BMW 3 Series Coupe (2008 -2011) - Car Buying advice

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Sat 14 Apr 2018 17:41
BMW 3 Series Coupe (2008 -2011) - Car Buying advice - Cesc

Hello HJ Community

I've always wanted to buy a 2 door 08-11 model 3 series. now i've been reading as much as i can about the different model variants but still can't decide which one to buy.

My driving style is as below:

- 1000 to 1500 miles a month

- Mostly motorway driving from midlands to southern england

- city driving accounts for 100 to 200 miles a month

i have a budget of up to 10K and would like the car to be as highly specced as poosible as i intend to have the car for 5 ish years

is there a specific model variant i should go for to suit my driving style ?

hope you can help.

Thank you

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Sat 14 Apr 2018 17:56
BMW 3 Series Coupe (2008 -2011) - Car Buying advice - badbusdriver

Just how much have you been reading up on them?, and did the reading material include this?

www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/bmw/3-series-coupe-e...d

If you really still want one, i'd suggest avoiding any diesel or 4 cyl petrol versions. Full history essential and make sure to get a warranty.

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Sat 14 Apr 2018 18:10
BMW 3 Series Coupe (2008 -2011) - Car Buying advice - SLO76
The E90/91/92/93 3 series was a nice car when new but sadly it isn’t the most robust thing on the road as used buyers have discovered with many a costly tale of woe to report.

It’s not the first thing I’d buy at this money and to cover this mileage but if you must have one then avoid the 4cyl models, petrol and diesel. The 320d looks great on paper but it’s notorious for timing chain issues and turbo failure among plenty of other common problems.

The best for reliability is one of the 6cyl petrol models with the normally asperated 3.0 325 being the least likely to cause grief. It’s better on fuel than you’d think, doesn’t cost a fortune to tax and has all the go any sane person could need.

Spend as much as you can to get a good car with full BM history, forget any that have been on one of these long life maintenance plans where they often only see oil every two years and avoid any with no or patchy histories. Joe Blogs backstreet garages have no clue how to maintain these properly so don’t buy if you can’t afford to maintain that dealer or a genuine BMW specialist history. This one is just an example but it’s at a Toyota main dealer which would rarely hang onto a duff car.

Auto Trader:

www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/20180404522...0

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Sat 14 Apr 2018 20:21
BMW 3 Series Coupe (2008 -2011) - Car Buying advice - Meteiro

I ran an E91 320d for four years (bought at two and a half years old).

Pro: I had no trouble with the car at all, no breakdowns. Perhaps I was lucky.

Con: My God it's pricey to maintain. You're going to get nickel and dimed to death, and the reason I got rid was impending big bills, including £2k for clutch and DMF replacement that was the final straw.

Think carefully before taking the plunge, you're buying in at arguably an awkward vehicle age on these.

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Sun 15 Apr 2018 12:34
BMW 3 Series Coupe (2008 -2011) - Car Buying advice - Happy Blue!

One of my staff recently bought a 2012 100,000 mile 320d Efficient Dynamics. BMW services up to 84,000miles and an independent service at 96,000miles.

The timing chain snapped and destroyed the top of the engine. £4,000 to repair and no contribution from BMW.

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Sun 15 Apr 2018 21:16
BMW 3 Series Coupe (2008 -2011) - Car Buying advice - madf

Based on my son's expereience with the prior model, allow £1k for a full brake rebuild as they do wear and are often seen with worn out disks and non maintained handbrakes.

And avoid BMW dealers unless you like spending money.

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Sun 15 Apr 2018 21:54
BMW 3 Series Coupe (2008 -2011) - Car Buying advice - Engineer Andy

One of my staff recently bought a 2012 100,000 mile 320d Efficient Dynamics. BMW services up to 84,000miles and an independent service at 96,000miles.

The timing chain snapped and destroyed the top of the engine. £4,000 to repair and no contribution from BMW.

A former colleague's 3-series started leaking oil, he didn't spot it for a month or two, and then it deposited the rest of the contents in one go on his concrete driveway, just as he was pulling away to go to work.

Result - he had to scrap the car as it was uneconomic for him to replace most of the engine (even running it that short time on start up knackered it, though I'm sure the previous weeks running on low oild didn't help much either), and he had to have a new driveway laid because the oil wouldn't wash off and might've eaten the concrete...

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