[jamba]

Hi Folks,

I'm normally on the e90 boards but figured I'd pop in here as I'm in the process of getting the Mrs. a new-to us car to keep her happy.

I know the 35i are tougher to find out there but I came across one at my local BMW dealership. Car is super clean, whoever owned it had fun with it, but responsibly. Price was right, and love the color (I have an SGM e90)

Catch? 80K miles. I've done a search for some common issues on the X3 but most of the issues are not clear if its the 28i or 35i only. HPFP seems to be a possible issue as well. What do you guys think? I will for sure do a PPI to make sure everything is Kosher, but is the car still worth that much after 80K miles? The MRs. will be doing mostly city driving.

http://www.bmwbellevue.com/used/BMW/...60765d79eb.htm

Bonus: I looked at the carfax history and there's a lot of service records on there. It was babied at the dealership. I did see however that there were a couple instances that the previous owner was driving back and forth from the Seattle/Bellevue area to southern California which would explain the high mileage.

What would you do?

Thanks in advance

[Want the thrill]

Things that jumped out to me after looking at the Carfax were that it has had multiple alignments and seems to be going through brakes pretty darn quickly. Also the battery being replaced and having to be recharged down the line seems odd with only 35,000 miles on it. I have read of very few HPFP issues with the X3. Maybe only 2 that I can recall of on both of the BMW forums I read. I wouldn't be concerned about that. 80,000 + miles is where you are going to run into bigger issues if you are going to start having them. I would keep looking and find one with less miles. I baby my 35i (It's a 2011 with 24,500 miles on it). Whoever ends up with it when I sell it will be one lucky guy/gal!

[jamba]

Thanks.

I checked out another today (28i). Miles were only about 45K but it had this black soot on the tail pipe. I know there are some e90's with this issue and some swear its due to the auto start/stop. Is this common on x3's too?

[FSociety]

Must get X3 w/ M-Sport and try to get DHP (Dynamic Handling Pkg) as well but that will be really hard to find. I only saw 4 in the country when I bought mine that were CPO. Another good site to start searching is carfax.com, cars.com as well
I got my X3 shipped from Florida since I was saving about 5k already instead of buying local.

[MartinHattingh]

Originally Posted by jhoneil

Thanks.

I checked out another today (28i). Miles were only about 45K but it had this black soot on the tail pipe. I know there are some e90's with this issue and some swear its due to the auto start/stop. Is this common on x3's too?

Yes, this is a known "feature" of the N20 engine, same as with the N13 in the 1 series. My 118i had soot (as did many others I saw) and my 2.0i X3 (same engine as the 28i if the 28i is a turbo four and not the older i6) has it too.

[jamba]

Yep, this is the 4cyl turbo

Any pointers on how to minimize? I honestly tried a search but perhaps I didn't use the right terminologies

[MartinHattingh]

Unfortunately I think it's just how it is... I've read countless forum threads of people complaining, BMW's standard response is that it's an expected symptom, something to do with direct injection if I remember correctly.

[Want the thrill]

Originally Posted by ROBNYC

Must get X3 w/ M-Sport and try to get DHP (Dynamic Handling Pkg) as well but that will be really hard to find. I only saw 4 in the country when I bought mine that were CPO. Another good site to start searching is carfax.com, cars.com as well
I got my X3 shipped from Florida since I was saving about 5k already instead of buying local.

Msport is not a must for the 2011/2012 model years. Back then, you could get the sport activity package with came with everything the Msport gives you except for the different front and rear bumper.

[Want the thrill]

Originally Posted by jhoneil

Thanks.

I checked out another today (28i). Miles were only about 45K but it had this black soot on the tail pipe. I know there are some e90's with this issue and some swear its due to the auto start/stop. Is this common on x3's too?

Did you drive the 28i back to back with the 35i? Night and day difference. For me, I would stick with looking for the 35i. Just make sure your wife drives both back to back to make sure she would be happy with the 28i. Also, have heard of a lot of people complaining that the 28i engine makes a loud ticking sound and sounds like a lawn mower. Don't own one so can't personally comment on that.

[MartinHattingh]

Originally Posted by Want the thrill

Also, have heard of a lot of people complaining that the 28i engine makes a loud ticking sound and sounds like a lawn mower.

Yup, it does.

It's only really noticeable at low RPMs with the window down, otherwise it's pretty quiet and very refined for a 4-pot at speed.

I regularly get mocked by my family about my "nice diesel car!"

[jamba]

Originally Posted by Want the thrill

Did you drive the 28i back to back with the 35i? Night and day difference. For me, I would stick with looking for the 35i. Just make sure your wife drives both back to back to make sure she would be happy with the 28i. Also, have heard of a lot of people complaining that the 28i engine makes a loud ticking sound and sounds like a lawn mower. Don't own one so can't personally comment on that.

Hah, funny you ask. I drove the 35i and my wife drove the 28i. I have yet to really get on the 28i but I'll work on that today.