BMW 320d M - Sport

blacklilly

Would like some advice.

I'm thinking of buying a bmw 320d m - sport, preferably 2008 +, I'd like to know if any of you could give me some advice on this.

I'm thinking of buying through a garage, although obviously its better value to buy privately.

daaaycent boy

The lads at http://www.bmw-driver.net will give you good advice too.

Paddy@CIRL

163BHP Issues 2005-2007 - Swirl Flaps, Turbo Breather Filter, both easily and cheaply remedied.

177BHP Issues 2007-2010ish - Timing Chains are snapping, neither cheap to prevent or repair.

Slattsy

Paddy@CIRL wrote: »

163BHP Issues 2005-2007 - Swirl Flaps, Turbo Breather Filter, both easily and cheaply remedied.

177BHP Issues 2007-2010ish - Timing Chains are snapping, neither cheap to prevent or repair.

Sorry for butting in but does this apply to the petrol too?

blacklilly

Paddy@CIRL wrote: »

163BHP Issues 2005-2007 - Swirl Flaps, Turbo Breather Filter, both easily and cheaply remedied.

177BHP Issues 2007-2010ish - Timing Chains are snapping, neither cheap to prevent or repair.

Have BMW done a re call or are they paying for these issues?

bazz26

blacklilly wrote: »

Have BMW done a re call or are they paying for these issues?

BMW bury their heads in the sand and will not issue a recall because it would cost them a fortune to fix. Instead they only fix the issue if it is detected while the car is under BMW warranty. It costs around €5k to take the engine and gearbox out in order to replace the timing chain and crank shaft. Issue was not resolved until cars with a build date of mid 2010 or newer.

bazz26

Slattsy wrote: »

Sorry for butting in but does this apply to the petrol too?

No but the petrol engines with Efficent Dynamics have their own issues.

blacklilly

So would you be advising against buying one? I want one latter half of 08 at least to avail of cheaper tax

challengemaster

blacklilly wrote: »

So would you be advising against buying one? I want one latter half of 08 at least to avail of cheaper tax

Wait til after the budget, you may change your mind on that one. Post-08 tax is meant to be taking a big hit.

Chuck Stone

challengemaster wrote: »

Post-08 tax is meant to be taking a big hit.

Any more info on this?

Idbatterim

on average what mileage are these chains failing at?

bazz26

Idbatterim wrote: »

on average what mileage are these chains failing at?

Anything from 40k miles to 120k miles from what I had read, there really is no patern. Mine has 70k miles with no issues, yet!

OP, get a 163bhp with the M47 engine, the known issues that engine has are easy and cheap to fix and avoid. The extra tax is nothing compared to forking out for a new timing chain.

Slattsy

I know this is a 320d thread so im sorry again for jumping in here, but im currently in the market for 320 coupe petrol, 2008 or 2009.

It was mentioned earlier about the ED on this car can cause some problems, but is there any other common issues with this car i should note ?

(Again im sorry OP)

blacklilly

bazz26 wrote: »

Anything from 40k miles to 120k miles from what I had read, there really is no patern. Mine has 70k miles with no issues, yet!

OP, get a 163bhp with the M47 engine, the known issues that engine has are easy and cheap to fix and avoid. The extra tax is nothing compared to forking out for a new timing chain.

Thanks for the advice Bazz. When buying second hand, would the general concensious be to buy privately or through a garage. I'm now a little anxious about it

vectra

challengemaster wrote: »

Wait til after the budget, you may change your mind on that one. Post-08 tax is meant to be taking a big hit.

Was there talk of something in the lines of these changes?

Under the new system, Band A will be broken down into four sub-categories and different rates applied. It will be spilt as follows: A1: 0-80g/km (14pc rate), A2: 81-100g/km (15pc), A3: 101-110g/km (16pc) and A4: 111-120 g/km (17pc). This will affect the cost of buying most cars -- and will hit families hard. Increases of 1pc will apply to all other bands as well. The restructuring means that virtually all new cars sold will incur higher VRT rates, adding considerably to the price and potentially hitting sales which have fallen significantly over the past few years.

bazz26

blacklilly wrote: »

Thanks for the advice Bazz. When buying second hand, would the general concensious be to buy privately or through a garage. I'm now a little anxious about it

Really depends on a few things. Buying private will have a segnificant saving over buying from a garage. However you have no comeback from a private sale so you really need to do your homework and get the car checked out by a mechanic before hand. The higher garage price will include a warranty and some people prefer the peace of mind from that.

I bought my 3 Series from a small BMW specialist with a full service history at a significant saving over similar cars from main dealers. However the car was still covered by the original BMW warranty so little or no advantage to paying the higher main dealer price. But if the timing chain issue was common knowledge 2 years back when I was buying then I probably would have opted for the older engine but hindsight is a great like that.

Blazer

bazz26 wrote: »

BMW bury their heads in the sand and will not issue a recall because it would cost them a fortune to fix. Instead they only fix the issue if it is detected while the car is under BMW warranty. It costs around €5k to take the engine and gearbox out in order to replace the timing chain and crank shaft. Issue was not resolved until cars with a build date of mid 2010 or newer.

Yep it's a joke really..the parts themselves are around 3.5K to buy but it's the 13 hours of labour to take the engine apart that pushes it up past 6k.
Apparently late 09 cars are ok as BMW quietly revised the design mid year.

blacklilly

Blazer wrote: »

Yep it's a joke really..the parts themselves are around 3.5K to buy but it's the 13 hours of labour to take the engine apart that pushes it up past 6k.
Apparently late 09 cars are ok as BMW quietly revised the design mid year.

Ok I'll do some more research first but don't think I'll be going for a BMW. Does anyone know if a mechanic will be able to spot these problems?

Leonard Hofstadter

Get a six cylinder diesel model instead - they don't have any of the issues that blight the four cylinder models.

A 325d from 2008 is only €302 to tax before anyone says that it will 'cost a fortune to run' despite being a 3.0 litre engine.