[nomiS330d]

My daughter has finally seen the light and is ditching her fabia vrs diesel
She wants an E90 or 91 circa 2006ish. Her budget is only about 2k so won’t be buying anything amazing spec wise but she’s not that bothered. Just wants something clean and reliable. She’s asked me whether she should get a diesel or petrol. As I don’t know much about the 4 pots I thought I’d ask your opinions. I’ve heard some of them are troublesome but I can’t remember which.
Thanks.

[nick46]

Get a late 2006 with the M47 diesel engine. Remove swirl flaps if they haven't been done already. Make sure it's got a full service history with bills to back up the stamps in the book. Once purchased ensure oil and filters are changed every 10k and brake fluid every other year. Job done!
The problematic engine is the N47 engine that was introduced in 2007 and these suffer with timing chain failure.

[N57]

Stay away from the N43 or N46 1.6 and 2 litre petrols

[david in germany]

Originally Posted by N57

Stay away from the N43 or N46 1.6 and 2 litre petrols

I disagree with this, my n43 has been a very trusty engine (09 build year). A 318i or 320i Msport would be a great car.

[Sayek]

Originally Posted by N57

Stay away from the N43 or N46 1.6 and 2 litre petrols

Are you saying that based on owning a N43 ?

I have owned my N43 since Aug 2015 and been great.

A 2.0L petrol in a 1 series body is a great run around. But for the £2k its not in the price range.

Personally I would advise against buying a E90 with a £2k budget. You will get something that is on its way to the salvage yard and be constantly spending money on it.

[N57]

Originally Posted by Sayek

Are you saying that based on owning a N43 ?

I have owned my N43 since Aug 2015 and been great.

A 2.0L petrol in a 1 series body is a great run around. But for the £2k its not in the price range.

Personally I would advise against buying a E90 with a £2k budget. You will get something that is on its way to the salvage yard and be constantly spending money on it.

Myself owning a 1.6 and 2.0 variant as well as a few mates experience on their 2 litre versions is why my opinion is like that. I've had timing chain replaced, oil leaks, 2 seized fuel injectors which caused me stranded, and generally the car had many issues. Might be down to the previous history of the car but who knows.

I feel the car is pretty gutless to drive as-well, although engine sounds nice. These problems occurred after 80,000 miles.

But yeah I wouldn't buy a BMW with £2k budget, have at least £1k in the bank for any potential or future issues.

[Chappers 71]

My nieces other half recently bought a 2006 320ci e46 for £1,900 with good history, full leather electric sports seats, sunroof & electric rear pop outs (wish bmw had fitted them to the e92 )

A quick look on AT currently lists 202 bmws for £2,000 or under with some nice looking e46 318ci's as well as e90's

[Russbmw]

My wife had a 2007 320i e93 with about 75k on the clock, full BMW service history, and from experience, and subsequent confirmation of my disapproval from my friend/mechanic and ex chief BMW tech I would avoid the 2ltr petrol engine like the plague.

As mentioned above, you have to rag the shit out of it to feel like it's making any progress. Ran smoothly enough though, albeit gutless.....well...when it was running ok.

My wife's car would, at complete random and with no warning, stall, then get itself in a loop of the auto start stop starting, conking out , starting, conking out. During which time the dash would light up like a christmas tree, EML, the lot. Another of it's party tricks was running like it was on 2 cylinders, again with dashboard errors galore.

You'd have to stop the car, take out the key then restart and all would be well for an undefined length of time before it did it again.

I checked it with my diagnostic (the dealer level stuff), and couldn't find anything logged at all that would be related to such behaviour. Cleared all the other codes anyway.

It continued like this for a month or 2.

It went to BMW after this, as it was getting frustrating and they replaced the coil packs under a goodwill/technical upgrade.

Thought it was ok as it was fine for a few weeks, but no - kept playing up.

Took it back again, they checked it over and found no faults again.

Car continued playing up. I took a video of it on one of it's dropped a cylinder episodes, in the hope it might assist BMW. Dash lit up, engine making horrid noises. Popped the bonnet and videod the engine shaking like it was trying to escape from the engine bay. Turned the car off, waited, restarted and it purred like a kitten. No warning lights, nothing.

Didnt' even connect my diagnostic stuff this time, jsut incase it was inadvertently affecting anything. Took it to BMW again. No faults found at all...again.

Sold the thing, as it was just too much aggrovation and neither of us trusted it at all. Shame really, as it looked stunning on some nice rims and subtle drop.

Driving to part ex it was the most nerve wracking experience.

I'm sure there are a few good ones out there, but general concensus is that the 2ltr petrol of that era is a sack of shit and riddled with weird issues that seem to be undentifiable, so probably best to avoid if at all possible and the diesel (which is a better performer anyway).

I'd go with a relatively tidy e46 personally for £2k budget, and if it has to be a 2ltr, get the diesel (nothing really wrong with the e46 320, but it's a 6 cylinder 2.2 petrol - sounds nice but not that much go and quite thirsty to boot). The e46 318 is ok for a 4cyl, but not very quick. Personal choice for an e46 would be the 330 all day long, and wouldn't have thought insurance on an older car would be too much trouble, but appreciate it's a consideration.

Quick browse on autotrader and any e9x 320d will all be over 100k miles.....not sure if that's a problem, but you mentioned reliability, so some funds for maintenance will be required, even if it's just for suspension components, bushes, etc.

If spec isn't of concern (and to be honest, if you're buying a low spec e9x, you're not missing out on anything by getting an e46), then this looks tidy and cheap

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-det...to=2500&page=1