E46 or E90 320D experience?

[winx]

I need to buy a commuter car in the next few months and am thinking about a 320d of some flavour. I would prefer a touring as they are a little more practical and I prefer the looks!
I will be doing around 55 miles a day commuting and a total annual mileage of around 25,000.

Does anyone have one of these or owned one in the past? Are there any specific weak points that I need to look out for?
What sort of mpg do/did you get in the real world?

Any other thoughts would be much appreciated!

Cheers

[Francisco]

E90's are leagues ahead and 2007-on 320d engines (177bhp) are VERY, VERY economical. If you can stretch to an e90 do it.

E46 320d were OK but if go for it, at least go for a 150bhp vlater version and have the butterflies removed before the engine swallows them.

[Simon13]

oh dear B class distinctly B class?

[winx]

Thanks for that. It's a shame really as I really prefer the e46 shape! Think I may go car shopping and see what there is about.

Si - B Class is crap and has been from when I first got it! Other problem is with the mileage I am now doing any car I get thought work will have around £2.5k to pay at the end in excess mileage

[Jhonno]

In terms of engine, got a 120d on a 54 plate in the household, engine has been 100% reliable, needing nothing other than servicing.. Sitting on 41mpg ave, with plenty of town miles in that.

[Jhonno]

Took an e90 320d to Dorset, fully loaded with people and that gave 54mpg for the round trip

[kerrie]

I have a 320ed E90, and get 61mpg on a combined cycle, E90 is the better option if you can get it.

[mc_hawkings24]

Well the 2.0 diesel is an awful engine its a bitza! its a venture from bmw and the citroen. The turbo's blow because of the breather isnt changed enough

http://essexturbos.co.uk/EssexTurbo-BMW.pdf

Its varies from model but the e90 we had had a slightly different breather assembly but still with a blown turbo. After we fitted a new turbo it had a rather strange loud Induction noise after you rev it. We couldnt fault and after bmw had it for a week neither could they. The techy who we were talking to said it might be the turbo as they arent brand new units there just rebuilt but he couldnt fault it other than the noise. Also his opinion was there a crap engine the only decent one was the 3.0d from the e46! even the new 3.5d is crippled with problems. He's only 27 and the top techy there, none of the other techs wil touch them and he had 8 cars to fix all turbo and ecu, his advice dont buy diesel just buy the petrol engines.

A mate has a 1 series coupe thats plagued with problems one expensive fix was the abs module £900

You may say its fine its under warranty but then why buy a car thats got the potential to go wrong badly and have to make frequent trips to bmw? then comes a time when warranty ends

they do suffer from other mechanical issues but ecu ones on latest models are scary because the software is encrypted so well you have to go to bmw and they charge £150 and hour.

[bpowell555]

If you're looking at E90 you're looking at new, save some money get an E46 330d touring - deflapped - and the saving will cover the additional mileage cost. And the 330d is going to be a better steer than any 320d

[B7]

Get the e46 and spend the saved money on whores!

[Royalratch]

E90 has a more economical engine but is a bit plastic and lightweight compared to the E46.

I get around 52-55mpg on long trips on a facelift E46 320d, chipped to 165-170bhp.

You will need to get the intake manifold checked out and have the intake swirl flaps removed if they are the wrong type. Later ones had a modified design but people still remove them. I dare say the N42 in the E46 is more robust than the E90 engine - modern BMW engines seem to be pretty disposable.

The E46 is a solid tank and I think is infinitely better built than modern BMWs. I've driven E90s, E60s, X3s etc and they were all pretty average. I'd rather have a low miles super specced E46 than a high miles E90 save a nice sporty big petrol version.

Whatever you get make sure there's some decent spec.

E46 Sport Saloons and Tourings are rad. £5G starts you off on some nice cars. What are E90s starting at...?

[02Man]

Get the e46 and spend the saved money on whores!

Buy an E36 and throw in some coke too.

Or an E30,and some goats.What a party

[winx]

Thanks all for your input, I did a load of thinking over Christmas and added up some figures...
At the moment I have a Mercedes though work and I have to give it back in June (we can only keep them for a year and then have to order a new one). I could get a C Class C350 CDI to replace it and just use that, get the C Class and a daily shitter to commute in, or just get the BMW.

Having been though the sums over Christmas I would save around £1k a year to get the C Class and a daily shitter.
If I bought a 3 series and ignored the depreciation I would save around £2k ish a year. (Working on a £10k E90)

So have decided it is worth £1k to me to have just the C Class and pay the extra mileage costs, I would much prefer to spend 2 hours a day in a brand new car with free recovery and warranty than save a little and drive an old car. If I got a 3 series it would actually cost more if I took into account depreciation.
So C350CDI will be ordered next week for June Delivery

So cheers for all the info, helped a lot in my decision

[pacerpete]

Good move Henry. I assume it will be a shooting break with gear oil friendly wipe clean leatherzzz ?

[bpowell555]

New cars are for homos

[bss325i]

Well the 2.0 diesel is an awful engine its a bitza! its a venture from bmw and the citroen. The turbo's blow because of the breather isnt changed enough

http://essexturbos.co.uk/EssexTurbo-BMW.pdf

Its varies from model but the e90 we had had a slightly different breather assembly but still with a blown turbo. After we fitted a new turbo it had a rather strange loud Induction noise after you rev it. We couldnt fault and after bmw had it for a week neither could they. The techy who we were talking to said it might be the turbo as they arent brand new units there just rebuilt but he couldnt fault it other than the noise. Also his opinion was there a crap engine the only decent one was the 3.0d from the e46! even the new 3.5d is crippled with problems. He's only 27 and the top techy there, none of the other techs wil touch them and he had 8 cars to fix all turbo and ecu, his advice dont buy diesel just buy the petrol engines.

A mate has a 1 series coupe thats plagued with problems one expensive fix was the abs module £900

You may say its fine its under warranty but then why buy a car thats got the potential to go wrong badly and have to make frequent trips to bmw? then comes a time when warranty ends

they do suffer from other mechanical issues but ecu ones on latest models are scary because the software is encrypted so well you have to go to bmw and they charge £150 and hour.

I could pick holes in most of this but i wont.

One thing i will say is that it must be a shit BMW dealer if none of the techs there will touch diesels! I cant see that somehow.

[B7]

Well the 2.0 diesel is an awful engine its a bitza! its a venture from bmw and the citroen. The turbo's blow because of the breather isnt changed enough

http://essexturbos.co.uk/EssexTurbo-BMW.pdf

Its varies from model but the e90 we had had a slightly different breather assembly but still with a blown turbo. After we fitted a new turbo it had a rather strange loud Induction noise after you rev it. We couldnt fault and after bmw had it for a week neither could they. The techy who we were talking to said it might be the turbo as they arent brand new units there just rebuilt but he couldnt fault it other than the noise. Also his opinion was there a crap engine the only decent one was the 3.0d from the e46! even the new 3.5d is crippled with problems. He's only 27 and the top techy there, none of the other techs wil touch them and he had 8 cars to fix all turbo and ecu, his advice dont buy diesel just buy the petrol engines.

A mate has a 1 series coupe thats plagued with problems one expensive fix was the abs module £900

You may say its fine its under warranty but then why buy a car thats got the potential to go wrong badly and have to make frequent trips to bmw? then comes a time when warranty ends

they do suffer from other mechanical issues but ecu ones on latest models are scary because the software is encrypted so well you have to go to bmw and they charge £150 and hour.

I could pick holes in most of this but i wont.

One thing i will say is that it must be a shit BMW dealer if none of the techs there will touch diesels! I cant see that somehow.

Is it not true Barry that BMW techs don't get a choice of which job they get. If it's a diesel it's a diesel! if you don't like it, theres the door? As long as you have the relevant training obviously.

[mc_hawkings24]

Its coopers on the a217 and he was the master tech. He's taken all the extra courses to make him the most qualified bloke there. He told us he wanted to leave because the work load has crept up so much with all the new diesel faults that keep coming in. Anyway since none of the other techs are as qualified, obviously they get there share but alot goes to him.

Anyway this wasnt about bmw techs this was about 2.0d's and if i was looking at one i wouldnt be looking at the 4 pot that could quite possibly tear your wallet open and rape you hard

[bss325i]

4 pot BMW diesels are not that bad, no worse than 6 pot ones. They are basically the same minus 2 cylinders. Reliability aside (allot better than other manufactures might i add!), compared to rivals from VAG BMW diesels like for like have better fuel economy and power/torque outputs.

I know a tech who used to work for Cooper Banstead (on the A217) and he now works for BMW park Lane, in fact he is on this very forum (stugallafant) so will most likely know that tech.

I'm also a tech but at Vines BMW Gatwick.

[Jhonno]

Its coopers on the a217 and he was the master tech. He's taken all the extra courses to make him the most qualified bloke there. He told us he wanted to leave because the work load has crept up so much with all the new diesel faults that keep coming in. Anyway since none of the other techs are as qualified, obviously they get there share but alot goes to him.

Anyway this wasnt about bmw techs this was about 2.0d's and if i was looking at one i wouldnt be looking at the 4 pot that could quite possibly tear your wallet open and rape you hard

He wants to leave because he is busy in a time of recession...?!

We have 3 2.0d's in the household, and not one has or has had any issues, over 60k covered between them over 2yrs.. Clearly unreliable..

[mc_hawkings24]

I know you work for bmw barry but the 2.0 unit cant be a cut down 6pot unless the 3.0 unit is a also a part french/bmw effort?
Besides i would choose the 1.9 16v vw unit over the bmw 2.0 just because of the flaws i dont like fair enough the vw unit has duel mass problems but there isnt alot that goes wrong.

and jhonno i dont know the bloke he's not my mate and if you dont like my opinion then thats fine its a forum after all.

[bss325i]

The 2.0 M47 and N47 diesel engines are NOT part french.

That will be the current Mini engines that are peugeot based. (The diesel has just been replaced by a transverse version of the 116d's BMW ONLY N47d16 engine)

The M47d20 the same as an M57d30 minus 2 cylinders, FACT!

Its replacement the N47d20 is the same and is the same as an N57d30 minus 2 cylinders.

Care to elaborate on these flaws then? Swirl flaps aside.

[mc_hawkings24]

If you check my original post theres one from essex turbos

[bss325i]

What the breather? Thats just down to poor maintenance. If its changed when its meant to then it wont be a problem.

Injectors can some times go down (as with any direct injection diesel engine), sump gaskets can leak (all sorts of engines leak oil), exhaust manifolds on the M57 (6 cyl!) can crack but thats about it.

Turbo problems are down to incorrect maintenance or miss use.

[irish320i]

I have to say I see far more vag group cars for turbos because of vnt problems on the turbos and very few bmw 320 or 330ds since people have copped on to changing the breather filters The vag stuff also seems to have a lot more trouble with the dual mass flywheels.

[Royalratch]

The secondary hi-pressure Pierburg fuel pump is indeed French.

They do know their Diesels the froggies.

That does NOT mean the engines are part french.

[bss325i]

Pierburg is German though Ratch.

http://www.kspg-ag.de/index.php?fid=864&lang=3

[Royalratch]

Some parts nonce told me the main pump was French.

Even better!

[bss325i]

Not Euro car parts was it?

A ECP parts monkey once told me Ate was just a company that sold other manufacturers parts in an Ate box!

How i laughed!

Ate, again another German company.

http://www.ate.de/generator/www/com/en/ ... ex_en.html

[Andyboy]

Pierburg is a German company and part of the Schmidt piston group, but they were also in bed with Solex, a French firm. Jointly they made carbs for all kinds of cars - BMW's, Mercedes, VW etc. Solex still sort of exist, and they aren't making carburettors! Wouldn't surprise me if they make injection pumps for Pierburg. There's been a Bosch plant in France for decades - they make fuel pumps, heater control valves etc for BMW.