Anyone knows this car?

S

Simonsen

Member
Hi all - found a nice e89 on ebay and just wondering if anyone knows it and can tell me its past?
Any suggestions?
295656589914 - ebay part number
 
On this forum I’d doubt it but who knows…

Bit of a marmite colour so not hugely popular…

High mileage on a 35i so caveat emperor..

Basic spec by the looks of it with some cosmetic damage…

But cheap…
 
Theres one of these by me, just walked past it at Tesco, not the greatest of colour (rare for a reason).

Would be better of waiting and finding something better
 
It’s cheap. Advert reads like Arthur Daley & 2 nuns were the previous owners.

Wonder if it has ever been serviced?

Fills me with confidence - why not?
 
Dent work, paint work, the only rotor I see glints on the edge so probably rimming and need replaced all around. No details on those 296's, I'd want to see some pictures of all sides of those rims :). If he's only talked about a water pump, then more needs to be done. Assume you'll put another £5k-£7k into it to either prevent or fix problems. If you still like the price, then there's your deal. Anything at 100k miles is going to need some work. If you go into it with that expectation -- then you'll be a happy new owner.

... and the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car.... :poke:
 
It could turn out to be a very cheap car, I would take along a mechanic and go take a look at it and if all ok I would start with an offer of £7500 maybe go up a bit if he doesn’t accept. The minor cosmetic damage and any potential repairs will be factored in at that price as for the colour, might not be the most popular but I don’t see anything wrong with it, to me it’s better than orion silver at least :fuelfire:
 
I actually like the colour, he mentioned water pump I am more intrested in turbos, hpfp and injectors. Mileage - I prefer higher honest motorway mileage rather than low city start stop ones. 5 owners thats a bit of a no no as every single one of them bought this car to have fun lol. I had naturally aspirated 2.5 and it was OK but I want a turbo one and there is way too many issues with 2.0 unit so 3.0 is the way to go.
 
I think it's a brilliant entry point to the forum - you should definately go buy it, then come here to run through all the issues etc & get it sorted.

It has just about every red flag you could want on an e89. 100k miles - check. No mention of service history - check. Dents & scratches all over it - check. Missing the nice options - check. Lots of short term owners - check. Marmite colourway - check.

Like I said, it's cheap. For lots of reasons though! So long as you can afford to keep having it in the garage for the next fix every couple of months, I just cannot see this being a good & reliable vehicle.

I haven't ever done well with 'cheap' cars like this TBH. They have all ended up costing me a fortune to get into even 'just ok' state. In the good old days we used to call cars of this age, in this unloved state 'Money Pits'.

If you have your own youtube channel, get free parts, own a garage & a bodyshop, you could probably do well with this.

I get that you like it - come prove all us old cynical people wrong!
 
Simonsen said:
I actually like the colour, he mentioned water pump I am more intrested in turbos, hpfp and injectors. Mileage - I prefer higher honest motorway mileage rather than low city start stop ones. 5 owners thats a bit of a no no as every single one of them bought this car to have fun lol. I had naturally aspirated 2.5 and it was OK but I want a turbo one and there is way too many issues with 2.0 unit so 3.0 is the way to go.
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Obviously your heart is set on the N54 powered E89 and looks like your keen / able to overcome any issues that arrive..

For the record the N20 really only had one major possible issue on pre 2015 versions aka the cam chain sub system..if caught in time it’s a £1k max fix..

The N54 E89 is possibly littered with multiple £k, £2k and £2k+ issues….

Maybe the previous owners have addressed these issues…
 
What about thrust bearing issues on n20 engine? I had a bad experience with mini n18 engine and that's why I am a bit biased. Seller told me he bought this one quite cheap so it must be a ticking bomb I will pass on this one.
 
And if you're willing to do your own work on the engine, and that's something that you enjoy doing. This would be a fun project car to justify ripping out the old parts and not worrying about what to do with them.

I like the color as well -- mostly because you don't see it very often. Paired with the Beige interior -- it's a nice combo instead of grey on dusty black.
 
Simonsen said:
What about thrust bearing issues on n20 engine? I had a bad experience with mini n18 engine and that's why I am a bit biased. Seller told me he bought this one quite cheap so it must be a ticking bomb I will pass on this one.
Click to expand...

I've heard of two N20 thrust bearing issues on all N20 engines fitted to all cars not just E89s..I've heard of a few camchains..probably about 10 now, again over many N20 engines..I've heard of several dozen of N54 issues just on E89s..

N20 was a later engine than the N18..things generally improve with successive iterations..
 
I think the colour looks great, especially with the cream interior (lots of other colours I would rate worse :sick2: )... that wouldn't put me off. It's going to cost to get the paint right (if your fussy), check the roof panel for blisters,(looks like rust but its aluminium oxidisation), seen it happen on another car with the same colour. Gear box could do with a service also at that mileage, even though BMW say it's sealed for life!
 
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