Interesting case study on a 35i purchase

[B21]

Recently helped a 'client' assess and but a 2009 35i.

The interesting aspect was that despite having 12 keepers in the time there was a very comprehensive paper trail.

The post warranty costs of over £5,300 included injectors, gearbox leaks, ignition coils, cracked camboxes, coolant pumps and thermostats.

I've written it up as a case for my book.

An extract here..

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

 

[sars]

Am I reading this right, you helped someone buy a 17 year old car and the annual warranty cost is £5,300 per year?

 

[tiglon]

So about £400 per year assuming warranty ended in 2013? That's really not very much at all, and probably less than a warranty would have cost.

Interesting!

 

[TriggerFish]

Am I reading this right, you helped someone buy a 17 year old car and the annual warranty cost is £5,300 per year?

I read it as the cost of repairs prior to purchase (over several years) totalled £5.3k.

Not the warranty costing £5.3k

 

[B21]

Am I reading this right, you helped someone buy a 17 year old car and the annual warranty cost is £5,300 per year?

No the previous 12 owners amassed £5.3k in parts and labour repairing 'broken' items..no standard services or tyres or brakes etc

 

[B21]

So about £400 per year assuming warranty ended in 2013? That's really not very much at all, and probably less than a warranty would have cost.

Interesting!

That's one way at looking at it..

 

[B21]

I read it as the cost of repairs prior to purchase (over several years) totalled £5.3k.

Not the warranty costing £5.3k

Correct non wear n tear items ...there was only the original BMW warranty which expired after the first three years then the first big ticket items occurred 6 months later

 

[Pondy]

Am I reading this right, you helped someone buy a 17 year old car and the annual warranty cost is £5,300 per year?

And I thought I was the only 'muppet' on the forum!

 

[Argyll Andy]

And I thought I was the only 'muppet' on the forum!

Not the only, just the biggest

 

[Pondy]

The post warranty costs of over £5,300 included injectors, gearbox leaks, ignition coils, cracked camboxes, coolant pumps and thermostats.

So the new owner (your 'client') just needs the next £5,300 in their pocket for both wastegates and/or turbos to fail and an HPFP? Bargain.

 

[Pondy]

Recently helped a 'client' assess and but a 2009 35i.

Sounds painful. Unless it was just another old goat.

 

[Marcoose]

Recently helped a 'client' assess and but a 2009 35i.

Those fancy books don't print themselves. Money has got to come from somewhere.

 

[matsmith749]

£5k running repairs in 14 years (since factory warranty expired) on a performance vehicle - I would take that as not bad at all.

Are you positioning it as a cautionary tale or one of super value?

These are machines - they wear out / fail & cost something per year to keep running.

Not sure what your point is.

 

[B21]

Those fancy books don't print themselves. Money has got to come from somewhere.

Sadly all my ‘clients’ don’t reimburse me…well not completely true…had a few bottles of whiskies as tokens of appreciation…

 

[B21]

£5k running repairs in 14 years (since factory warranty expired) on a performance vehicle - I would take that as not bad at all.

Are you positioning it as a cautionary tale or one of super value?

These are machines - they wear out / fail & cost something per year to keep running.

Not sure what your point is.

It’s just a case study..as said there are very very few e89s with almost an entirely full history…especially ones with 12+ owners..

You can read it whichever way you prefer..

I’d say..

A fairly typical set of N54/DCT related issues…if the same person had bought a N52 then he would probably have never had any of those costs…

A pretty depressing view on later owners who cheap out on proper maintenance…wrong battery, cheap Chinese tyres, bodged wiring..

Inheriting a car with a remap that was never documented and several owners never knew existed

Many E89s are bought on a whim and sold shortly after by several folks..in this case 3 and 5 months , I suspect the car was off loaded a couple of times because of known faults

Market value of such E89s pretty low..£6k trade in last year

Fortunately the cosmetic wear n tear is very modest..so with some tlc could be a great car for the new owner and maybe will now be relatively reliable

A ‘classical’ set of uogrades..MHD remap, K+N panel filter..refurb 437Ms with cheap Chinese tyres, a stubby, gloss Chinese front grills

 

[James35i]

All 6 injectors replaced at 40k miles, I wonder what index they were. 7 or 8 maybe.

 

[B21]

All 6 injectors replaced at 40k miles, I wonder what index they were. 7 or 8 maybe.

They were fives..they were nines by 2011

 

[tiglon]

Not sure how likely you'd be to get through that many years in an N52 without replacing a gasket, coil packs etc. They're pretty likely to go on any BMW.

The usual "cautionary tales" about the N54 are around injectors, HPFP and turbos - but only one of the three has been needed on this car?

Also I think it's been pretty obvious for some time that earlier N54s, like this one, are more likely to suffer injector failure.

 

[B21]

Not sure how likely you'd be to get through that many years in an N52 without replacing a gasket, coil packs etc. They're pretty likely to go on any BMW.

The usual "cautionary tales" about the N54 are around injectors, HPFP and turbos - but only one of the three has been needed on this car?

Also I think it's been pretty obvious for some time that earlier N54s, like this one, are more likely to suffer injector failure.

I agree the injectors 'seemed' to get better over time..but still no guarantees, there was a roof issue which is agnostic albeit earlier than many..

I'm not defending or attacking the car..its a commentary and its good to have one to look at a pretty full service history...things that irritate me are the bodged / badly implemented third party things...the spoiler looks bad as well.. and its clear a couple of folks off loaded it knowing there were issues!

Personally I've not seen much on N52s go wrong..nowhere near as much on N20s and N54s.. but it is anecdotal..

 

[matsmith749]

A 12 owner car with obvious bodges might not make the best case study - no?

A typical car, with typical ownership pattern & issues would surely make more sense in an authoritative book.

As with anything, there will be the very best (1 owner, meticulous maintenance, no failures) all the way to the biggest ratbah cars.

Something in the middle feels more measured IMO.