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2 BMW or not 2 BMW?

3K views 29 replies 16 participants last post by  The Rupp 
#1 ·
Hi I'm migrating from Honda world. My wife has her MINI COOPPER S for almost a year already and I'm looking towards some preowned manual BMW 3 sedan.

I'm not considering 335 as that car's performance is too much for my needs, also, possible long term reliability issues concern me for this model, but I'm open towards 325, 328 or 330. 328 sounds to me as a best choise out of these three. This is what I've googled for 0-60 times - 325 - 6.7, 328 - 6.2, 330 - 6.1 just for a reference. I really value handling more than 0-60 times.

But anyways, my bigest concern is not performance but reliability. It's not that I can't afford to maintain BMW financially, but rather can't spend too much time on this. I'm open towards looking for minimally equipped BMW if less options transforms into less problems.

So, my question is - which one out of these three models should be better reliability wise?

I did some search on this forum and discovered that BMWs have some issues with
cooling system by 60K. What is that? Does any BMW have this? Or this depends on
how the car was driven?

Same question regarding brakes. Are brake pads expensive to replace or rotors
have to be replaced as well? Are aftermarket rotors more durable?

What else should I be aware about? Is either of 325\328\330 immune to some kinds of issues others have?

I know 325\328 and 330\335 have different auto transmissions. How about manual? I'm a manual guy.

I looked at consumer reports and it shows e90 reliability is much better than e46. BMW is actually not the whole point for me... I want fun to drive RWD sedan. Looks like I can't find anything other than BMW here... IS300 is too old and not easy to find... second generation IS I don't like... C300 - shouldn't be too much fun to drive... G35 - don't like the fact the rear seat doesn't fold. What else? Nothing.

Any input is really appreciated.
 
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#3 ·
I don't have much time to answer your question now so I'll come back later but I can vouch for the 330. It's a great car and the performance is amazing.
Thanks.

One thing though are you sure about e90 having better reliability than e46?
I am not sure at all - I'm not bmw expert, but this is what consumer reports says.
 
#8 ·
330i or 328i because 325 is weak.

330i will likely come loaded because it was a top of the range car. But its older. 328i will be newer but may be lacking few cool features as its a middle level model.

I'd go for the 330i with low miles and last built year (2006).
 
#9 ·
If it's your first BMW, depending on your budget, go with a newer 328. You don't want a 330i because you'd have to buy 06 (for e90) and almost all of those are coming off their warranty.

Or, buy a 330 that someone bought CPO with the BMW warranty and extended maintenance. These are tough to find but they're out there. Whatever you do, don't buy a BMW without at least a couple years of warranty left.

These are finicky cars. Great, wonderful cars, but frustrating and possibly expensive out of warranty, at least when compared to Hondas / Toyotas / Nissans.
 
#12 ·
If you want fun while driving, then a BMW will give you plenty of that.

As for the reliability concerns, all I can say is that the best for you would be to buy a new car or get a CPO. You will get 4 years of warranty and full maintenance. That's the best piece of mind you can have.

I hear a lot of people saying that German cars are not as reliable as Japanese cars, but I haven't seen any hard data backing up those claims. My view is that BMWs are complicated pieces of technology that are bound to fail every now and then. I don't think that they are so unreliable that they will start falling apart right at the 4-year mark. If that were the case, I would not be looking for my third BMW (a 335i sedan, BTW).

If you take care of your vehicles, they will last a long time. I know many people with BMWs running past the 100K miles mark. Just pay attention to what the car "tells" you and do preventive maintenance. I don't think you have to be a mechanic. Just a careful and attentive owner.

I have owned a 2000 323i sedan and a 2004 330i sedan for the last 10 years. I have spent out of pocket around $5K in tires, breaks, repairs that were not covered by warranty, and 50K mile service. Everything else was covered by BMW as part of their warranty and/or full maintenance. My visits to BMW Service were to either top the oil, fill the tires with air, perform scheduled service, or repair minor things in the car. I think that's a decent maintenance cost.

Once I buy my next 335i sedan, I will have 4 more years of full coverage and piece of mind.
 
#13 ·
the 325 is definitely not weak as stated earlier. i think that many people making these claims clearly haven't driven one. its no 335 for sure, but if that 15 extra horsepower that the 328 has over the 325 means that much to you, i guess the 328 is the way to go... if you are looking for handling i would go with the sports package for sure. there is no doubt that a 3 series with the zsp are a blast to drive and will not disappoint no matter which model you choose.
 
#14 ·
325 vs 328 vs 330 performance i really preffer to measure in 0-60 times. Either of them has enough HP for everyday driving. Now if you want to accelerate - it's 6.7 vs 6.2 vs 6.1 . As you see 328 shows the optimum HP vs acceleration ratio. Speaking of handling - they should do very similar give they either all ZSP equipped or not. Am I right?
 
#20 ·
If you really value reliability, consider a IS250 with a stick shift. Hard to find but it will be cheap. It wont drive like a BMW though

If your heart is set on a 3, get a 328i and stay away from the advanced gizmo options. Expect the electronics to fail over time but the driveline will stay pretty solid
 
#21 ·
Well, I'd say go for a more recent model 328i with CPO... or a new one... like many in this forum. But not because I think BMW's have any inherent reliability problems; my E46 330i is over 110K miles now and it's FAR more reliable than my Subaru SVX which I finally sold at 130K miles because it was starting to cost more per month in repairs than I would've spent on a car payment.

As for the cooling system, it's not necessarily that the cooling system is inherently flawed; it's that the layout of the engine is very sensitive to a cooling system failure.

In a V6 you have a compact engine that's actually relatively easy to cool and thus a failure need not always be critical. In a longitudinally mounted engines like the BMW, you have six cylinders that are mounted in-line, and in the event of a cooling system failure then the rear cylinders are typically the most likely to get hot, quicker because there's just not enough cool air getting back there from the front. Not that air cooling is a good idea in modern combustion engines, anyway... but those rear cylinders will tend to heat up frighteningly fast.

It's advised to replace cooling system components en-masse about every 60K miles by most enthusiasts because of this. It's not required, but is recommended. Of course, I've rarely seen Japanese cars go more than 80K miles without needing some cooling component replaced, either... so though YMMV it seems like cheap insurance to me.

I've had Acuras, Subarus and Hondas... even a Mazda or two and I don't find the Bimmer's maintenance requirements overly onerous. I'm just about to replace tires and do the cooling system overhaul, myself.

However, if I were in your shoes, I would give serious consideration to a new Bimmer for one big reason; you never know what the previous owner did (and that's true of ANY car). If you are not worried about repair costs (as you stated), then consider going the extra mile and actually putting that money into buying a new car with 4 years of included maintenance and a full warranty... that way you don't HAVE to worry about maintenance until 2013! In that time, you can also decide if you like it and want to keep it... and by then you should be close to the end of your payments on the car.

I plan to buy my next car new for that reason; my 330i suffered a head gasket failure shortly after I bought it because the previous owner had overheated it (I surmise) and then done a temporary fix to sell it by tightening down the head bolts (which I know; they were WAY over-torqued). That's a risk you take with any used car, not just Bimmers. I got unlucky and got burned a bit, but I still love my 330i and plan to buy a 335i next year :)
 
#26 ·
I'd seek out the nicest and newest 328i you can find. There is no such thing as an "underpowered" late-model 3 Series.

- Mike
 
#28 ·
Test drove 325i manual with no sport package. Not underpowered, but not overpowered either. I guess with all the passengers in it might feel like some lack of power. Also, I hope sport package makes difference as the car felt too soft. Other than that I liked it, but will focus on 328/330.
 
#29 ·
Buy a car that has about a year of warranty remaining. I just bought a 2006 330i sedan w/ sport package. I have had about 30 different things I wanted fixed on the car, and so far, BMW has spent more than 3000 dollars on parts to fix my vehicle under warranty. No the car is not a lemon, but with the complexity of all the cars these days there are so many things that can go wrong. There are tons of moving mechanical parts that can break. Don't forget that maintenance is also covered. The warranty is bumper to bumper.

Moral of the story: YOU WILL REGRET IT IF YOU BUY A BMW WITHOUT A WARRANTY.
 
#30 ·
From an ownership aspect, don't buy a G35. You won't get anywhere NEAR the level of service that BMW will provide for you. Secondly, I just bought a CPO 330i with an extended maintenance plan on it. I haven't used either yet, but I'm sure I will, and I'm sure I'll be beyond glad I did so. You honestly can't even tell that my car has the mileage that it does...

Good luck!
 
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