep them and enjoy them tend to be less thrifty in their spending habits which it sounds like you sorta are. Understand you may luck out, get a unicorn car, tune it to 600whp and do donuts all day and never ever have an issue, or you could deal with random overheating, coolant, suspension issues, or have all sorts of sensor issues.
The BMW on the other hand, I might want to take into a well established shop the first time around. Or a few several times afterwards. Who knows! I definitely don't mind spending the money if I need to or if I can't do it myself. You're not going to be finding me on the garage floor under the car trying to drop the subframe in order to get to the turbos. As cool as it'll be to learn how to do that, I don't think i have the time to do it. I'll gladly pay to have that done haha.
01-23-2019, 02:54 PM
#15
Thread Starter
I just sold an n55 135i 6MT with all the options. Awesome car. My third BMW. I did no performance mods. I love that engine. I want it in my S2k. The trouble with BMW is a part of you is always wondering if/when the car might drain your bank account. I totally agree a non enthusiast should not own a BMW out of warranty. Don't assume this will make the car cheap to own, though. Do some searches on what typically fails on BMWs (such as plastic radiator end cap). Have you driven one of these cars? The is decent on power. I never bothered with a tune but I'm sure it's great. It's worth mentioning the 1 series has different wheel offset from most cars so wheel availability is small compared to other cars (3 series wheels don't swap).
The 135i was designed to use run flats. My experience with standard tires was that the rear felt a bit off. It's generally accepted that BMW used soft subframe bushings to improve ride quality issues brought about by run-flats. I installed bushing inserts that helped but the car still felt a bit off. Some people go all out replacing with M bushings but they are $$$.
I sold the car because I got tired of having two impractical cars. I've switched to a hatchback and find it immensely more useful.
The 135i was designed to use run flats. My experience with standard tires was that the rear felt a bit off. It's generally accepted that BMW used soft subframe bushings to improve ride quality issues brought about by run-flats. I installed bushing inserts that helped but the car still felt a bit off. Some people go all out replacing with M bushings but they are $$$.
I sold the car because I got tired of having two impractical cars. I've switched to a hatchback and find it immensely more useful.
I won't be looking for super car levels of performance on this car as it'll be my DD. Will I eventually want to modify it and get more performance out of it? Yes! But I would like to enjoy the car in stock form for a while before I do that. My S2000 didn't get any major mods until after I paid it off. All I really did was maintenance and a better brake pad and tire package. Paying the car off was priority number 1.
Im going to test drive the cars first though and make sure that this is the direction I want to go.
01-23-2019, 03:39 PM
#16
I love love love my 2007 bmw 335i. Mine has over 130k miles and I drive it everyday. It’s my adult car. They are dirt cheep and can be had for under 10 thousand and are super nice. My is a manual trans and I have all the bolt ons. Plus I run E85 with bigger hybrid billet wheel twin turbos from pure. It makes Well over 500whp and 500 tq. And unlike my s2000 its not a lag monster. Your talking 500+tq at under 3k rpm. If you factor in fun to drive / big power and even bigger power with very basic mods/ luxury/ comfort. Absolutely noting will compared with a n54 335i for the $8,000to $15,000 price range. For a true performance car and if you also factory in things like comfort and class nothing comes close to this car for a similar price.
now for the bad
I absolutely do not recommend this car to anyone unless they are a true car guy that is use to doing a lot of wrenching. The car is only expensive to maintain if you have to pay for labor. It’s not expensive if you source parts your self and work on the car your self. Yes the car compared to Japanese cars is very unreliable. And compared to the s2000 it’s also much harder to work on. These cars will need the oil filter housing gasket, valve cover gasket and oil pan gasket change every 60-80k miles. Compared to a Honda the oil pas gasket in a Honda is a super simple job but for the n54 it a $1000+ job that is labor intensive that requires droping the sub fram and many many hours of work. But like I said all this cost nearly nothing if you do the work yourself. The electric water pump do die every 50-90k miles. The turbos will go bad at or under 100k miles.
I got to say it again. From a stand point of fun to drive/power/ potential hp with minor bolt ons/ powerband/comfort/class/gas millage. And price nothing comes close to a early e90/e92 manual transmission 335i
but if your cant even do a simple thing like a clutch job yourself at home I do not recommend this car for you. This car will bankrupt you and making people like you hate this car. If you can’t do a clutch job that your can’t change turbos on this car. Hell you probably can’t even do a oil pan gasket job on this car.
old high millage out of warrante high power turbo German cars should not be owned by non car enthusiasts. Car enthusiasts =people can do there own clutch jobs and engine swaps at home.
now for the bad
I absolutely do not recommend this car to anyone unless they are a true car guy that is use to doing a lot of wrenching. The car is only expensive to maintain if you have to pay for labor. It’s not expensive if you source parts your self and work on the car your self. Yes the car compared to Japanese cars is very unreliable. And compared to the s2000 it’s also much harder to work on. These cars will need the oil filter housing gasket, valve cover gasket and oil pan gasket change every 60-80k miles. Compared to a Honda the oil pas gasket in a Honda is a super simple job but for the n54 it a $1000+ job that is labor intensive that requires droping the sub fram and many many hours of work. But like I said all this cost nearly nothing if you do the work yourself. The electric water pump do die every 50-90k miles. The turbos will go bad at or under 100k miles.
I got to say it again. From a stand point of fun to drive/power/ potential hp with minor bolt ons/ powerband/comfort/class/gas millage. And price nothing comes close to a early e90/e92 manual transmission 335i
but if your cant even do a simple thing like a clutch job yourself at home I do not recommend this car for you. This car will bankrupt you and making people like you hate this car. If you can’t do a clutch job that your can’t change turbos on this car. Hell you probably can’t even do a oil pan gasket job on this car.
old high millage out of warrante high power turbo German cars should not be owned by non car enthusiasts. Car enthusiasts =people can do there own clutch jobs and engine swaps at home.
01-23-2019, 07:04 PM
#17
Funny definition you have of a car enthusiast. I’d consider myself a car enthusiast but certainly can’t swap out an engine. I suppose if I really wanted to I’m sure I could learn, but my time is worth much more. I wouldn’t consider a clutch job a simple thing either. Changing the oil is simple. Any old BMW is an operating cost nightmare. Much better cars to mod, unless you’re riceball
this topic started stated that he can’t do a clutch job and he asked about reliability. Labor and parts on a bmw 335i is very very expensive compared to Japanese cars. A typical clutch job is well over 1 thousand. Hell a oil pan gasket job is over $1000 and on a labor/difficult level it’s harder than a clutch job. Blown turbo will cost you well over $5000 at the dealer and Maybe $3000 from a good independent shop. These things almost already excead the price of the car. Theses this will and do go bad on bmw 335i all the time. It’s just normal bmw maintnece. And no this person staring this thread should not get a used n54 335 for these reason. Buts it’s an amazing car and the best car you can buy for the money as long as you can wrench. And I mean really wrench not you know how to change out fluids on a car.
01-23-2019, 07:36 PM
#18
Person B = makes low 6 figure salary and maintains an older manual pickup truck, mini-van, and mid-sized sedan himself
who is the "car enthusiast"?
clutch job = simple
clutch job = really wrenching
one of these is not true...
01-23-2019, 07:51 PM
#19
Thread Starter
The point is
this topic started stated that he can’t do a clutch job and he asked about reliability. Labor and parts on a bmw 335i is very very expensive compared to Japanese cars. A typical clutch job is well over 1 thousand. Hell a oil pan gasket job is over $1000 and on a labor/difficult level it’s harder than a clutch job. Blown turbo will cost you well over $5000 at the dealer and Maybe $3000 from a good independent shop. These things almost already excead the price of the car. Theses this will and do go bad on bmw 335i all the time. It’s just normal bmw maintnece. And no this person staring this thread should not get a used n54 335 for these reason. Buts it’s an amazing car and the best car you can buy for the money as long as you can wrench. And I mean really wrench not you know how to change out fluids on a car.
I agree the price of maintenance on these cars, 135i and 335i, is no joke. This is why I will be looking into getting an aftermarket extended warranty with my purchase for the off chance that the turbo, fuel pump, injectors, water pump and what not decide to take a dump. If things don't seem to work out then I'll move on to another car.
01-23-2019, 08:00 PM
#20
Thread Starter
Person A = makes 8 figure salary per year and owns 12 different cars and pays people to maintain them
Person B = makes low 6 figure salary and maintains an older manual pickup truck, mini-van, and mid-sized sedan himself
who is the "car enthusiast"?
really wrenching =/= simple
clutch job = simple
clutch job = really wrenching
one of these is not true...
Person B = makes low 6 figure salary and maintains an older manual pickup truck, mini-van, and mid-sized sedan himself
who is the "car enthusiast"?
really wrenching =/= simple
clutch job = simple
clutch job = really wrenching
one of these is not true...