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#1
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Would you buy a 06 325xi?
Looking at an E90 325xi auto with 60K miles, supposedly well-maintained. first year of production, for less than $9K. Before I get seriously interested, and I usually stay away from early production years, whats the reliability of this year vs. later E46s (which Ive owned) or later E9X.
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- John 00 Porsche 996 C2 '72 BMW 2002tii '92 SCCA SSM (sold) '80 SCCA SRF3 (sold) '89 Porsche 944 (sold) '59 Porsche 1600S (long gone) |
#2
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There can't be any worse reliability than an e46....
But I stay away from first year models.
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Marshall ---------------- 95 M3 97 M3 |
#3
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I had an early '06/E90 (built summer of '05) 330i. Had about 60k when I bought it.
Most unreliable car I've ever owned. Sold it after 2 years due to all the maintenance headaches.
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Jerome Welte '97 Spec Boxster '20 Nissan Titan XD |
#4
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Thanks guys, confirms my thoughts.
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- John 00 Porsche 996 C2 '72 BMW 2002tii '92 SCCA SSM (sold) '80 SCCA SRF3 (sold) '89 Porsche 944 (sold) '59 Porsche 1600S (long gone) |
#5
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I have an 06 330i. Also first year, but March 06 production.
I've had my car almost 10 years and it's actually been fairly reliable. There were some teething issues early on with typical first year E90 stuff: water pump failed, some of the seals failed, window regulators, starter @ 100k. Definitely not Toyota reliability but not as bad as Jerome's experience either. 90% of the time the car's great. That said, I would NOT buy an 06 325xi. In addition to typical first year stuff there's first year XI stuff, which... no thanks. Plus 325 - price difference between a 15 yr old 325 and 15 yr old 330 is almost negligible, while the "enjoyment of driving" difference is astronomical. Compared to an E46? The build quality (especially the interior) is night-and-day better in the E90. My E90 interior looks almost new. My E46 interior has all the sags and droops and smells of an old car. IME stuff breaks less on the E90, but when it DOES break the repair is more involved. More stuff breaks on the E46 but it's usually a lot easier to repair. Step one of all E90 repairs is usually "get the computer out and plug it into the car".
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Chris M 1985 911 Carrera with a couple cosmetic only mods 2006 E90 330i 1999 E46 328i |
#6
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Late in 2017 I bought a 2006 325i. It had 109K miles at the time, and I paid $6500 for it. It was a very nice car for a daily driver--very comfortable, silky smooth motor. That being said, I would never buy one again. In the three years and ~44K miles that I had the car, I replaced the following due to failures/leaks: differential input seal, water pump, radiator, oil filter housing gasket, valve cover gasket, L/R window regulator. The stereo had a problem and I could not figure out how to deal with the fiber optic system, so I paid the better part of $1,000 to the dealer for a fix.
Maybe 100K is the sweet spot for things like that to fail. However, the PO provided me with a folder of service records, which included receipts for numerous other repairs throughout the car's lifetime. Maybe I should have paid more attention to that. Other than the radio issue, I did all the other work myself, so it didn't cost me a lot of $$. Had I paid a mechanic for the work, I'm sure it would have been the better part of $5K.
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2015 Cayman GTS 2021 Jetta R-line 2016 F-250 Formerly owned Porsche/BMW: 1986 944 Turbo 2006 325i 2000 911 1987 924S 1999 Boxster 1986 944 |
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