BMW e92??

My dad got a new car and is going to sell me his 2012 BMW 328i coupe, automatic, 56k miles. I was not looking for this but it’s too good a deal to pass up. My only reservation is that it’s auto.

I have my Tacoma of course, drive a 2012 Camry 4cyl to work, and GF has a 2019 JLU. My commute is less than 10 miles round trip a day.

Any advice? Or warnings? About the car, not finances. I don’t need it and it’s a poor financial decision but everything else aside I can afford it. Was trying to find a good BMW forum but there’s so many hard to tell which one to stick to and use primarily. Talked to a mechanic friend, he said starter and fuel pump are common problems early on, anything else?

I do the work on my Tacoma and Camry myself, for the most part. Scared of learning to work on the BMW, but whatever. I’ve driven it many times, it’s fun and not too crazy. Will probably split time as DD with my Camry. Thanks for any input.

edit: photo

 

personal property taxes

insurance 3 vehicles

id get rid of the camry

bmw are ok as long as U dont miss maintenance..........................Ur pop would have told U if he had issues

right

dealer buyback this area make getting rid of camry a no brainer

or the bmw if Ur dad would NOT be offended

 

I’ve owned a lot of BMW’s. Keep up on maintenance (yes it’s expensive) and don’t get hooked . One of the best driving cars available.

I sold my 03 M3 with 220k miles and never had a single issue. I was also spending about $800 every two months on maintenance. I would still have it if I didn’t have my daughter. Not enough room for a kiddo

 

I am worried about the insurance etc.. racking up, but getting rid of the Camry is not gonna happen, not really my choice. It’s complicated, but we’ll leave it at that.

My dad took very good care of it. It was leased for some years so most work done at BMW. What are talking about with maintenance? I’ll guess I’ll learn that for myself, but anything different from a non-euro car? I plan to learn/get the tools for oil change, etc.. check tires, other fluids, but what else? I’ll guess I will review his records when I get them.

what did the $800 every two months maintenance consist of?

 

Hey, (ex?) Bmw guy here…on hiatus?

That’s the last of the great BMW’s for diy’ers, I was very close to getting an e91 when I went Tacoma. The forums you’re looking for are e90post.com. Specifically, read up on your motor (n52).

There are some engine specific maintenance items, but they’re fairly minimal on this one. You’ll have some cooling system stuff to do at 100k. There are two things to remember about bmw’s.

First: Don’t wait for things to break. Understand where the potential problems are and handle them preventatively.

Second: If the car starts to overheat, shut it down IMMEDIATELY and tow it home. This ties into that 100k cooling service I mentioned, but it can be catastrophic if they overheat. You’ll get to know where the temp gauge always sits, if it goes above that you’ve got a serious problem. If you catch it quickly you’re fine after that cooling system refresh. Drive it too long and you can say goodbye to the motor.

I’ve done all my own work on my last 4 bmw’s and they’ve all been very reliable. The last 3 had very similar motors, they’re easy to work on and parts aren’t too bad. Btw the m3 mentioned above will def be higher maintenance than you’re looking at.

Autohausaz.com and Pelicanparts.com are great for buying parts. Realoem.com to look up part numbers (wish Toyota had this) easily.

Enjoy it! Just as deep a rabbit hole as the Tacoma for sure if you want to go there.

 

Very helpful. Mahalo ah braddah. Lol

 

Ho brah! I didn’t even see that. No worries lol, let me know if you need anything! Lots of diy info out there, one of the great things about them is the community and wealth of information available (very similar to Tacoma’s). That motor is in a ton of vehicles, so you can generally track down the info you need.

PS just pray the ac doesn’t go out or you don’t need to do the oil pan gasket.

 

Good to hear. Just made an account with bimmerpost, thank you for that. Also got the app, kinda making me wish TW had an app… haha. I’m excited but we’ll see what kinda bullshit I have to deal with young brothers. If the AC breaks, I’m selling it. Lol.

 

I’m actually looking into an N52 BMW. Either a Z4 3.0si, 128i vert, or 328i vert.

the n52 in that car is solid, except a couple minor things to watch out for - water pump, vc gasket, oil filter housing gasket, vanos stuff. Any of this is DIY by an average shade tree dude. My plan would be to do all those over a weekend “while I’m in there” and not have to worry about it. You’ll see these cars for sale regularly with almost 200k miles. Shouldn’t be too hard to work on. Wealth of DIY info. Might need to update your tool box with some inverted torx, hex, triple square, and reg torx bits.

I’ve been in a N55 135i and e90 335i. Great cruising cars. The auto, not ideal for me, but not a total buzzkill. The 135i had a shot 2nd synchro so you won’t have to deal with that at least. The car will still be plenty fun.

or I might get a TR6 because I might be a masochist

 

Thanks for this info. Yea, the auto trans is a bummer, but it’s a pretty good auto. Lots of research to do from here.