How to Buy a Used E90 / E92 BMW 3 Series | BMW Buyer's Guide

Thank you so very much for making this excellent video. I don't maintain my car myself, and the thought of paying dearly at a dealership to have this car's likely problems addressed has scared me away from buying one. I just found a beautiful one locally, but I'm not going to pursue it now. I am grateful to you for saving me from the heartache and headache!

Thank you. about to check out a 2008 328i Coupe

Bro I was gonna buy a Honda 😅😂 I feel attacked 😂😂

One of the best presented videos I've seen. Nice intro. Smooth articulate and no nonsense delivery. Sharing valuable information and really quite entertaining.
Great job man. Excellent video!

Great delivery and information...I've started researching the E90 series cars, so this is very helpful. I'm leaning towards an E91 wagon with the N43 4 cylinder or N52 6 cylinder. The N54/5 sounds awesome, but a bit too much work as a daily car (mainly for my wife). I live in Japan so models are slightly different here. Definitely going to get an MSport model and probably an LCI car.

But I think e92-90 it’s the last one no turbo generation I mean the petrol ones

Great job very informative thanks

I own one of these cars and love it but definitely wish I'd known more about the issues before buying it. Bought around 100k mi and have spent $,6000 over the past year, just in parts. Hopefully I won't have any big repairs for a long time, but $6k in a year is a good chunk to pay for maintenance even if you included labor costs. If you are buying a higher mileage car (like 80K+) keep in mind that the suspension will likely need to be replaced by 100k and is around $1,000 + labor (easily $2,500 at an indi shop).

Great video man. You definitely highlighted all key areas. Reminded me to do preventative maintenance soon.

Damn parts are expensive in the US, here in Europe, bmw E90 water pump is about 70euros, turbo about up to 150euros 😅

Thank you, I'll buy the Honda accord.

Great information, I have a E93 if I heard right. 2013 3 series Hardtop convertible 328i . Just bought it about 3months ago

im looking at a 07 325i, it has 200k miles so im not sure..

Buyers guide: don’t



And if you do anyways, god speed brother 🫡

First 45 seconds into video.... That's exactly what I'm going through lol

Yeah no im stickin' with the e46... I love the e92 but this video bas been way too informative lol

E90 started to produce from 2004

Good video explaining some of the main common problems. The whole water pump thing is way more common on the 335i and 335is because of all the extra heat generated by having turbos or mods that increase performance. I owned so far for more than 10 years a 328i e-92 n51 SULEV and thank God is been a blessing of a car. If anyone wants a 5th generation BMW and you want a reliable car that is not gonna hurt the bank as much assuming you do most of the labor yourself get a 328i n51 or n52 engine (the n51 engine is found on states that are CARB compliant like California, New Jersey and a few others states) e90,e91,e92 or e93 none x drive there the most reliable fallow by the 330i they only made them in e90 sedans. Stay away from convertible’s as they are heavier in weight and could come with there unique set of possible problems that come with a hardtop convertible.

If you want horsepower and less gas mileage go with the not so reliable at times money pit 335i or 335is the 335is n55 was introduced in the last years of the e92 generation and there a bid more reliable they got rid of some the bugs from the n54 and have the better fuel pumps that are prone to fail on early model 335i and offer 25 more horsepower than the 335i and lastly the highly desirable M3 that most want but are more expensive to upkeep and maintain and at times insure the good thing is the M3 of this generation has a mechanical water pump on like the 328i,330i and 335i or 335is they have the electronic water pump that cost more depending what route you go. What ever you choose enjoy it and have fun.

1.5k per injector? Or per set

Lol wtf are we all living the same lives? I wanted an accord now im here

Its a shame that Bmw "the ultimate driving machine" cant make a reliable car lol yall quit buying these cars man ☹️

I had both 09 rwd 328i and 11 xdrive 328i the x drive is just something else to break also.. my 09 rwd i traded in with 160k nonissues at all i bought it at 77,000 and had 0 issues for 4 year's of ownership. I wish i would habe kept it. If you take care of the N52 it will take care of you maybe my water pump was already changed when i bought it but it had nothing wrong but oil leak

- lol idk if that intro was a Jab at my life sir ,,,,,,,,, BUT YOU WAS DEAD ON RIGHT

I got my 2007 E90 for a bargain and I love it, the previous owner had put slick tires on and I couldn't get anywhere in the rain (DTC would kick in at 30mph, wth? Rainy Washington, Hello) so I put Michelin 80k's on and .... so fun.

bmw 320i 2005 e90 , 170000 km, well maintained, is it worth it ?

“Not gunna waste time telling you the basic info.” Proceeds to tell us the body chassis codes 🤦🏻‍♂️

look at this mf'ers teeth, just shinning, wit da Carhartt sweaty too, damn.....

Pre lci looks much better

If I do have an oil leak
How do I know where is it coming from ?

I just bought a E90 trans problem replaced for 1200 only bought the car for 1500

Thanks. I’m looking at a 328xi and intuition told me it’s much more reliable than the boosted versions. Glad to hear that’s the case. Don’t need tons of power beyond a bit of fun now and then, and getting groceries in the snow.

Does anybody know if is the 325i E92 Lci a reliable car? I’m considering to buy one with the N53 engine

Just get a Toyota or a Lexus and save yourself the trouble 😂

After watching this video I decided to choose an Honda fit instead

After watching this idk if i should buy 2008 320i

No exaggeration I probably watched over 25 videos on bmw’s trying to learn their terminology and everything. I wish I watched this first this was perfect well explained easy to understand and not dragged out at all 🤝🏾

How to buy an e90 BMW:

Don't

Love our n52. Had a 135 with the n54 for a few years - more fun and definitely faster but, much more complex, expensive to fix and less reliable than the n52.

Bro...I OWN The 2008 328i ... Enteror Like Yours...LUV My Car...Artic White...I Will Say ... The Codes Are A Bitch!!! But All In All It Rocks

Hands down best car plattform in my opinion. I've been driving a 325d E90 for a long time until it got wrecked by a truck not seeing me at the traffic light. It was the LCI model and an absolute joy. It got replaced by my current 335d E92 with every option except the tow hook and I gotta say this is the best a car can get.
Although the petrol version has 20 more HP you would struggle to notice that difference a lot. what you get is loads of torque from the bottom of the rev band, very high mileage per fuel (up to 1000km+ per tank) and much more.

In terms of carbon build up I cannot recommend enough to go out and just get better quality fuel. Not sure about the US of A, but here in europe you might want to got to aral/bp or shell to get you fuel. preferably the ultimate/v-power, but not necessarily. It's just not worth it to cheap out on 2-3ct per litre on cheaper fuel. you may save 2-3€/$ per fueling but will spend 1000€/$ and above if someone has to get in there and scrape of all that shit that did not burn properly.
As an excample, a friend of mine and I both have had the 325d and we both got new parts and bits installed because they were worn from the previous user. My friend did the cheap way, got cheap fuel and had his engine rebuild 60tkm later because of excessive carbon build-up. Mine with the more premium fuel was in near mint condition 100tkm later. Our way of driving and the trips we were doing were comparable. So at least in my experience, going for better fuel goes a long way if you want to preserve your engine. (as do frequent oil changes)

I've been driving newer BMWs and as a driver who's focus is on the driving experience I got to say, that the steering wheels on the newer ones are just too light up to the point where you'd struggle to properly feel the road and traction.

Great vid M8 thanks heaps

I purchased a 330i directly from a bimmer mechanic! Amazing experience and the car has been perfect

Bought a e92 325i with 53k miles. Love it.

Well done extremely detailed vid! but the E90 sedan was produced from -05 not -07👍

r19 style 128 and u have the best car u can ever have xd

What about the 316i? It doesn't seem to get mentioned anywhere 😅

This video is gold! Thanks for sharing enthusiast / maintenance info. Salute!

This is why people just buy a Mustang. Love the 335i, but damn, $1500 for fuel injectors...

Basically BMW buyer's guide in USA.

That's why I swapped mine for a ls6 v8.