Discussion
Hi guys, used this forum before when I was purchasing my F10 M5 and got some good advice and I'm back again.
So I'm currently running an F10 M5 and have done for the past year almost. Suits where I live right now - work is a short commute and it gets motorway runs once or twice a week. Obviously not very pleasant on the fuel but I knew that going in.
Anyway fast forward to today and my new job requires many more miles of commuting - talking about some months where I'll be doing 50 mile round trips 5 times a week which is not sustainable with an M5 - plus I don't want to pile miles on my M5 for it to lose more value, needing more work etc. Hence I've decided I need a small, nippy diesel that I can get around in.
I was initially looking at 2007ish 520d cars, that transitioned to 2010 320d until I found what would excite me about driving it as my 'pack the miles on car' - a 120d convertible 58 plate. Found a nice one online for sub £5k with 73k miles, FSH etc. Just wondering whether there's any issues I should be aware of and whether I could count on the car lasting me another 50k or so miles etc. I've found some 320d convertibles that are a little out of what I was willing to spend and honestly my only requirements are that it won't break down on the motorway or need garage work every 3 months and that it will sustain a couple years of commuting to work and back.
I know that the sensible thing would be too sell the gas-guzzler and get a more reliable diesel but that's not what I want to do. Just need a decently reliable A to B car that I can live with for the next 3ish years. Not too bothered on resale value, but yes it has to be convertible - hence why I've set my eyes on the 1 or 3 series.
Appreciate any help.
So I'm currently running an F10 M5 and have done for the past year almost. Suits where I live right now - work is a short commute and it gets motorway runs once or twice a week. Obviously not very pleasant on the fuel but I knew that going in.
Anyway fast forward to today and my new job requires many more miles of commuting - talking about some months where I'll be doing 50 mile round trips 5 times a week which is not sustainable with an M5 - plus I don't want to pile miles on my M5 for it to lose more value, needing more work etc. Hence I've decided I need a small, nippy diesel that I can get around in.
I was initially looking at 2007ish 520d cars, that transitioned to 2010 320d until I found what would excite me about driving it as my 'pack the miles on car' - a 120d convertible 58 plate. Found a nice one online for sub £5k with 73k miles, FSH etc. Just wondering whether there's any issues I should be aware of and whether I could count on the car lasting me another 50k or so miles etc. I've found some 320d convertibles that are a little out of what I was willing to spend and honestly my only requirements are that it won't break down on the motorway or need garage work every 3 months and that it will sustain a couple years of commuting to work and back.
I know that the sensible thing would be too sell the gas-guzzler and get a more reliable diesel but that's not what I want to do. Just need a decently reliable A to B car that I can live with for the next 3ish years. Not too bothered on resale value, but yes it has to be convertible - hence why I've set my eyes on the 1 or 3 series.
Appreciate any help.
2008-on x20d cars (N47 engine block, but appararently also it latest successor B47) have been surrounded with timing chain failure stories. There's a lot of buzz around it but there's also people doing moon mileage without the chain failing. Also some other brands with 2.0 diesels with chains of this era have scare stories of the chains being a service item rather than for life. See this thread: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=16...
The swirl flaps in the inlet manifold in E6x and E9x-era cars were prone to failing and getting sucked into the engine causing catastrophic failure. There are lots of aftermarket solutions if you are a little bit handy with the spanners to replace these yourself.
This era cars also lacked a coolant temperature gauge. When the thermostat or glow plugs start to fail the conditions aren't met to start a DPF-regen. If the car eventually turns up at the garage with a blocked DPF they can fix the other problems and do a forced regeneration on the DPF but unless the costly part is changed it will continue to clog up quicker. If DPF stories scare you and you don't need to enter low emissions areas you might want to go for one of the cars without DPF. I think early E60 and E90 cars (2006, 2007 ?) were sold without DPF as standard. You can identify these because it doesn't have a chromed exhaust tip that points straight backwards (like earlier petrols) but instead points downward slightly as in the picture below:
Come to think of it these earlier 2006-2007 320d's without DPF feature the older M47 engine. I'm not familiar with it anymore, but I think the timing chain is also less prone to snapping although a quick google search learns that any timing chain can snap... My dads e46 with the M47 engine racked up 175t miles without a spanner ever touching the engine (except for regular oil & filter changes) with only the accessory belt indicating it was end of life ;-). Later years of the M47 (such as the E60/E90) do however have the swirl flaps made of plastic instead of metal hinges causing higher failure rates.
The swirl flaps in the inlet manifold in E6x and E9x-era cars were prone to failing and getting sucked into the engine causing catastrophic failure. There are lots of aftermarket solutions if you are a little bit handy with the spanners to replace these yourself.
This era cars also lacked a coolant temperature gauge. When the thermostat or glow plugs start to fail the conditions aren't met to start a DPF-regen. If the car eventually turns up at the garage with a blocked DPF they can fix the other problems and do a forced regeneration on the DPF but unless the costly part is changed it will continue to clog up quicker. If DPF stories scare you and you don't need to enter low emissions areas you might want to go for one of the cars without DPF. I think early E60 and E90 cars (2006, 2007 ?) were sold without DPF as standard. You can identify these because it doesn't have a chromed exhaust tip that points straight backwards (like earlier petrols) but instead points downward slightly as in the picture below:
Come to think of it these earlier 2006-2007 320d's without DPF feature the older M47 engine. I'm not familiar with it anymore, but I think the timing chain is also less prone to snapping although a quick google search learns that any timing chain can snap... My dads e46 with the M47 engine racked up 175t miles without a spanner ever touching the engine (except for regular oil & filter changes) with only the accessory belt indicating it was end of life ;-). Later years of the M47 (such as the E60/E90) do however have the swirl flaps made of plastic instead of metal hinges causing higher failure rates.
The N47 engine with cam-chain issues appeared in the 1 Series with the facelift in around March 2007.
But it wasn't a known issue when I bought my pre-registered September 2007 123d in January 2008!
Still it got past 81K before I sold it in 2014.
If I was buying another diesel 1 Series I'd look for a pre-facelift with the M47 engine like my E46 Compact had.
But it wasn't a known issue when I bought my pre-registered September 2007 123d in January 2008!
Still it got past 81K before I sold it in 2014.
If I was buying another diesel 1 Series I'd look for a pre-facelift with the M47 engine like my E46 Compact had.
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