Bought a car! twinturbobmw bait..

"drunkenup2" (drunkenup3)
09/29/2013 at 20:27 • Filed to: BMW twinturbobmwbait 335i

Last night I made the trip deep into Long Island to pick up a 2008 BMW 335i Coupe. Alpine white exterior, and Coral Red inside. yayyy! Has 73K miles, every option but PDC, active cruise and active steering, and an extra year of the factory warranty.

First impressions? Its fast. I haven't had that much torque so down low in the RPM range before in a light-ish car ever. Closest I've ever been was a loaner '13 A6 3.0T and my old S430. Was on the turnpike getting on from the shoulder and stepped on it.. speeds became very illegal very quickly. Sounds BEAUTIFUL, too. Interior, awesome, LOVE the red leatherette. It isn't the best handling car ever, but feels like it compared to what I've driven in the past. Now I know what proper steering feels like (thought my mom's Audi Q5 had it nailed, LOL). She has some wastegate rattle and the comfort access isn't working but there are multiple warranties covering the former.

Okay, heres the SR20.

Alright, time to admit it now. Its an automatic. I wanted a manual. My situation favors an auto, I've been waiting far too long for the right MT car. Flame suit on!

DISCUSSION (27)

N51fanatic > drunkenup2
09/29/2013 at 20:30

yikes, 73k with an N54 out of warranty soon? Did you check to see if it had the recall work done (ie HPFP etc)?

drunkenup2 > N51fanatic
09/29/2013 at 20:35

Its on its second HPFP which was replaced in 2012. HPFPs are warrantied for 10 yrs/120k mi anyways. I'm more worried about the wastegates/turbos which I have plenty of time and mileage to get swapped for free. Will give it a try with a local dealer as soon as its plates come in.

Manuél Ferrari > drunkenup2
09/29/2013 at 20:36

Congrats!

See if you can purchase additional warranty from BMW. If not buy a third party plan. It's worth it with that complex engine!

Regarding the handling - you can make it one of the best handling cars ever. There are a ton of good after market upgrades for the E9X platform. I have an E90 M3 and I'm not in love with the handling either. It's stock now and I've researched the mods that I want to make to the suspension once I convert the car from my DD to more of a weekend car. Right now I like the cushy ride but I definitely want to firm things up in the future.

Soloburrito > drunkenup2
09/29/2013 at 20:37

White, auto, 3-series...are you a trophy wife by chance? :p

Start saving up for your Dinan badge!

drunkenup2 > Soloburrito
09/29/2013 at 20:41

mhmm 100%, hahaha

Tom McParland > drunkenup2
09/29/2013 at 20:44

Congrats! Me boosta.

Manuél Ferrari > drunkenup2
09/29/2013 at 20:49

Lol props to Soloburrito, I didn't even think about that joke.

drunkenup2 - are you already a trophy wife or a trophy wife to be? Because I'm not married and am a big bimmer fan ;) Have owned 6 so far.

I didn't notice your car has an AT till now. You should definitely buy extended warranty for the car, even if from a third party. The AT in the E9X was definitely more reliable than the AT in the E46. But owning one out of warranty would still scare me. My sister had a 2000 323i that suffered the infamous AT failure. It would have been around $5000 to fix had my Dad not found a rebuilt one for about $2000.

twinturbobmw > drunkenup2
09/29/2013 at 20:49

Yay! Twinturbobmw bait! Congrats on the car; love the Alpine White and especially the coral red.

drunkenup2 > Manuél Ferrari
09/29/2013 at 20:49

Thank you!

Plan to go third party since rates seem to be lower!

I imagine getting this car to handle more like an M3 would be awesome, but I think I want to get comfortable with the stock setup first and go modding once the performance starts to disappoint me. I've never extensively driven anything that corners this flat-ly or grips this much. Once I get bored I'll probably look into sport springs and anti-roll bars. Do you have EDC? I know a person who wanted to mod his M3's suspension but was torn about giving up the adjustable dampers.

Bandit > drunkenup2
09/29/2013 at 20:59

Congrats man!

drunkenup2 > Manuél Ferrari
09/29/2013 at 21:00

haha, no, I am a 17 year old male. Before any judgements are made, this was purchased using 10K of my savings, 9 from my S430, and 4 from my mother. The S430 was inherited from my late father.

Once this warranty goes next November I'll purchase a third party contract. I'm pretty familiar with the ZF 6-speed in these cars, my mom's Audi has one and the one in this bimmer feels every bit as strong as the one in her Q5, and that car has 30K fewer miles. I haven't really heard of AT failures outside of from those who push 450rwhp in the 335i's and the fact that the current 5.0 Mustang uses an updated version is assuring too. But of course, it can break!

drunkenup2 > Bandit
09/29/2013 at 21:01

Thank you!

drunkenup2 > Tom McParland
09/29/2013 at 21:01

Thanks!!

drunkenup2 > twinturbobmw
09/29/2013 at 21:01

Thank you!! Knew you'd like it!

Manuél Ferrari > drunkenup2
09/29/2013 at 21:01

You're very welcome!

The good thing about going third party is you can compare the fine print in one plan to another. All of these plans exclude certain parts and types of repairs. You can find the plan that seems to cover the parts of the car that are the most expensive and likely to fail.

Also some plans may refuse to cover some parts after a certain number of miles, even if you have not exceeded the number of total miles the plan includes. Sometimes parts are only covered if they fail before their expected end of life hits, then after that the replacement is considered to be maintenance of a consumable part and not replacement of a failed part. The safest thing is to buy both extended warranty and maintenance, if the total price of the two plans is not so outrageous that you're best off just winging it.

I do have the EDC, which is a big reason I don't want to mod the car yet. I love being able to keep it in comfort mode when just driving at normal speeds. The only complaint I have is that the stiffest setting is not stiff enough when cornering hard. The car has a lot of body roll through sweeping turns.

If the car already handles better than anything else you've owned before then you can enjoy the stock setup for a while before spending money on mods.

Manuél Ferrari > drunkenup2
09/29/2013 at 21:10

Lol. When I first read your post I didn't assume you were a girl, only thought that after your reply to Soloburrito. Funny stuff.

I agree this AT is well built. Everything I've read said that it was a massive improvement over the AT it replaced. It seems like the AT you have should have a failure rate that is as good or better than the average AT.

I just get worried about having any AT outside of warranty because of how expensive ATs are to replace, should that become necessary. With a MT all you have to do is replace the clutch when it's worn.

I do have the same fears of DCT maintenance/replacement costs outside of warranties that I do ATs. DCTs are a lot more complex than a MT and there is a lot to break. My M3 has a DCT and I will keep extending the warranty for as long as I can.

Manuél Ferrari > drunkenup2
09/29/2013 at 21:12

Other good thing about your car - there were a zillion 335i cars sold. So if an expensive part does fail outside of warranty you may be able to pull a replacement from a junkyard at a reasonable cost.

Kugelblitz > drunkenup2
09/29/2013 at 21:12

Light? Compared to what? The 3 series just get heavier and heavier every generation.

UUC sway bars are the way to go on these, they can really keep the car flat. Buy a few extra bushings because sometimes you can tear one up if you umm, do some very spirited off camber stuff. The bars are much thinker than the stock ones.

I agree about the low end grunt though, it is pretty nice.

drunkenup2 > Manuél Ferrari
09/29/2013 at 21:15

ah, yes, the exclusionary and inclusionary plans and such.. I toyed with the idea of getting an E60 M5 (a total pipe-dream for me) and I swear, anyone who seriously looks into buying one becomes an expert on these warranties after a couple of hours. I'll start saving up for both a maintenance plan and warranty then!

As far as suspension/chassis mods go, I'll probably start with changing the POS Hankook runflats

Wish I had EDC..

highmodulus > drunkenup2
09/29/2013 at 21:19

Also, on the handling front- check the tires. Old run flats are pretty terrible. Common upgrade is a set of Michelin Super Sports- and a cellphone for roadside assistance.

drunkenup2 > Kugelblitz
09/29/2013 at 21:21

Compared to the second lightest car I've driven around which weighs 4300 lbs. I'm pretty sure you and the rest of oppo even consider the Toyobaru twins porky but this is light-ish by my standards.

Manuél Ferrari > drunkenup2
09/29/2013 at 21:24

That's a bummer that the E60 M5 is so risky to purchase, as that was the car I was planning on getting if I ever needed a bigger car for some reason.

Are there other runflats that perform better and give you a better ride? I've read some runflats are much better than others. I don't own any cars that came with runflats so I don't have personal experience with it.

drunkenup2 > highmodulus
09/29/2013 at 21:24

They've got plenty of tread but they are pretty loud.. PSS' are top of the list. haha hopefully won't need to or else my AAA card will see the light of day for the first time ever

drunkenup2 > Manuél Ferrari
09/29/2013 at 21:30

As far as I can tell, late model E60s won't break nearly as much as the early ones (fixed VANOS, properly QC'd SMG) but a four grand clutch job and failure prone rod bearings, geez. It almost makes me cry!

I probably won't even consider RFTs when new tires come around, I'll take the better performance even without a spare.. my first time around with runflats too..

Manuél Ferrari > drunkenup2
09/29/2013 at 21:35

It is annoying how BMW has so many issues in the first couple years of a car's production. They are like Microsoft - they skimp on QC and use early adopting customers to test the cars and report bugs.

If you swap out your tires you can buy the tire inflation kit that ships with the M3. Would be good to have if you get a flat when far from home. It might not mess with the TPM that your car has. Would be worth researching if you haven't already.

drunkenup2 > Manuél Ferrari
09/29/2013 at 21:45

It seems BMW has had first year issues more than its competitors recently.. first oil coolers and HPFPs on the N54s, and just recently oil pumps on the S63TUs!

I'll look into a kit but I gotta get the tires first! I've never experienced a flat tire in all the years I can remember though.

Manuél Ferrari > drunkenup2
09/29/2013 at 22:54

The funny thing is that they've always had this issue. My Dad got burned the first time he bought a brand new car. He bought a 318i in 1984, and it was the first year of that model. It had a TON of electrical issues and was always at the dealership. Luckily they eventually were able to correct the issues and the car was rock solid after that. It became my car and I later gave it to my uncle who drove it well past 250,000 miles without having an engine rebuild done.

I hope your good luck with tires continues. I had bad luck for a while then it went south.