New little wagon
 

My wife believes it is time to update/upgrade our e46 wagon. For reference, its a 2003, we got it back in 2014 and it has served us well. My two daughters learned to drive on it, used it through their college years, it has served as our snow mobile and general beater. It currently has about 147k on it.

Over the weekend something hung up on it while my wife was driving it to get our daughter, who lives in downtown Philly. It pulled to the left and was shaking pretty badly. She had to pull over on I76 near Philly (super busy, kind of sketchy, not a good place for a woman alone on the side of the road). I think it may have just been a sticking brake caliper, but in any case it freaked her out and she has decided it is time for it to move on and us to have a more reliable beater. The issue went away sometime after she pulled over and hasn't come back since.

Some searching found this out in Pittsburgh (for those that don't want to click the link, its an '07 e90 n52 xit wagon w/ 60k miles).
https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ckType=listing

I am ambivalent to the swap. It looks like the e90 is a good deal. I pulled the carfax and it is super clean with a very good maintenance history. We will give our philly daughter the option of having the e46 for free if she takes over insurance. If that worked out, she'd keep it for a year (I'd still wrench on it to keep it running), then it would move to my son who will be 16.5 yrs old next summer. If she doesn't want to pay for insurance, I'm not sure what the next step would be for it.

Does anyone see any downsides (beside the e46 is a more fun car than the e90)? Anything I should know about n52s vs m54s?

On the one hand, the e46 is death by 1000 paper cuts in that it seems like something is always naggingly wrong. On the other, I spent a decent amount of time on it lately, and it seems to be running better than ever. I've put a couple hundred miles on it since my wife had the issue and have felt nothing wrong.

I just don't know that I'd put a 14-year-old BMW into the category of "more reliable" anything. You could get a 5 year old Escape or CX-5 for that price

Thats a very fair point, but my wife has an affinity for small german wagons. I will do a little CX-5 shopping.

I agree... if "more reliable" is the goal I would not swap a "known" E46 to an unknown E90.

The N52 in non-hi-performance trim is a dud of an engine, even compared to the M54 which is a dud in its own right. :lol: And stuff like the electric water pump and the poor serviceability of the N52 makes me really sour on them.

Yeah... Auto N52 E90s were not nice cars to drive. And not particularly reliable.

The ~$10k that you're spending to switch cars isn't getting you much, particularly in the context of all the other available non-beater vehicles.

Our '11 328iT was good unladen, but that was with a stick. It really is low on torque for a slushy if it will hang around at under 2.5krpm, especially if you load it up.

Josh, after reading the top quote and the bottom quote is the middle quote really an option ?

I wonder if Matt's had bigger issues, then, because I think his was a 328 and it was unbearably slow with a stick.

This is a good point. Either the E46 is good / safe enough to keep as a beater, or it's not.

N52s are not unbearably slow within reasonable context. And they have a lot of potential, given that BMW sold them up to 268hp.

Headers and N54 manifold and tune is apparently worth 50whp on a 28i. And people seem to have no issues revving them well into the 7s.

Of the non-M E9xes, I'd definitely want an N54. But the N52s aren't terrible. It's still not a great package with that auto, though. I spent a lot of time in 325/328 loaners and didn't like them at all.

Another good question. I think it is. I don't think she'd be using it much, and the paper cuts would all still be mine (ie: when something went wrong, I'd get the call and the expectation to fix it).

This might come down to more of a happy wife / happy life switch than a the car is a time bomb switch.

Seems like early n52s had an issue with tickling lifters that got fixed later on. Is ticking just annoying, or does it cause longer term issues?

I chatted with her about this, and she's open to the idea of a CX-5. Let the shopping commence.

http://forums.carmudgeons.com/showpo...9&postcount=76

:eeps:

John V? Status/Details?

I think I posted the details on ours in the thread Dan linked. Suffice it to say we're not actively trying to sell it, but if you're really interested or think you might be, let's talk.

This seems like a decent source on the n52:
https://bmwtuning.co/bmw-n52-engine-problems/

But, yep. I think you'd get a lot more reliability for your money (and lower upkeep costs) with some Mazda thing.

If she likes small german wagons, another option might be used Golf Sportwagen (or alltrak) from when VW was offering 6/72 warranties on them. Did a quick look and it might be possible to even get a 2019 for around 15k. You'd still have plenty of warranty left then. I think the 1.8T AWD versions are roughly as quick as a 2007 328 wagon.

I had a 2011 RWD E91 M-sport with a stick and it was ~90% of a ZHP in nearly all performance respects.

I checked that thread, but didn't see any info. If you aren't ready to sell, it's not a big deal. An initial search found about 8 decent examples between 2013 and 2016 with 50k to 80k miles from $8k to $13k.

The nice thing with a car like that vs a BMW wagon is there are lots to chose from

Lat night, this went full circle to being back to wanting a little 3er wagon. More searching found these two in Mass. Miles are a little higher, but I'm pretty comfortable with later gen e90s from a reliability standpoint.

https://www.777auto.com/vdp/16522261...0?mode=inquiry

https://www.interautomass.com/invent...%20series/708/

Ours is the current generation (2017+), so we'd be looking for quite a bit more money than that.

My 2012 E91xiT was trouble-free. But, I only had it 5 years and it was very low mileage (25k).

LCI is a million times nicer.

The pre-LCI ones are good for M3 conversions, since you're already changing everything but the tailgate anyway.

You might want to figure out the story on the one at 777 auto. The carfax shows it was sold & registered recently. Also somehow put 13k miles on it in a few months which might be an error?

What about throwing some GTs in the mix?

Edit: Might be over budget...

GTs? Like the 6GT or 3GT? They don't fit a dog in the back. We had a 335GT on an insanely good swap-a-lease deal a couple of years back. Pleasant car, but the slope back did not = wagon in any way shape or form.

I did follow up with them and got this response:
Seems a bit sketch, but if i can get it registered, I don't really care what the title odo says, we'd be keeping it for a while (well past 106k)

The other one actually has a much weirder CARFAX mileage anomaly

It shows mileage notes from 6/25/2015 -12/18/2015 of 36k, 39k, 41k & 44k reported as maintenance steps at BMW of Norwood

Then on 1/16/2016 it has Dealer inventory "vehicle offered for sale" entery at 33,299 from BMW Gallery of Norwood CPO vehicle.

From 1/2016 - 1/2017 it shows increasing mileage statements of 35k, 40k, 43k & 47k

From there on out everything is normal.

Well, keep in mind that as soon as you inspect it, it'll show an odometer discrepancy on the carfax, and probably flag a rollback alert.

its already on the carfax. I'm not sure I care on a car like this. Similarly should I care re a rebuilt title or other issue on a beater car, if the price was adjusted and time passed since rebuild was sufficiently long (like 2 to 3 yrs)?

Salvage type titles may matter in terms of any inspection hurdles that you have to clear to actually register them.

And no, on a cheap beater car, a branded title isn't that big a deal. I'd expect to get some discount for it.

As you all know better than me, the e46 has many advantages... Curvy design, room for a spare, lighter weight...

The e90 does have a big one. Solidity. I was rear-ended - quite heavily - back in 08 in a 06 330xi. The car took it like a champ. I had had a 330Ci and a 330i sedan zhp by that point. While the e46 sedan was marginally stiffer framed than the coupe, neither come close to the e90. This goes for my later e46 m3 as well. When you enter a steep garage ramp at angle, so as to not scrape, you feel the 'twist' in the machine and the e90 was better at that. Just felt more one piece.

I replaced my 330xi with a 330i, both 06 n52's, 255hp. In that trim (and between 07 to end of 09), I did not find the engine lacking. Smooth and easily 85mph+ on the highway for long stretches. I preferred it to the m54, more economical. I wasn't worried about reliability so cannot comment on that. I later had a 335xi and I liked that car too, one of the ones I wish I had not sold. I got angry at it when it got stuck on an ice pile (while wearing winters) and replaced with the b8.5 s4.

**if** you buy the car, I’d recommend you negotiate a good price reflecting the discrepancy and then have them put the correct mileage on the paperwork and accept the potential TMU flag. I wouldn’t willingly sign an odometer disclosure w/ incorrect mileage. If they screwed up and are willing to eat the $$ difference that’s one thing, but they could get their dealer license revoked for intentionally lying about the mileage on the car. Also not worth the risk to you down the road if something were to happen w/ car before you eventually caught up to the overstated mileage.

thanks, I'm heavily leaning towards the 2nd one (the 2012 version). That one had the odd Carfax mileage values back in 2015 / 2016. All were reported by the same BMW Dealership (Norwood) and the car was CPO'ed after the discrepancies. Any idea how that would have occurred?

Wow, that’s really odd. All of the records are at same dealer and several entries after the discrepancy so it’s not like someone just typed in the wrong number one time. I have no clue what to make of that.

AWD or RWD? The front CV joints are a known problem area on these. After I paid an independent shop for a 5 year / 50K add-on warranty, I haven't had either of them fail (not coincidence, they got some better parts and assembled and installed them extra carefully).

A sticking caliper should leave some unusual scuffs on the rotor which you should be able to see with a decent light even without taking the wheels off.

Someone can have my E46 when they pry the keys out of my cold dead hands. :D

Mine has been relatively trouble-free, once I got past all of the factory miswires and other initial quality defects / TSBs / recalls.

I will admit that it has become more expensive in recent years, with the major recent expense being the "replace everything in between the kidneys and the engine block" due to BMW using plastic or mixed-material stuff in the cooling system.

Other than that, I've had 3 window regulators, 3 windshields (rock damage), a bunch of CV joints until I bribed the car to stop eating them, a valve cover gasket, a HVAC blower motor, and the usual consumables (fluids, tires, pads & rotors).

It has one unresolved issue which I don't care about (in fact, I'm happier this way). The annoying "pump 1/4 of the wiper fluid out the headlight washers if you dare use the washers at night" problem. The car would randomly lose all of its wiper fluid out through either of the headlight washers. The independent shop tried fixing it a few times but I finally just unplugged the headlight washer pump and plugged the hose with a golf tee.

And I used to use the car for things well beyond what it was designed for. One time I ended up hauling over 1000 pounds of wood flooring. It used to go cross-country to California and back once or twice a year, and it has been off-road places where Jeep Wranglers generally "air down" to make it through the washouts.

I love that you still have your wagon. And I remember that problem about the headlight washers. I ordered my next E46 with options a la carte instead of the CWP to avoid the headlight washers!

It seems that once you replace nearly everything off warranty, BMWs are bulletproof. ;)

@ Terry, it is an AWD wagon.

We went ahead and put it in our daughter's name, so she could get her own insurance and have it for the next year and a half in the city. I'll get it inspected for her in the next couple of weeks and see if my INDY can find anything.

We are putting the replacement search on hold for a bit. My wife needs to spend some time in a few E class wagons. She's ot 100% on the ew x3 as the replacement for the X5 train. She just doesn't like SUVs. If an E wagon (either a 2019 e450 or maaaayyybbeee an e63 is back on the table) fits her goals best, then we'd look for a cheap little SUV with some semblance of towing capacity for a beater. If she prefers the new X3, then an e90 LCI wagon would be a great compliment.

We'll take our time and figure it out in the next couple months.

Terry - do you happen to know the total you’ve spent on repairs/maintenance over the life of your wagon? Im curious what it takes to run a German car once it’s long out of warranty. My guess is an average of $250/month? I know you love that car so it’s not a question of $$, but just curious as it relates to buying and running fully depreciated cars.


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Not to barge in, but mileage/year will matter a lot. Our LR4 could be considered inexpensive to run. In the ~3.5 years since it was out of warranty, we've spent ~$500 in maintenance/repairs. But we've also only driven it <20k miles it that time.

Here you go, Josh. An alternative scenario for your wagon hunt:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/19...aQm15vN937P0zk