325i SE Auto 2dr Coupe

Great when it works but has problems

The car consumed oil from day 1 of ownership. This deteriorated over time. From 1500 miles to the litre to 750 miles a litre. Staying on top of oil changes helped. Fresh oil every 6000 miles meant the car could get by on 2000-2500 before the oil consumption started. It is a well documented issue and frequent oil changes help.

Here is the break down of issues:

5,000 miles: CAS unit failed ans replaced under warranty.
8,000: oil pressure sensor - warranty
20,000: CAS unit - warranty
45,000: oil condition sensor
58,000: the DME failed. Warranty work. Water ingress!
66,000: head gasket. DIY
77,000: headlight washer leak. Local garage. Required bumper removal.
80,000: DISA rattle DIY

Then there were two major problems when I got rid of the car at &5,000 miles and 10 years of age. 1. The ABS pump failed and 2. The gearbox developed a jolt between gear 2-3 and a subtle whine. The gearbox part was estimated at £6,000 with goodwill and BMW wanted £2,000 on top. The ABS pump believe it or not was excluded from warranty.

The straight six was my first BMW experience. It was an earlier port injection variant so fuel economy was nothing like a direct injection model. It was a true 2.5 engine so that is probably why it lacked a bit of go. The 0-62 was a claimed 7.6 seconds but sometimes felt slower.

Run flats were horrendous so these were swapped for some Uniroyal Rainsport 3 and a Continental Tyre inflating kit kept in the boot.

It was a joy to drive but a pain to maintain. The paint held up without any rust issues or anything of the sorts over the 10 years.

When I drove it alone performance felt great but with passengers it was not so enjoyable. The 2.5 engine is almost like driving while towing a small ski jet - so you can imagine what any kind of extra load did.

The steering was heavy and weighted so this may not be to the liking of some. It was more traditional BMW compared with the ultra light steerings of the newer models.

Security wise I had an OBD port immobiliser installed by a Security company and it worked well alongside an upgraded alarm.

The standard HI FI system was decent so I lived with this for a while and then swapped out the under seat subwoofers.

Not the most economical of cars but port injection and a great drive. Wonder if it will make a classic one day. Sadly it had too many problems for my liking.

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