[01tj]

Right now I have two daily drivers and my wife thinks it would be better to sell both and get one DD.

My currant DD's are my 01 Jeep that I ordered and bought new in 01 with probably $5000 in off road goodies added on. It has about 80,000 miles on it and is in decent shape. It is great for winter though because I know no matter how much snow we get I can get out. It has front and rear lockers and is gear low enough that if I put it in 1st it will creep down any snow covered hill with no drama. On the other hand its hard to load the kids into the back and when I'm coaching basketball I can't haul all of my equipment.

My summer/road trip car is my 02 E46 330i which only has about 40,000 miles on it. I look forward to road trips with this car and it has enough room for the wife kids and a weekends worth of luggage. The only probably with this car is being RWD it won't make it out of the garage in the snow and even if it did I'll never get it back into our development if it snow while I'm gone.

I've been looking at a lot of different vehicles but I'm not sure I'll enjoy any of them as much as my car and if they seem like they will be as fun they're no were near as capable as my Jeep. I want something that I'll look forward to driving on nice days and long trips but I'll have no trouble getting out when it snows. I've considered (all used) a 6-speed V6 Cayenne, Lancer Evo, Subi STi, Subi Legacy GT spec V and an Audi A4.

Of course loving my car I am also considering an X-drive E9X sedan 335i, 330i, or 328Ti.

How much less reliable (on average) will a 335i be than the other two? How much will I be let down on power with the 328Ti if I could even find an X-drive with a 6-speed? Were the 330i's pretty reliable?

Thanks for any help you can give

[01tj]

Here are a few pictures of my currant cars





and while I'm at it the wifes Flex

[cbrando68]

Legacy Spec B.

STi drive train and motor, plus decent interior. Also, cheap to fix when/if broken.

[01tj]

Originally Posted by cbrando68

Legacy Spec B.

STi drive train and motor, plus decent interior. Also, cheap to fix when/if broken.

The thing that scares me about subaru's is common ringland issue. There are countless threads on NASIOC about stock Subarus having this issue. Here's a random one that popped up on google.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=2349839

Do you think a Subaru would be more reliable than even an N/A BMW? My E46 has been stellar so far

[cbrando68]

Originally Posted by 01tj

The thing that scares me about subaru's is common ringland issue. There are countless threads on NASIOC about stock Subarus having this issue. Here's a random one that popped up on google.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=2349839

Do you think a Subaru would be more reliable than even an N/A BMW? My E46 has been stellar so far

The spec. B was made way before current ringland issues. The oil starvation that led to spun bearings was not as common in spec. B production years.

Unless you plan on tracking the thing, I think you will be fine.

As far as the E46, I have no idea. My E90 is my first BMW, I switched from the Suby side.

[01tj]

Originally Posted by cbrando68

The spec. B was made way before current ringland issues. The oil starvation that led to spun bearings was not as common in spec. B production years.

Unless you plan on tracking the thing, I think you will be fine.

As far as the E46, I have no idea. My E90 is my first BMW, I switched from the Suby side.

From what I've been reading on legacygt.com and nasioc.com all the 2.5 turbo modles suffer from this. My biggest problem is the only way to tell is by getting a compression test and I doubt I'll be able to find the car I'm looking for locally. After driving my car for a while yesterday I am leaning towards an E90 330i Xdrive again.

[N55guy]

Originally Posted by 01tj

Right now I have two daily drivers and my wife thinks it would be better to sell both and get one DD.

My currant DD's are my 01 Jeep that I ordered and bought new in 01 with probably $5000 in off road goodies added on. It has about 80,000 miles on it and is in decent shape. It is great for winter though because I know no matter how much snow we get I can get out. It has front and rear lockers and is gear low enough that if I put it in 1st it will creep down any snow covered hill with no drama. On the other hand its hard to load the kids into the back and when I'm coaching basketball I can't haul all of my equipment.

My summer/road trip car is my 02 E46 330i which only has about 40,000 miles on it. I look forward to road trips with this car and it has enough room for the wife kids and a weekends worth of luggage. The only probably with this car is being RWD it won't make it out of the garage in the snow and even if it did I'll never get it back into our development if it snow while I'm gone.

I've been looking at a lot of different vehicles but I'm not sure I'll enjoy any of them as much as my car and if they seem like they will be as fun they're no were near as capable as my Jeep. I want something that I'll look forward to driving on nice days and long trips but I'll have no trouble getting out when it snows. I've considered (all used) a 6-speed V6 Cayenne, Lancer Evo, Subi STi, Subi Legacy GT spec V and an Audi A4.

Of course loving my car I am also considering an X-drive E9X sedan 335i, 330i, or 328Ti.

How much less reliable (on average) will a 335i be than the other two? How much will I be let down on power with the 328Ti if I could even find an X-drive with a 6-speed? Were the 330i's pretty reliable?

Thanks for any help you can give

I considered the evo and sti. Hard to find one that wasn't abused. I also found it hard to find one at a good price. Avg I was finding when I was looking for an 07 was $25,000, I found my 07 335xi for $17,995. Can't speak for the Cayenne or the Legacy but the A4 is slow.

For what it's worth, when I bought my e90 xi I spoke to my BMW mechanic about trading in my e46 xi. He said if you can keep the e46... keep it. He told me he found the e46 to be "bullet proof", meaning very reliable. He also told me to be ready to spend about twice as much on maintenance/repairs per year as compared to the e46.

As far as power... the difference is HUGE from my 325, not sure how big the difference is from the 328 but I would assume it would still be pretty slow compared to the 335. Now that's not to say the 328 is slow.. just slow when comparing it to the 335. Also if you plan on trying to get more power later, you can get wayyyyy more power from the 335 with less money. If you see yourself going that route you should get the 335.

My mechanic recommended I go with the 330 if I wanted reliability, and recommended the 335 if I wanted fun. I went with the 335, I will say gas milage isn't great but if I wanted that I would've got a prius. The power and fun of the 335 is definitely worth the cost at the pump.

335xi = amazing in the snow

[Mardio]

Love your jeep. I have owned three of them, they are amazing in the snow.

[Amini77]

I hear you either get lucky with the 335 or it'll be the worst headache of your life because of the issues. Hopefully a couple 335 guys chime in. I have a 330xi and its a GREAT car; reliable engine (knock on wood) aside a couple main repairs (head cover gasket, oil housing gasket, oil pan leak, and water pump) You might think this is a lot but wait until you see the list for the 335's. All in all the n52 engine has less problems and it's still a great car, I look forward to driving it everyday!

[01tj]

Originally Posted by Amini77

I hear you either get lucky with the 335 or it'll be the worst headache of your life because of the issues. Hopefully a couple 335 guys chime in. I have a 330xi and its a GREAT car; reliable engine (knock on wood) aside a couple main repairs (head cover gasket, oil housing gasket, oil pan leak, and water pump) You might think this is a lot but wait until you see the list for the 335's. All in all the n52 engine has less problems and it's still a great car, I look forward to driving it everyday!

So far my E46 330i has been rock solid. I keep reading don't get a 335i that's not covered under warranty though. I may be reading into this a little to much. When I purchased my E46 I ordered a Bentley Service Manual and jumped right in with no fears. Was the E46 that much more reliable than the E90?

[Amini77]

Originally Posted by 01tj

So far my E46 330i has been rock solid. I keep reading don't get a 335i that's not covered under warranty though. I may be reading into this a little to much. When I purchased my E46 I ordered a Bentley Service Manual and jumped right in with no fears. Was the E46 that much more reliable than the E90?

I agree with not getting a 335 if it isn't under warranty..that's what made me stop looking for them. I talked to someone with a e46 the other day and he was telling me the main problems and repairs with his car and I compared them with my e90..same EXACT thing (oil housing gasket, head cover gasket, etc.) We have a e46 in the family and it's rock solid (knock on wood) it only has 53k miles though compared to my 88k miles on my e90 which is also rock solid (knock on wood). I mean it isn't a toyota or anything, its what you would expect from a bmw. You could say its the same exact thing as a e46.

[01tj]

Originally Posted by Amini77

I agree with not getting a 335 if it isn't under warranty..that's what made me stop looking for them. I talked to someone with a e46 the other day and he was telling me the main problems and repairs with his car and I compared them with my e90..same EXACT thing (oil housing gasket, head cover gasket, etc.) We have a e46 in the family and it's rock solid (knock on wood) it only has 53k miles though compared to my 88k miles on my e90 which is also rock solid (knock on wood). I mean it isn't a toyota or anything, its what you would expect from a bmw. You could say its the same exact thing as a e46.

To be fair mine only has 40k miles so I guess it's still fairly young as far as mileage goes. I hate hearing this about the 335i because it would be such a fun car. I've also looked into cars like the lancer evo and the subaru sti but they have their issues too. I guess you have to pay to play

[Amini77]

Originally Posted by 01tj

To be fair mine only has 40k miles so I guess it's still fairly young as far as mileage goes. I hate hearing this about the 335i because it would be such a fun car. I've also looked into cars like the lancer evo and the subaru sti but they have their issues too. I guess you have to pay to play

That's right..but you can still play a lot with a 330 or 328.

[N55]

I would just stay at where you are at. It's nice to have a winter car, and if one breaks down you have the other.

[01tj]

Originally Posted by Amini77

That's right..but you can still play a lot with a 330 or 328.

I'm sure I'd be happy with a E90 330i xdrive since it would provide an upgrade in performance over my E46 330i. I need to look into the 328i x-drive a little more and make sure it wouldn't make me miss my E46 too much. I would love to have a 328i wagon with X-drive but that seems to be a pretty hard unicorn to catch.

Originally Posted by N55

I would just stay at where you are at. It's nice to have a winter car, and if one breaks down you have the other.

If I can't decide on a replacement I will probably end up doing this. The only issue is I think my Jeep is going to start needing some things done to it soon because it has more than 80k miles on it. It's been really reliable so far but that means it has lots of old parts on it.