BMW Z4 2.5i Highline S drive
BMW Z4 2.5i Highline S drive
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Discussion

thebullettrain

Original Poster:

1,069 posts

266 months

Wednesday 15th November 2023
quotequote all
In my hunt for a newish reliable car I’ve seen this. Now it not fitting the bill aide; any thoughts on things to look out for?



http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2023101128...

Jakg

4,012 posts

195 months

Wednesday 15th November 2023
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Are you asking about Z4 E89's generally? This engine? Or that specific car?

The 23i is the N52 engine first introduced in 2004. It's neither powerful nor fuel efficient, compared to other engines in the range - if I was getting an E89, it'd either be the 3.0 or the 2.0 N20 - which are very tunable.

Mr Tidy

30,661 posts

154 months

Wednesday 15th November 2023
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I like the N52 engine, in fact I'm on my 4th now!

They seem to be pretty bulletproof, but can suffer from oil filter housing and cam-cover gaskets leaking and the electric water pump will fail at some point, but generally not until over 60K miles. All of mine have averaged over 30mpg which doesn't seem bad to me for a petrol straight 6.

The 2 litre turbo has the B20 engine that can have cam-chain issues at higher mileages and the 3 litre turbo has the N54 engine which can have turbo, injector and High pressure Fuel Pump problems although they can both be fairly easily tuned if that's what you want.

I don't think E89s have any specific problems but make sure the roof is working properly. Salmon relays can fail and the roof wiring harness can suffer from split wires where it gets bent every time the roof is raised or lowered. The Salmon relays are pretty cheap and it's probably worth replacing them as a preventative measure.

Otherwise the things to look for are the same as any other car really.

Jakg

4,012 posts

195 months

Wednesday 15th November 2023
quotequote all
Mr Tidy said:
I like the N52 engine, in fact I'm on my 4th now!
A N52 is the modern engine in an E85/E86, but not so in the E89.

pb8g09

3,138 posts

96 months

Thursday 16th November 2023
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I had one of these exact cars. Roof down it was a nice place to be when the sun came out.

Gearbox and clutch I didn't get on with - notchy and unforgiving. Engine sounded lovely but it was very slow, I came from an Audi S1 and it felt like an old man in comparison, I swapped it for a 330d touring and that was much faster too.