Brother in-law came around in his 57 bmw coupe today with 67k miles. It was ticking over and I took the oil cap off, and it seemed to be breathing quite heavily.

Does nyone know if its common on these?

Cheers-jimmy

 

test drove one of these before christmas apparently they have alot of engine problems
have a look on bimmerforums.co.uk


can i ask what your brother in law thinks of the car i ask cause he has probably had it more than a couple of months does he still like it or hate it,i ask cause even though i think they look very nice i think i might get bored of the 320i as its not the fastest car by a long shot

 

Its outshone by the diesel, go for one of them instead. I havent heard of these engines having problems is it the same for the other engines in the range?

 

Most problematic current shape 3 series engine by miles. Avoid.

 

I thought I had read many reports that the current 3 series (05 onwards) is one of the most reliable cars out there so was surprised to hear of the engine problems. If its just the 320i then that would make sense.

 

335i is a little prone to problems too but at least they are very quick!

 

So it was the diesels with their swirl flaps in previous generations and the petrols with problems this generation.

 

The new 4 pot diesels have timing chain issues. The only good engines we have at the moment are the six pot diesels/petrols, V8's, the m3/m5 lumps. The rest are total toilet.
The 4 pot petrols do breathe in an odd way, as they run super super lean when idling (stratified) this is normal.

 

Oh dear, I've just bought a four pot diesel!!

 

There goes the 320d rep mobile idea then for my next car.

 

Yours will be under warranty though wont it? Well for 3 years anyway.

 

Phew ;-)