Great video that highlights how the market has changed, at least in NZ. No more cheap Silvia's, Skylines or Supra's etc anymore. The Euro cars have now become more bang for the buck for performance, and usually have nicer interiors as a bonus.
@@KiwiCarLifebecause stupid yank crash and impractical pointless emissions standards made jdm cars of the 2010s onwards junk compared with 90s and 00s. I mean an engine like the 2zzge by toyota had a very short life because of emissions standards yet it's a 1.8 and is economical on fuel how can it possibly be "worse for the environment" than the new supra or audi rs3 for example? Sheer nonsense.
@@junit7590 I know! It’s crazy! The 2ZZ and K20 were sensational engines that didn’t last anywhere near as long as they should have because of emissions. I don’t get why Honda doesn’t bring it back but hybridise it so you get the high revving fun engine but with better emissions
This is true, back in 2021 with a heavy heart we sold our R34 GTT which we had for almost 2 decades. We kept the M5 as we have sunk too much money in it.
Look at it like this, the Germans engineer to perform reliably with the correctly followed maintenance intervals and believe that people should like them follow the schedules. Toyota believes that people don't follow maintenance schedules and thus engineers vehicles accordingly.
The rod or main bearings are not actually in the maintenance schedule for the S65 or S85 engines though, are they? Do you reckon the issue is overblown and 99.9% of S65 or S85 will make 300,000+ miles/500,000+ km on the OEM bearings and owners shouldn't mess with replacing them? 🤔🙂 Plus, a lot of the BMWs including 335i had official oil change intervals of up to 20,000miles in the late 2000's. Are BMW correct with that or not? It's a contradictory argument to say to do exactly what BMW say, but also to say to change the oil more often than BMW say. 🙂
The M engines are kinda a different breed, and yes the 2y/25,000km service intervals should be thrown in the trash. My friend Jono has an E92 M3, did the rod bearings as preventative maintenance at 160,000km and they were still perfect. Didn't really need to do it. It's very hit or miss. If you buy one with over 150,000km probably still best to do it though as you never know what the service history is like. With any normal BMW if you carefully maintain it and do preventative maintenance (hence why normal people who know nothing about cars shouldn't own one) it'll run just fine.
I sold my E36 with *223,000 original miles on it. The engine and transmission were fine. There were some issues along the way but the car never left me stranded. BMW maintenance intervals are not a suggestion. They're a requirement. Get your PMs done on time. Use factory parts. (With the exception of wear items)
@@BEAMNGBROTHER yeah as soon as they get 20+ years old they can start having issues. Usually with the radiators and expansion tank. And some of the smaller lines. Replacement is DIYable which is good. If you stick to newer ones they're ok. Oil leaks are the next common item but if you purchase one from a responsible person they have most likely gotten that sorted already.
Owned five BMWs in the last 10 years and they are not any less reliable than other cars I owned. The only issues I had with them were the oil-filled mounts namely the engine mount and differential mount. The diff mount on my M4 leaked at around 60,000km and cost over $1000 to replace, engine mount on my X2 failed at 90,000km, cost $1800 to replace. Never had issues with the actual engines.
That's a new one haven't heard of that, but either way still a testament if you've had BMW's for 10 years and don't consider them any less reliable... there ya go!
@@KiwiCarLife would love to see you review an M140i if you get the opportunity. Been thinking of buying one, just so hard to find in manual that’s not overpriced compared to auto.
Top vid mate, really enjoyed this one! A manual 130i for 6k! wow, that is a great car for the money, if I was in NZ that is all the car I would ever need!
Great video! Only suggestion for the editing would be to list the cars you're recommending on the screen as well at the end. Can imagine it would be hard for new car enthusiasts to know exactly what cars you are listing off when it's all just letters and numbers together haha.
The B58 still has plenty of plastic parts in the engine bay. They've made the oil filter housing plastic so now you have to spend hundreds replacing that along with the gasket. I'd say they're better than the N55 for example. But they still have the same BS as all the other engines do which gets worse as they age
@@Lxzandrhaha just being honest mate. They are still very good cars but I will be frank about the post 2012 recycled plastic garbage they keep putting in.
kern417, a BMW technician, seems to have some cautionary tales about the "Gen 3" B58 that came out in the last couple of years. It has problems with the cam variators and the new cylinder deactivation tech among other things apparently. 0W12 is BMW's required oil in the United States too. You are probably not going to want to track your Gen3 B58 on 0W12 oil. 🙂
@@Tiger_Pawzzzzz Breaking the algorithm is hardly a content issue. Plenty of channels with significantly worse content than Liam is putting out with more interaction. I think his issue is that this channel is really old. Usually the algorithms are momentum based, so how much interaction are you getting on a time-base. So if the channel is years and years old, its being divided by a long time denominator. If he made a second channel for the shorts for example, that'd probably spike better due to being new and instantly getting thousands of hits.
Yeah that is true, I'm still trying to figure out how to get my channel to take off again. I'm frankly not interested in 90's Hondas so I'm not going to make content with cars I don't particularly like.
@@KiwiCarLife Honestly, nobody really knows how UA-cam's algorithm works. I keep getting video's put into my feed with 50 views on them. It's just seems like it doesn't know what I want and is throwing spaghetti at the wall xD
I’ve got an M54 5 series and an N55 5 series. Both have needed a few bits and pieces to keep them going. But other than regular servicing and some preventative maintenance, they’ve both been pretty reliable for me.
Still can't say I'm a big BMW fan, although I do have a soft spot for the old boxy 325i's. You make some great points here though Liam. Relatively affordable, decent engines if you get the right one, and power to the rear wheels via a manual transmission is a sure to give you some smiles. Can see the improvement in your editing quality already mate, keep up the great vids!
How good! Yeah the latest stuff seems to be pretty good actually. Going with a 3 series rather than a hideous complicated XM or 7 series or something that's just a tablet with a car bolted to it is also a great idea
@@AdriWeedMan I would say that oil leaks are a lot more common than DISA valves. If you buy one and it happens to you well that’s kinda bad luck, because the chances are low
@@KiwiCarLife Agree, oil leaks are common and always will happen. My 130i after 200.000km started to make a plastic noise around 4000 rpm, then I discovered that the big DISA valve was broken, other drivers got it sucked in the engine, luckly not in my case
I bought a E90 325i really cheap and I'm fixing all the issues myself and it's definitely a more complicated car than a Toyota for example, there's just so much more screws holding bits of plastic in place, it's crazy. But, it drives like a dream and truly is on a different level.
Yeah see that's the thing it might be slightly more difficult to work on and not quite as reliable but so long as you look after it, the smile it'll put on your face when you drive it compared with an equivalent Toyota will be well worth it.
Good stuff. There is a bunch of 130i's from Bimmersport in the area. Should get them all together for a drive. I have a couple including your ones sister car just over the Remutakas.
@@KiwiCarLife There is a 130i post that is 95 pages long where we all share our pain and heart break. I picked up my manual 130i just for track days while I rebuild my E34. So dead keen.
The F generation bmws with the turbo 4s and 6s are good aside from the timing chain which thankfully I’ve had no issues with b series engines fixed the chain problems though
If you can afford it, I would recommend skipping the N55 for a B58 based on personal experience. I had a 2014 335i and had my engine go at 40,000miles with all the proper maintenance. Thought it was a one off thing and bought another 335i which this time I tuned and made alright power but after that was totalled I went and bought a 440i which I have now owned for nearly 2 years which is far more reliable even though mine is on the high side at 130,000 miles. And when I tuned this to stage 2 it is pushing over 500hp whereas my 335i barely made 400 tuned. It's overall a far smoother engine and can push and handle a lot more power as BMW designed this with a diesel block making it much more reliable
Also working at a workshop, thr number of customers with VWs, Audis, BMWs, Mercs, even toyotas of all sorts who have ZERO history or knowledge of when their trans was serviced if ever, or their dsg fluid changed, or their haldex coupling at 130k still never serviced when it's supposed to be every 60k is ridiculous.
Oh exactly - I had another guy comment on here saying his transmission stuffed out at 130,000km on his E38 740i, clearly a rich guy who just leaves things to the dealer. He never changed the trans fluid once, like mate?? Are you nuts? How is that the car's fault. The trans isn't even made by BMW anyway haha it's a ZF5.
_Ive never driven a 4cyl beemer and sounds like I’ve missed out on nothing, I’ve also driven a couple of (older)V8’s and really liked them but I agree 💯 the sixes are the sweet spot….I just can’t get past my prejudiced of expensive maintenance costs 🤷🏻♂️_
Yeah see I was the same, told myself I'd never buy a BMW because "they're unreliable". But I'd never actually owned one so I was really just making stuff up in my head. My friends who actually owned BMW's convinced me to buy one and I've never looked back.
The earlier N55's had a pneumatic wastegate (PWG) which doesn't control boost as good as the later N55's Electronic Wastegate (EWG). In the M135i for instance, the 2014 non LCI update and all LCI updated ones have the better EWG which also means they have a 4 inch turbo instead of the PWG's 3.5 inch. So you also get a bit more power out of your mods. The best mod being getting rid of the catted turbo downpipe. Which also makes them sound a hell of a lot better too.
Yes I've heard that, mine's a PWG. Bought it because it was 13k, but if I'd known I probably would have got a late 2013 or 2014 if I could. Although tbh I don't really care stock power I'm happy with.
You have to change the downpipe and charge pipe as a matter of course, and the downpipe makes a huge difference, and the BMS intake is the best bang for buck.
I have a 2000 reg 323ci (e46) & a 2005 330ci (e46) you recommended the 330. What are the issues with the 323? I’ve had it four years. Done 25000 miles. Viscous fan broke, smashed radiator & caused overheating & therefore had cylinder head replaced. Please advise me on any preventative maintenance. Regards. Christopher
Yeah haha so you've had exactly what I mentioned in the video go wrong, cooling component (fan) shattered (probably because the clutch locked up) breaking other things with it. Could have avoided half that work if you noticed when the coolant gauge went up and shut the engine off. 330 has the same engine just 3.0L version, so all the same things apply. Valve cover gasket (if it's clearly leaking oil), cooling fan and clutch, and other obvious lines or cooling related parts that are cracking or broken etc. Just play it by ear when you go to look at the car.
@@KiwiCarLife I was on the motorway! So the way to avoid it ever happening again is to remove it & swap it for one those plug & play electric fans! I’m thinking about buying a 323 convertible because it’s manual. Then swapping injectors, air intake, throttle body & manifold for 328 ones & maybe even a supercharger
@@KiwiCarLife I noticed the coolant light straight away but I’d had it before and it was nothing really. I know now (just happened on the 330) that the thermostat corrodes & the expansion tank cracks. Apparently there’s an up rated expansion tank available. Oh lol & my daily is an f20 2litre diesel. £3000 last year when timing stretched
Don't buy a 4 cylinder, unless it's an M42 or M44! Rock solid, just like their M50 / M52 counterparts! Also, M62 don't suffer from valve stem seals, that's an N62 problem :) and none of these have rod bearing issues.
@@KiwiCarLife Indeed, the N series of 4 cylinders are awful! Especially the 2007+ directed injected ones, can't think of a single good thing about them
I’ve driven more than a few BMW’s and owned a couple and my favourite of them all was a E30 318is. It was pretty slow by today’s lofty standards, but the whole experience of driving it was so damn good. The looks. The tartan pattern seats. The big greenhouse and narrow pillars. The turn in. The feeling of driving a light, agile car. The M42 engine is a gem. And quite tough and reliable! The new ones are numb to drive and lack character. The most recent one I’ve driven was a 435i Gran Coupe a couple of months back and it was so terribly boring. BMW died after the E46 era, imo, and continue to get worse. At least they’re getting more reliable, I suppose.
See I’ve driven a 318is and it was really good fun, but a more modern E90 or Fx with a few mods is fantastic fun I reckon. But that said anyone who thinks a 1980’s Honda or BMW is peak driving pleasure will never be convinced otherwise haha. got plenty of Honda fanboys on my channel that reckon the 90’s EK is a godsend of a car and everything more modern is trash haha
As long as you keep up with the conrod bearings and camshafts replacements at considerable cost, your fine, except for the modules that fail without notice and the din batteries that die every 12 months, your fine, 😊
My dad learned the hard way why the v8s are rubbish. He had a e39 530i motorsport was a beautiful car was on m5 wheels facelift silver with the alcantara interior never gave him a single issue. Got written off in a rear end collision, he replaced it with a 540i and man what a disaster the cooling system failed on it, i had the job of doing the water pump replacement and cooling system overhaul, once I finished that work and got it running the engine was gone despite passing a leakdown test and it had developed a bunch of electrical issues. He also found out the hard way with his 318i e46 which one day out of nowhere decided to crack a ringland at 134k car was serviced well and regularly driven, the 4 cylinders are monumentally garbage i wonder how the new twin power turbo ones go reliability wise.
In regards to the n62 they aren't known for the rod bearings to fail unlike the S engines from the M division, but they do do all the other things that the m62 does plus there is a bracket near the bottom of the engine that holds an alternator that will leak from the gasket and is a big job to fix a $10 gasket (it is the location for an optional oil cooler).
@@KiwiCarLife stem seals for sure! The rod bearings are typically on the S engine codes so more M3, M5, M2 etc. The N62 does leak from every gasket but the two most infamous leaks are the coolent pipe in the valley of the engine and the alternator bracket.
In regards to the V8's The M62 is the more "reliable v8" out of the ones shown. The only good one is the S62. Every other one is junk. BMW settled a lawsuit in USA for the N63/S63 where it was found it burned 14x more oil than acceptable standards The N54 is a fantastic engine. The turbo failure is true but the N54 is considered a German 2JZ The M52/M54 are the really reliable Inline sixes the M57 diesel is actually a good Diesel ( if you can ever say that )
If you're complaining parts aren't cheap then you're buying them in the wrong places! And yes agree, M60 is the most reliable and then got worse from there. N54 when running is a fantastic engine but turbo wastegate issues are a known fault which makes them borderline worthless now. Can get a 335i for like 6 grand haha
Not sure if I'd recommend a non EWG N55 to anyone. So any N55 that came out before July 2013. The first iteration of N55s had the old version of the crank and connecting rods, which is why so many of them had rod failure. The PWG was much better but I heard it's not uncommon for them to have turbo/wastegate issues.
Apparently that was something to do with long service intervals and the oil filter housing design which caused oil starvation on the crank bearings at startup
The original M50 is not bad either with a lot of tuning potential if you want to put time and money into it. Otherwise just a reliable engine with an engine block that will outlive most cars (since it's cast iron). I will put one in my BMW E28 for instance. The older M30/M20 does sound good but less efficiency that being that they are two valves per cylinder compared to four after the M5x series. Although the S38, S5x series are pretty nice themselves, they are pretty expensive to purchase as you might have experienced with your E46 M3. Nevertheless, nice video and I appreciate your content. I recently bought a M135i F21 with s manual gearbox, love that car and I can get a large garage somewhere I would love to have a 130i as well.
Done valve stem seals on 2 different family members' 118i so can concur on that point! Not too difficult to do once you know how, and can do chain guide at the same time. Cheap fix and engine like new. So I think N46 is OK for runabout cars. Agree M54 and N52 are awesome. Also my N57 diesel is a lovely motor with ZF8. 170000km and runs like new. Sounds different but interesting and nice from inside cabin.
Oh ok interesting to hear from someone who's actually done the work. Helps though that you can do it (probably for cheaper than a workshop). Still though, a Honda or Toyota will do the same job as a 118i without the potential need to do valve stem seals. And yep can't go wrong with M54 or N52, and yes I sorta left out the diesels to keep things simple but the M57 and N57 are great too.
How do you find the m135i? Is it completely stock? I had a stock one and was so disappointed in it (from a performance perspective) as a gran tourer it was great.
Yes correct the M60 is probably their most reliable V8, but they're also like 30 years old and most people aren't buying them hence why I focused on the newer ones
No boring F10 528i mention 😬🤔😪 Apart from some chronically cheap plastic coolant parts, the car is a dream. Oh, and the whacky electrical issues. A faulty rear door handle shut down the entire system.
If you get like a 2011 with the N55 and DCT yeah it’ll probably be alright but yeah I just can’t recommend an N54 car. They’re fantastic when they’re working but my mate Jack’s GF with that white 335i that featured in the video has had sooooo many issues
With such a small sample size of engines deemed reliable across a gigantic range of BMW’s, you can’t really conclude at all that they’re overall a reliable brand.
That's not at all what I said. I never said they're reliable overall, I'm saying people think 'every' BMW is unreliable and as a result miss out on a fantastic driving car purely because of conspiracy or stories from friends and the internet. Buy one of those 4 engines and you'll get to experience one of the best driving cars around and shouldn't have too many issues. Don't buy 4's or 8's. Simple.
I bought a e92 325i with a 3 litre n52 and 2 days later it was dead and it has put me off buying a BMW’s since then but I would love to own one still 😂
@@KiwiCarLife it started with white smoke out the back so I drove it to a local mechanic and they just said send it back to where you bought it. The garage I bought it from picked it up and they said they changed everything, injectors, coils, plugs, hpfp and asked did I still want it I just asked for a refund. It only had 60k miles on it. I was gutted because I always wanted a bmw. Maybe next time I’ll have better luck, but I’m too much of a Honda guy to invest any money into one. Maybe one day 🤞
Having owned a 2001 a Volkswagen New Beetle for 6 months, I can say that they are filled with plastic everything, which is sad. Mine needed a lot of work done to it at the time I couldn't financially afford to keep it. It needed about 4k worth of work done to it which if I had a job at the time then maybe I would have kept it, but considering I brought the car for $3.5k it wasn't worth fixing. German cars can be reliable, however they cost a small fortune to maintain.
@@Azza95 I’m sorry but I don’t have much sympathy if you buy a 23 year old beetle, with known issues, and then complain about the cost of fixing them. I wouldn’t have bought it in the first place
I would stay away, haven’t heard good things about BMW hybrids. Just get a normal 328i with the B48 instead the fuel economy difference will be negligible
yeah I tried to keep it simple. But in short, follow the same rules. N47 in 123d does timing chains, M57 and N57 are their 2nd and 3rd turbo I6 diesel so should be good.
FCP Euro and Turner Motorsport stock awesome range. Have replaced so much plastic etc on the e39 it’s like new again… As for the m62, treat it like you should your wife 😅. If you can find one that’s been well cared for, and you’re not afraid of preventative maintenance, all good!! You still need to come and drive it…
Yes true of all the V8’s the M62 is probably the more reliable one, but to a normal person (not an enthusiast) I couldn’t recommend it. An N52 makes basically the same power so best to just get that it’ll be so much more dependable. And better fuel economy Y
I would like to see a manual 130i vs a skyline 350gt manual but they are completely different cars the only thing you could compare with them is racing them
The 335i was the competitor to the 350GT/Infinti G35. IIRC, the E92 335i press car overheated at Willow Springs when MotorTrend were track testing it against the Infiniti which didn't overheat (the video is still on UA-cam)...
Mine's done 250,000km so 6k I think is about right. But yeah, my silver one I had a year ago with only 130,000km I paid 10k for. Now people are asking like 14 for a rough 150,000km one haha
@@KiwiCarLife have you had any issues with your new 250,000km one? How long have you had it and what have you done/fixed? Assuming its from Japan, did it come with any service history? looking for my second car
N55 do sound much better than the B58 for some reason though. They also feel much more like a BMW straight six traditionally does, just with a biggish turbo added. The B58 doesn't really feel very BMW inline six like, nor sound like one. Although any addition of a turbo is going to mute an engines nice sound, but makes up for it with other sounds.
I guess a lot of B58's stock have quite muted exhausts because of modern restrictions, but when you open them up I've heard they sound good? Still neither sound as good as the N54 imo
I disagree with the point that all 4cyl BMW engines are unreliable, the M43(in the E36 and Pre LCI E46 engine is reliable despite being slow. It is a fun to drive especially when mated to a Manual box, that hold it up at 120km/h all day where there is an open road and still sing gloriously for you while doing it.
@@Dregolala yeah I know I know, bear in mind I’m only talking about 2000+ engines in this video because most people are buying cars that are 10-20 years old. Anything that’s older than that kinda comes into a classic car realm so you’re going to be more worried about rust and bushings and other old car issues than specifically engine reliability. I’ve driven an M42 318is E30 and it was good fun
Yeah the 2.0 4 cylinder bmw 130i are so slow haha, my 2.0 Caldina with 160hp absolutely left it in it's dust over and over when we raced on the motorway
BMWs were designed to be maintained and serviced on schedule. Toyota's were designed to last longer between servicing and intervals because they knew the owners could neglect them. Therefore both are great and each offers their own benefits.
yeah I tried to keep it simple. But in short, follow the same rules. N47 in 123d does timing chains, M57 and N57 are their 2nd and 3rd turbo I6 diesel so should be good.
Haha yep and some people have seen the light and some people hate them! Hence why I wanted to make this video to basically say: if you bought a 118i and had problems, well that's your fault haha. Buy one of these instead!
Yeah see that's the problem everyone "thinks" they're expensive because they've never owned one. I've literally taken my BMW to mechanics at Honda and they have no issues doing any work on them. They're not harder to work on than any modern Japanese car, people just hear stuff online and believe it.
I left out the M engines because most normal people aren't buying them. M engines require special care because you are buying a very high performance car. So long as you use the right oil and make sure to reeeeeally warm it up before driving spiritedly they're pretty alright. Rod bearing issues are slightly embellished tbh. Seen some run to over 200,000km on original bearings no issues. Some die at like 60,000km. All in the owner and maintenance
My theory is almost all NZ car owners or the family they grew up in or someone they knew had a Toyota Corolla that did a million ks without anything going wrong despite poor maintenance keeping. This became the benchmark for average reliability in people's minds without them knowing it thus any car is judged against corollas for reliability despite all the added features and performance they come with. So all cars end up getting serviced at oil changers (if at all), never have spark plugs changed when they should be, never have transmissions serviced (partially because dealerships trout out nonsense like "lifetime" transmission fluid, seriously when i worked at toyota and asked about changing the trans fluid in my blade master as it's got no trans dipstick that's what the foreman told me despite me telling him i give it the beans all the time) and get sold when all the overdue maintenance issues pile up. Then everything not toyota is "unreliable". I'm waiting for the avalanche of "unreliable" utes coming up as nobody ever services the drivelines of their ranger/bt50/colorado/dmax etc.
Yeah that's also very true people just think every car should never have any issues at all and if a car has minor faults "oh never buy it they're unreliable pieces of trash" Like bro if people only cared about outright reliability we'd all be driving 90's Camry's
The VW Group Ducatis are dominating MotoGP though! Yamaha and Honda are routinely found in the last two rows of the grid. 😐 It seems they haven't been able to adapt to the era of spec electronics and rapid aerodynamic & ride height device development. (Obviously the old open electronics were the strength of the Japanese bikes.) Honda even tested their bike without any wings on it in the pre-season of 2023 to get a baseline, so lost they seem with the idea of downforce on motorcycles... The Honda F1 engines are pretty good, but t hat's old-school. Designed and made in Japan, where things change slowly and there's plenty of time to ship things over to Europe. Like how MotoGP used to work, but that doesn't work anymore...
So? Are you buying an F1 car to drive every day? No. I want a car with the aforementioned features in the intro, and so far the only cars that provide that are BMW's. The problem with Japanese cars is yes, they're reliable, but they're just not as good to drive as anything from Germany. So if you can find a better driving German car, that's still decently reliable, then that's the car to buy.
Good points, one thing i will add is you forgot to mention the complex nature of these cars which most indie mechanics in NZ wont have a clue how to property diagnose or worse they will misdiagnose and making you fix things that arent broken. You cant fix these with a regular cheap scanner. You need a laptop with Ista or to know a specialist who knows these cars inside out. E46s are easier but E90s and up espeically the E60s can be a nightmare if you dont live closeby to any european shops. Have had a very bad experience with eccentric shaft sensor failure and they ended up almost replacing the valvetronic motor and eccentric camshaft which wouldve been over $2000. Ended up driving around for a while with the system disabled and fixed it myself with a genuine $330 eccentric shaft sensor off eBay. Big job but much better than being told the completely wrong thing by someone who is supposed to know what they are doing.
Well yeah that's true I suppose. i guess I'm lucky that my friend who has owned multiple BMW's who works as a mechanic does the work on my cars. And I've never had to "diagnose" anything on them, just normal services, spark plugs, etc. Easy stuff
My biggest problem besides the fact they're not awesome to work on/repair, is the parts are not really cheap if you're doing major work, at least down here, very different if we lived in the EU
See I've had to buy parts for Hondas, Nissan, BMW, Subaru. BMW was the cheapest of all. Nissan was horrendously expensive. $3500 for a timing chain kit. Just for some chains! On FCP Euro a timing chain kit for N52 is $156
@@KiwiCarLife Lexus. Only brand beside Porsche that holds resale. I have a Lexus I bought new 19yrs ago, 180k on it now. Been in shop 3 times ever for minor repairs. Not a bmw in history or nor will one ever do that . Very common for Lexus, my GX never been in shop in 9 yrs. Hence Lexus for life. My drs buddies bmw’s all in shop monthly. New or not it don’t matter. My buddy owns an import repair shop. Says bmw and Benz make him a lot of $$
@@Longdongsilver-oy6nj oh yuck GX that’s like driving a building. There’s a balance between reliability and great driving characteristics. Couldn’t care less how little a Lexus has been in a shop if it drives like a sack of potatoes. I’ve been driving BMW’s for 3 years and none have been in the shop for any repairs haha just oil changes! Nah in all seriousness though Lexus is a great product, I had an ISF, awesome car. But the only ones you can buy if you want a drivers car is an F, an even then it’s thoroughly outclassed by BMW M3/M5 in every driving aspect. IS350’s compared with like a 335i are just not even close - mainly due to the transmission
Great video that highlights how the market has changed, at least in NZ.
No more cheap Silvia's, Skylines or Supra's etc anymore. The Euro cars have now become more bang for the buck for performance, and usually have nicer interiors as a bonus.
100%! A used B58s are great bang for buck!
Yep I'm probably going to make another video on that exact topic: "why no one buy's JDM cars anymore"
@@KiwiCarLifebecause stupid yank crash and impractical pointless emissions standards made jdm cars of the 2010s onwards junk compared with 90s and 00s. I mean an engine like the 2zzge by toyota had a very short life because of emissions standards yet it's a 1.8 and is economical on fuel how can it possibly be "worse for the environment" than the new supra or audi rs3 for example? Sheer nonsense.
@@junit7590 I know! It’s crazy! The 2ZZ and K20 were sensational engines that didn’t last anywhere near as long as they should have because of emissions.
I don’t get why Honda doesn’t bring it back but hybridise it so you get the high revving fun engine but with better emissions
This is true, back in 2021 with a heavy heart we sold our R34 GTT which we had for almost 2 decades. We kept the M5 as we have sunk too much money in it.
Look at it like this, the Germans engineer to perform reliably with the correctly followed maintenance intervals and believe that people should like them follow the schedules. Toyota believes that people don't follow maintenance schedules and thus engineers vehicles accordingly.
The rod or main bearings are not actually in the maintenance schedule for the S65 or S85 engines though, are they? Do you reckon the issue is overblown and 99.9% of S65 or S85 will make 300,000+ miles/500,000+ km on the OEM bearings and owners shouldn't mess with replacing them? 🤔🙂
Plus, a lot of the BMWs including 335i had official oil change intervals of up to 20,000miles in the late 2000's. Are BMW correct with that or not? It's a contradictory argument to say to do exactly what BMW say, but also to say to change the oil more often than BMW say. 🙂
S65 and s85 were made by the m division I think? The bearings themselves aren't the problem. It's the oil galleries are too small @TassieLorenzo
@@craigauty6756 Yes, the E90/E92 M3 and E60 M5 engines. The iconic high-revving NA ITB ones! ☺ No turbos with mushy throttle here!
Spoken like a fellow carmudgeon 👋🏻
The M engines are kinda a different breed, and yes the 2y/25,000km service intervals should be thrown in the trash. My friend Jono has an E92 M3, did the rod bearings as preventative maintenance at 160,000km and they were still perfect. Didn't really need to do it. It's very hit or miss. If you buy one with over 150,000km probably still best to do it though as you never know what the service history is like.
With any normal BMW if you carefully maintain it and do preventative maintenance (hence why normal people who know nothing about cars shouldn't own one) it'll run just fine.
Quality QUALITY content m8!
Thank you!
I sold my E36 with *223,000 original miles on it. The engine and transmission were fine. There were some issues along the way but the car never left me stranded.
BMW maintenance intervals are not a suggestion. They're a requirement.
Get your PMs done on time.
Use factory parts. (With the exception of wear items)
They say old bmws start cracking their parts as they are made of plastic is that true?
@@BEAMNGBROTHER yeah as soon as they get 20+ years old they can start having issues. Usually with the radiators and expansion tank. And some of the smaller lines. Replacement is DIYable which is good. If you stick to newer ones they're ok. Oil leaks are the next common item but if you purchase one from a responsible person they have most likely gotten that sorted already.
Yep preventative maintenance is key, I've owned plenty of BMW's and most were pretty reliable.
@@WayToManyAssassins so they arent as long lasting as toyotas but still they are fun while the last and work
@@spadgm any tips for when im purchasing
The trick to longevity is to replace the spark plugs every second or third rod bearing service.
I hope that's a joke... sarcasm detector is only getting a weak signal
@@KiwiCarLife Well, one could probably do the spark plugs every fourth rod and main bearing change if money was tight.
(Yess, mucho sarcasm 😂 )
Owned five BMWs in the last 10 years and they are not any less reliable than other cars I owned. The only issues I had with them were the oil-filled mounts namely the engine mount and differential mount. The diff mount on my M4 leaked at around 60,000km and cost over $1000 to replace, engine mount on my X2 failed at 90,000km, cost $1800 to replace. Never had issues with the actual engines.
That's a new one haven't heard of that, but either way still a testament if you've had BMW's for 10 years and don't consider them any less reliable... there ya go!
Where did you get the service done? At a dealer or your local mechanic?
Step up for the channel, love it. Also the more memes per minute the better.
Thanks man! Yes I shall put more in
The quality, time and effort you put in, is amazing 😁🙏🏼❤. Now we know which BMW to to stay away from 😆
Thank you!
Disappointed that the M57 was missed
Yeah I didn’t mention the diesels
Needed some fine print - 'No M140i was filmed in this video' haha.
True haha mine looks almost like one so used it as a prop lol
@@KiwiCarLife would love to see you review an M140i if you get the opportunity. Been thinking of buying one, just so hard to find in manual that’s not overpriced compared to auto.
bro you producing some quality content 👌
Thanks man!
Top vid mate, really enjoyed this one!
A manual 130i for 6k! wow, that is a great car for the money, if I was in NZ that is all the car I would ever need!
Thanks man!
Great video! Only suggestion for the editing would be to list the cars you're recommending on the screen as well at the end. Can imagine it would be hard for new car enthusiasts to know exactly what cars you are listing off when it's all just letters and numbers together haha.
@@lachlanmax yeah fair point
Great video mate! Straight to the point 👍🏽🙌🏽
Thanks man!
I've heard the B58 is reliable and makes plenty of power with bolt ons and tune. Be cool to see you review the A90/A91 Toyota Supra. Cheers.
The B58 still has plenty of plastic parts in the engine bay. They've made the oil filter housing plastic so now you have to spend hundreds replacing that along with the gasket.
I'd say they're better than the N55 for example. But they still have the same BS as all the other engines do which gets worse as they age
@@WayToManyAssassins Awesome thanks for your wisdom man. Cheers.
@@Lxzandrhaha just being honest mate. They are still very good cars but I will be frank about the post 2012 recycled plastic garbage they keep putting in.
kern417, a BMW technician, seems to have some cautionary tales about the "Gen 3" B58 that came out in the last couple of years. It has problems with the cam variators and the new cylinder deactivation tech among other things apparently.
0W12 is BMW's required oil in the United States too. You are probably not going to want to track your Gen3 B58 on 0W12 oil. 🙂
Some good info here
I find it unbelievable how your channel doesn’t have way more subscribers. Your vids are addictive to watch!! 😮
Because he should be talking about the cool cars like 90’s Hondas.Accords and bmw have smaller following.
@@Tiger_Pawzzzzz Breaking the algorithm is hardly a content issue. Plenty of channels with significantly worse content than Liam is putting out with more interaction. I think his issue is that this channel is really old. Usually the algorithms are momentum based, so how much interaction are you getting on a time-base. So if the channel is years and years old, its being divided by a long time denominator. If he made a second channel for the shorts for example, that'd probably spike better due to being new and instantly getting thousands of hits.
Yeah that is true, I'm still trying to figure out how to get my channel to take off again. I'm frankly not interested in 90's Hondas so I'm not going to make content with cars I don't particularly like.
@@KiwiCarLife Honestly, nobody really knows how UA-cam's algorithm works. I keep getting video's put into my feed with 50 views on them. It's just seems like it doesn't know what I want and is throwing spaghetti at the wall xD
Bmw and accord video is under 10k view.But doing a kswap dc2 pr ek is atleast double if not tripple the views.
Love the new approach! hope you get all the subscribers in the world
Thanks man!
I’ve got an M54 5 series and an N55 5 series. Both have needed a few bits and pieces to keep them going. But other than regular servicing and some preventative maintenance, they’ve both been pretty reliable for me.
And they've both done very high k's so it's not surprising they need a few more things!
Great run down - and I totally agree with every point.
N54 my fav - but hey needs very VERY good maintenance.
@@alman-world yeah definitely haha
Still can't say I'm a big BMW fan, although I do have a soft spot for the old boxy 325i's. You make some great points here though Liam. Relatively affordable, decent engines if you get the right one, and power to the rear wheels via a manual transmission is a sure to give you some smiles. Can see the improvement in your editing quality already mate, keep up the great vids!
Thanks man yep you've got the idea!
4 years owning a 2020 3 series so far the only problem was the airbag recall last year so far the car has been relatively reliable ❤
How good! Yeah the latest stuff seems to be pretty good actually. Going with a 3 series rather than a hideous complicated XM or 7 series or something that's just a tablet with a car bolted to it is also a great idea
The Achilles' heel of the N52 engine are the DISA valves that can break the engine if they are sucked in when they break.
@@AdriWeedMan I would say that oil leaks are a lot more common than DISA valves. If you buy one and it happens to you well that’s kinda bad luck, because the chances are low
@@KiwiCarLife Agree, oil leaks are common and always will happen. My 130i after 200.000km started to make a plastic noise around 4000 rpm, then I discovered that the big DISA valve was broken, other drivers got it sucked in the engine, luckly not in my case
I bought a E90 325i really cheap and I'm fixing all the issues myself and it's definitely a more complicated car than a Toyota for example, there's just so much more screws holding bits of plastic in place, it's crazy. But, it drives like a dream and truly is on a different level.
Yeah see that's the thing it might be slightly more difficult to work on and not quite as reliable but so long as you look after it, the smile it'll put on your face when you drive it compared with an equivalent Toyota will be well worth it.
the only BMW i would ever consider buying would be an E30 6cyl, finding a manual though would be a challenge sadly.
I reviewed an E30 325i manual a while back. Why so old though?? The E46/E90 era ones are so much better!
@@KiwiCarLife any thing with brittle plastic inlet manifold, oil pan & cam cover + coolant pipes i avoid.
Bro you're underrated
Appreciate that!
Great video mate , keep it up.
Thanks man!
Good stuff. There is a bunch of 130i's from Bimmersport in the area. Should get them all together for a drive. I have a couple including your ones sister car just over the Remutakas.
That would be epic! Will have to jump on there and organise something. Even a track day perhaps! That would be interesting.
@@KiwiCarLife There is a 130i post that is 95 pages long where we all share our pain and heart break. I picked up my manual 130i just for track days while I rebuild my E34. So dead keen.
The F generation bmws with the turbo 4s and 6s are good aside from the timing chain which thankfully I’ve had no issues with b series engines fixed the chain problems though
Yeah the N20B20 is known for timing chain issues, not the N55 though. But yes B48 and B58 are rock solid it seems
Do you know offhand if any bmw wagons sold in the US are available with any of these engines? Thanks for putting together this list man
Anything ending in 25i, 28i or 30i, and if 2010+ 35i then yes
If you can afford it, I would recommend skipping the N55 for a B58 based on personal experience. I had a 2014 335i and had my engine go at 40,000miles with all the proper maintenance. Thought it was a one off thing and bought another 335i which this time I tuned and made alright power but after that was totalled I went and bought a 440i which I have now owned for nearly 2 years which is far more reliable even though mine is on the high side at 130,000 miles. And when I tuned this to stage 2 it is pushing over 500hp whereas my 335i barely made 400 tuned. It's overall a far smoother engine and can push and handle a lot more power as BMW designed this with a diesel block making it much more reliable
Yeah agree the B58 is better, but I bought my M135i for 13k, cheapest M140i is like 36k haha. So the price difference just makes them incomparable.
Also working at a workshop, thr number of customers with VWs, Audis, BMWs, Mercs, even toyotas of all sorts who have ZERO history or knowledge of when their trans was serviced if ever, or their dsg fluid changed, or their haldex coupling at 130k still never serviced when it's supposed to be every 60k is ridiculous.
Oh exactly - I had another guy comment on here saying his transmission stuffed out at 130,000km on his E38 740i, clearly a rich guy who just leaves things to the dealer. He never changed the trans fluid once, like mate?? Are you nuts? How is that the car's fault. The trans isn't even made by BMW anyway haha it's a ZF5.
@@KiwiCarLife yeah that 30 year old trans fluid cant be good XD
_Ive never driven a 4cyl beemer and sounds like I’ve missed out on nothing, I’ve also driven a couple of (older)V8’s and really liked them but I agree 💯 the sixes are the sweet spot….I just can’t get past my prejudiced of expensive maintenance costs 🤷🏻♂️_
Yeah see I was the same, told myself I'd never buy a BMW because "they're unreliable". But I'd never actually owned one so I was really just making stuff up in my head. My friends who actually owned BMW's convinced me to buy one and I've never looked back.
The earlier N55's had a pneumatic wastegate (PWG) which doesn't control boost as good as the later N55's Electronic Wastegate (EWG). In the M135i for instance, the 2014 non LCI update and all LCI updated ones have the better EWG which also means they have a 4 inch turbo instead of the PWG's 3.5 inch. So you also get a bit more power out of your mods. The best mod being getting rid of the catted turbo downpipe. Which also makes them sound a hell of a lot better too.
Yes I've heard that, mine's a PWG. Bought it because it was 13k, but if I'd known I probably would have got a late 2013 or 2014 if I could. Although tbh I don't really care stock power I'm happy with.
You have to change the downpipe and charge pipe as a matter of course, and the downpipe makes a huge difference, and the BMS intake is the best bang for buck.
I have a 2000 reg 323ci (e46) & a 2005 330ci (e46) you recommended the 330. What are the issues with the 323? I’ve had it four years. Done 25000 miles. Viscous fan broke, smashed radiator & caused overheating & therefore had cylinder head replaced.
Please advise me on any preventative maintenance.
Regards.
Christopher
Yeah haha so you've had exactly what I mentioned in the video go wrong, cooling component (fan) shattered (probably because the clutch locked up) breaking other things with it. Could have avoided half that work if you noticed when the coolant gauge went up and shut the engine off.
330 has the same engine just 3.0L version, so all the same things apply. Valve cover gasket (if it's clearly leaking oil), cooling fan and clutch, and other obvious lines or cooling related parts that are cracking or broken etc. Just play it by ear when you go to look at the car.
@@KiwiCarLife I was on the motorway! So the way to avoid it ever happening again is to remove it & swap it for one those plug & play electric fans! I’m thinking about buying a 323 convertible because it’s manual. Then swapping injectors, air intake, throttle body & manifold for 328 ones & maybe even a supercharger
@@KiwiCarLife I noticed the coolant light straight away but I’d had it before and it was nothing really. I know now (just happened on the 330) that the thermostat corrodes & the expansion tank cracks. Apparently there’s an up rated expansion tank available.
Oh lol & my daily is an f20 2litre diesel. £3000 last year when timing stretched
Don't buy a 4 cylinder, unless it's an M42 or M44! Rock solid, just like their M50 / M52 counterparts!
Also, M62 don't suffer from valve stem seals, that's an N62 problem :) and none of these have rod bearing issues.
Yeah agree the older 4 cyls are actually not bad but I was generally sticking to 2000+ cars because that's what most normal people buy these days.
@@KiwiCarLife Indeed, the N series of 4 cylinders are awful! Especially the 2007+ directed injected ones, can't think of a single good thing about them
I’ve driven more than a few BMW’s and owned a couple and my favourite of them all was a E30 318is. It was pretty slow by today’s lofty standards, but the whole experience of driving it was so damn good. The looks. The tartan pattern seats. The big greenhouse and narrow pillars. The turn in. The feeling of driving a light, agile car. The M42 engine is a gem. And quite tough and reliable!
The new ones are numb to drive and lack character. The most recent one I’ve driven was a 435i Gran Coupe a couple of months back and it was so terribly boring. BMW died after the E46 era, imo, and continue to get worse. At least they’re getting more reliable, I suppose.
See I’ve driven a 318is and it was really good fun, but a more modern E90 or Fx with a few mods is fantastic fun I reckon. But that said anyone who thinks a 1980’s Honda or BMW is peak driving pleasure will never be convinced otherwise haha. got plenty of Honda fanboys on my channel that reckon the 90’s EK is a godsend of a car and everything more modern is trash haha
As long as you keep up with the conrod bearings and camshafts replacements at considerable cost, your fine, except for the modules that fail without notice and the din batteries that die every 12 months, your fine, 😊
Crack up bro
My dad learned the hard way why the v8s are rubbish. He had a e39 530i motorsport was a beautiful car was on m5 wheels facelift silver with the alcantara interior never gave him a single issue. Got written off in a rear end collision, he replaced it with a 540i and man what a disaster the cooling system failed on it, i had the job of doing the water pump replacement and cooling system overhaul, once I finished that work and got it running the engine was gone despite passing a leakdown test and it had developed a bunch of electrical issues.
He also found out the hard way with his 318i e46 which one day out of nowhere decided to crack a ringland at 134k car was serviced well and regularly driven, the 4 cylinders are monumentally garbage i wonder how the new twin power turbo ones go reliability wise.
Yeah should have bought an I6 he probably would have been just fine!
Hey Kiwi! have you ever driven a bmw with a tuned B48 in it?
I'm currently driving a Fiesta ST MK7.5T but thinking about buying a 2018 120i M sport.
I have actually! Review coming soon, Mini Cooper S. I’d recommend it’s kinda like BMW’s equivalent of the EA888 in like the golf gti and stuff
In regards to the n62 they aren't known for the rod bearings to fail unlike the S engines from the M division, but they do do all the other things that the m62 does plus there is a bracket near the bottom of the engine that holds an alternator that will leak from the gasket and is a big job to fix a $10 gasket (it is the location for an optional oil cooler).
Really? I thought valve stem seals and rod bearings were very common on these
@@KiwiCarLife stem seals for sure! The rod bearings are typically on the S engine codes so more M3, M5, M2 etc. The N62 does leak from every gasket but the two most infamous leaks are the coolent pipe in the valley of the engine and the alternator bracket.
In regards to the V8's
The M62 is the more "reliable v8" out of the ones shown. The only good one is the S62. Every other one is junk. BMW settled a lawsuit in USA for the N63/S63 where it was found it burned 14x more oil than acceptable standards
The N54 is a fantastic engine. The turbo failure is true but the N54 is considered a German 2JZ
The M52/M54 are the really reliable Inline sixes
the M57 diesel is actually a good Diesel ( if you can ever say that )
M60 is the most reliable by far despite being their first V8, then it was all down hill in terms of reliability from there. M60 B40 > M62 B44
N54 isn't that bad, my Facebook group with 550 members is 80% N54 owners and to be honest all they want to know is how to mod them for power
Thanks for the info
@@17t135igreat engine but parts aren't cheap.
If you're complaining parts aren't cheap then you're buying them in the wrong places!
And yes agree, M60 is the most reliable and then got worse from there.
N54 when running is a fantastic engine but turbo wastegate issues are a known fault which makes them borderline worthless now. Can get a 335i for like 6 grand haha
Not sure if I'd recommend a non EWG N55 to anyone. So any N55 that came out before July 2013. The first iteration of N55s had the old version of the crank and connecting rods, which is why so many of them had rod failure. The PWG was much better but I heard it's not uncommon for them to have turbo/wastegate issues.
Apparently that was something to do with long service intervals and the oil filter housing design which caused oil starvation on the crank bearings at startup
@@WayToManyAssassins Interesting. Maybe the stronger crank in the updated N55 made this problem less widespread?
I changed my rod bearings of my pwg n55 at 150k and they still looked new.
Yeah I've heard that, mine is a PWG N55 coz it's a 2012 M135i. I'm not too worried
Doesnt matter if its pwg or ewg reliability remains the same internally
Would it be irresponsible to buy a S55 BMW...?
Well... I left out the M engines because they're not really what normal people are buying, but I've heard the S55 is not bad.
BMW drivers also tend to forget to change their blinker fluid which is very important for safety.
Oh gee here we go again haha
The B48 (4cyl) is well regarded reliability wise !
Yeah so I've heard!
The original M50 is not bad either with a lot of tuning potential if you want to put time and money into it. Otherwise just a reliable engine with an engine block that will outlive most cars (since it's cast iron). I will put one in my BMW E28 for instance. The older M30/M20 does sound good but less efficiency that being that they are two valves per cylinder compared to four after the M5x series. Although the S38, S5x series are pretty nice themselves, they are pretty expensive to purchase as you might have experienced with your E46 M3. Nevertheless, nice video and I appreciate your content. I recently bought a M135i F21 with s manual gearbox, love that car and I can get a large garage somewhere I would love to have a 130i as well.
@@KingMcAl yeah I left out all the old engines because most people are buying 2000 and up cars
Done valve stem seals on 2 different family members' 118i so can concur on that point! Not too difficult to do once you know how, and can do chain guide at the same time. Cheap fix and engine like new. So I think N46 is OK for runabout cars.
Agree M54 and N52 are awesome. Also my N57 diesel is a lovely motor with ZF8. 170000km and runs like new. Sounds different but interesting and nice from inside cabin.
Oh ok interesting to hear from someone who's actually done the work. Helps though that you can do it (probably for cheaper than a workshop). Still though, a Honda or Toyota will do the same job as a 118i without the potential need to do valve stem seals.
And yep can't go wrong with M54 or N52, and yes I sorta left out the diesels to keep things simple but the M57 and N57 are great too.
Total cost for seals plus chain guide kit and gaskets etc about nzd300. So yes, a lot cheaper than a shop i think!
I followed this advice, I did not buy an inline 4 or V8… so I bought a BMW with a V10 😂
HAHA now that's genius!
How do you find the m135i? Is it completely stock? I had a stock one and was so disappointed in it (from a performance perspective) as a gran tourer it was great.
I love it, disappointed how? It's blisteringly quick! And yeah most of the driving I do is cruising around, open road etc so it's ideal.
@@KiwiCarLifewasn’t engaging enough as a completely stock car
The 4 litre V8s were good. Had one in a 1995 740i.
Yes correct the M60 is probably their most reliable V8, but they're also like 30 years old and most people aren't buying them hence why I focused on the newer ones
N55 is a good engine but if track it, make sure you baffle the sump!!!! they can and will put pistons through the side of the block.
Yeah that was the other thing I mentioned but edited out to keep the video short
Good calls on all those motors
Glad you agree!
@@KiwiCarLife No honest person could disagree with those motors.
No boring F10 528i mention 😬🤔😪
Apart from some chronically cheap plastic coolant parts, the car is a dream.
Oh, and the whacky electrical issues. A faulty rear door handle shut down the entire system.
@@davidkirk6249 yeah they’re nice actually. The last car to use the N52!
Oh & was really really fancying an e92 335i but you’d avoid it?
If you get like a 2011 with the N55 and DCT yeah it’ll probably be alright but yeah I just can’t recommend an N54 car. They’re fantastic when they’re working but my mate Jack’s GF with that white 335i that featured in the video has had sooooo many issues
@@KiwiCarLife thank you 🙏 and my question about my e46’s?
With such a small sample size of engines deemed reliable across a gigantic range of BMW’s, you can’t really conclude at all that they’re overall a reliable brand.
That's not at all what I said. I never said they're reliable overall, I'm saying people think 'every' BMW is unreliable and as a result miss out on a fantastic driving car purely because of conspiracy or stories from friends and the internet.
Buy one of those 4 engines and you'll get to experience one of the best driving cars around and shouldn't have too many issues. Don't buy 4's or 8's. Simple.
@@KiwiCarLife I know you’re not specifically saying that. But the title is a question and essentially the answer to the question is sort of ‘yes’.
I bought a e92 325i with a 3 litre n52 and 2 days later it was dead and it has put me off buying a BMW’s since then but I would love to own one still 😂
What on earth happened to it?
@@KiwiCarLife it started with white smoke out the back so I drove it to a local mechanic and they just said send it back to where you bought it. The garage I bought it from picked it up and they said they changed everything, injectors, coils, plugs, hpfp and asked did I still want it I just asked for a refund. It only had 60k miles on it. I was gutted because I always wanted a bmw. Maybe next time I’ll have better luck, but I’m too much of a Honda guy to invest any money into one. Maybe one day 🤞
Having owned a 2001 a Volkswagen New Beetle for 6 months, I can say that they are filled with plastic everything, which is sad. Mine needed a lot of work done to it at the time I couldn't financially afford to keep it.
It needed about 4k worth of work done to it which if I had a job at the time then maybe I would have kept it, but considering I brought the car for $3.5k it wasn't worth fixing.
German cars can be reliable, however they cost a small fortune to maintain.
@@Azza95 I’m sorry but I don’t have much sympathy if you buy a 23 year old beetle, with known issues, and then complain about the cost of fixing them. I wouldn’t have bought it in the first place
Yeah I've learnt my lesson.
Merc man. Who Had falcons and now owns a W203 and a 2023 mazda 3 sedan.
BUT god i love a good bmw :D
@@timfordfalconxf7714 very nice
Any problem with 330E? I am looking at 2016+ model
I would stay away, haven’t heard good things about BMW hybrids. Just get a normal 328i with the B48 instead the fuel economy difference will be negligible
Bro gotta review a hellcat or trackhawk bro theyre coming more common in auckland
Goodness me that's quite a shift haha
You bought another 130i? Is that for your car trading business?
Yeah bought to sell, it's going to a mate of mine
How to keep a German car reliable: do the maintenance on time and if possible do the preventative maintance before things go wrong.
Yep, as with any car really haha. I would say german cars aren't "less reliable", they just "won't withstand neglect"
What about the diesel's?
yeah I tried to keep it simple. But in short, follow the same rules. N47 in 123d does timing chains, M57 and N57 are their 2nd and 3rd turbo I6 diesel so should be good.
N52 is the king of NA Engines
@@sonof69star agree!
FCP Euro and Turner Motorsport stock awesome range. Have replaced so much plastic etc on the e39 it’s like new again…
As for the m62, treat it like you should your wife 😅. If you can find one that’s been well cared for, and you’re not afraid of preventative maintenance, all good!! You still need to come and drive it…
Yes true of all the V8’s the M62 is probably the more reliable one, but to a normal person (not an enthusiast) I couldn’t recommend it. An N52 makes basically the same power so best to just get that it’ll be so much more dependable. And better fuel economy
Y
B M TroubleU is the correct name i believe!
Only certain models!
I would like to see a manual 130i vs a skyline 350gt manual but they are completely different cars the only thing you could compare with them is racing them
The 335i was the competitor to the 350GT/Infinti G35. IIRC, the E92 335i press car overheated at Willow Springs when MotorTrend were track testing it against the Infiniti which didn't overheat (the video is still on UA-cam)...
That would be very interesting I know someone with one but I can't use it in a video because of his line of work.
How are you finding 130is so cheap? the cheapest one on trade is over 7k with 230k.
Cost of living makes people try to milk every last penny out of their sales and end up sitting for a long long time, it's weird, they're all dreamers.
Got my manual for 3k in Wellington a few months back. Has stock wheels but otherwise identical to the one in the vid.
Mine's done 250,000km so 6k I think is about right. But yeah, my silver one I had a year ago with only 130,000km I paid 10k for. Now people are asking like 14 for a rough 150,000km one haha
@@KiwiCarLife have you had any issues with your new 250,000km one? How long have you had it and what have you done/fixed? Assuming its from Japan, did it come with any service history? looking for my second car
@@nothing8856 nah just bought it as is, no service history. Only problem with it is the amp has died, so getting a new one tomorrow
Hey mate I’ve just bought a mk7 gti. Would you be interested in making a video on it?
Ooh yes I could be, hit me up on insta!
@@KiwiCarLife have just sent you a message man :)
@@DavidTottonhow much did you buy for? What year and spec?
@@yodo5701 just a 2014, no idea what spec 🤣
Only cars I see stranded on the side of the road in Hamilton are nissans, subarus, and mitsubishis.
AHAHAHHA that's honestly true actually
N55 do sound much better than the B58 for some reason though. They also feel much more like a BMW straight six traditionally does, just with a biggish turbo added.
The B58 doesn't really feel very BMW inline six like, nor sound like one. Although any addition of a turbo is going to mute an engines nice sound, but makes up for it with other sounds.
I guess a lot of B58's stock have quite muted exhausts because of modern restrictions, but when you open them up I've heard they sound good? Still neither sound as good as the N54 imo
@@KiwiCarLife N55's sound the best of all of them. ua-cam.com/video/MkpdDTlR1JY/v-deo.html the white one is N55
The grey one is N55 ua-cam.com/video/z6GkzPAq8us/v-deo.html
@@KiwiCarLife I've owned both, stock or not the N55 sounds better for some reason.
I disagree with the point that all 4cyl BMW engines are unreliable, the M43(in the E36 and Pre LCI E46 engine is reliable despite being slow. It is a fun to drive especially when mated to a Manual box, that hold it up at 120km/h all day where there is an open road and still sing gloriously for you while doing it.
@@Dregolala yeah I know I know, bear in mind I’m only talking about 2000+ engines in this video because most people are buying cars that are 10-20 years old. Anything that’s older than that kinda comes into a classic car realm so you’re going to be more worried about rust and bushings and other old car issues than specifically engine reliability. I’ve driven an M42 318is E30 and it was good fun
Yeah the 2.0 4 cylinder bmw 130i are so slow haha, my 2.0 Caldina with 160hp absolutely left it in it's dust over and over when we raced on the motorway
I'm not surprised haha hence why you shouldn't buy a 120i.
@@KiwiCarLife I imagine the straight 6 manual is a dream to drive
BMWs were designed to be maintained and serviced on schedule. Toyota's were designed to last longer between servicing and intervals because they knew the owners could neglect them. Therefore both are great and each offers their own benefits.
That’s a fair assessment
You forgot the diesels
yeah I tried to keep it simple. But in short, follow the same rules. N47 in 123d does timing chains, M57 and N57 are their 2nd and 3rd turbo I6 diesel so should be good.
It's crazy looking at these comments that all of us have owned a beamer at some point in our lives.
Haha yep and some people have seen the light and some people hate them! Hence why I wanted to make this video to basically say: if you bought a 118i and had problems, well that's your fault haha. Buy one of these instead!
These really are the ultimate driving machine, even with a modest budget.
These are not cheap cars though. The servicing is never cheap and most mechanics don't know how to work on them
@WayToManyAssassins yeah I do all my own work and order parts from fcp euro etc, no way I'd pay a workshop
Yeah see that's the problem everyone "thinks" they're expensive because they've never owned one. I've literally taken my BMW to mechanics at Honda and they have no issues doing any work on them. They're not harder to work on than any modern Japanese car, people just hear stuff online and believe it.
@KiwiCarLife yeah I can easily do everything at home with tools I've had for years, other than the odd etorx and torx set I've bought since.
@@KiwiCarLife Electronically they are harder to diagnose than a Honda from the same era. Particularly the 5 and 7 Series cars.
What about e92 m3 v8?
I left out the M engines because most normal people aren't buying them. M engines require special care because you are buying a very high performance car. So long as you use the right oil and make sure to reeeeeally warm it up before driving spiritedly they're pretty alright. Rod bearing issues are slightly embellished tbh. Seen some run to over 200,000km on original bearings no issues. Some die at like 60,000km. All in the owner and maintenance
The family mans porche
Panamera or Cayenne? They are pretty cheap used too. You can buy a 2014, for 75-80% off the new price.
Yep!
My theory is almost all NZ car owners or the family they grew up in or someone they knew had a Toyota Corolla that did a million ks without anything going wrong despite poor maintenance keeping. This became the benchmark for average reliability in people's minds without them knowing it thus any car is judged against corollas for reliability despite all the added features and performance they come with. So all cars end up getting serviced at oil changers (if at all), never have spark plugs changed when they should be, never have transmissions serviced (partially because dealerships trout out nonsense like "lifetime" transmission fluid, seriously when i worked at toyota and asked about changing the trans fluid in my blade master as it's got no trans dipstick that's what the foreman told me despite me telling him i give it the beans all the time) and get sold when all the overdue maintenance issues pile up. Then everything not toyota is "unreliable". I'm waiting for the avalanche of "unreliable" utes coming up as nobody ever services the drivelines of their ranger/bt50/colorado/dmax etc.
Yeah that's also very true people just think every car should never have any issues at all and if a car has minor faults "oh never buy it they're unreliable pieces of trash"
Like bro if people only cared about outright reliability we'd all be driving 90's Camry's
Notable mention if ya like your dirty diesels would be the M57
@@SpeedyK1wi yeah the M57 is really good
Rock auto is also good for parts cheap
Yep for sure, that's US though
@KiwiCarLife confused sorry. FCP euro is also based out of USA.
how did you buy it for 6k
Found it on fb marketplace and bought it haha. It's done 250,000km
@@KiwiCarLife how long do you reckon it will last?
@@KiwiCarLife actually how much did you pay for your m135i and how many kms?
@@yodo5701 oh hang on sorry that was the black 130i, the M135i I bought for 13k. Both are running just fine!
@@KiwiCarLife does the 130i auto have zf 6 speed in nz?
0:51 lol
Lol
b48 isnt a bad 4 cyl
Yeah it’s not bad
i thought when a kiwi says six, it sounds like "sex" in their accent. I was told this by my kiwi friend.
i think thats australia 😆
yeah more australia, mind you our accent probably sounds weird to everyone except us
The japanese are ruling the world of motorsport from F1 to Dakar WRC you name it why buy German money pits
The VW Group Ducatis are dominating MotoGP though! Yamaha and Honda are routinely found in the last two rows of the grid. 😐 It seems they haven't been able to adapt to the era of spec electronics and rapid aerodynamic & ride height device development. (Obviously the old open electronics were the strength of the Japanese bikes.)
Honda even tested their bike without any wings on it in the pre-season of 2023 to get a baseline, so lost they seem with the idea of downforce on motorcycles...
The Honda F1 engines are pretty good, but t hat's old-school. Designed and made in Japan, where things change slowly and there's plenty of time to ship things over to Europe. Like how MotoGP used to work, but that doesn't work anymore...
So? Are you buying an F1 car to drive every day? No. I want a car with the aforementioned features in the intro, and so far the only cars that provide that are BMW's. The problem with Japanese cars is yes, they're reliable, but they're just not as good to drive as anything from Germany. So if you can find a better driving German car, that's still decently reliable, then that's the car to buy.
My E90 wasn’t unreliable parts are expenny 😢
Where are you getting parts from? I have never found BMW parts to be expansive
@@KiwiCarLife It was mostly labour, but also some parts like sunroof seals had to come from Germany
@@KiwiCarLife probably gets dealer parts 😂
The true petrol head car is the vaz 2101
HAHAHAH
Good points, one thing i will add is you forgot to mention the complex nature of these cars which most indie mechanics in NZ wont have a clue how to property diagnose or worse they will misdiagnose and making you fix things that arent broken. You cant fix these with a regular cheap scanner. You need a laptop with Ista or to know a specialist who knows these cars inside out. E46s are easier but E90s and up espeically the E60s can be a nightmare if you dont live closeby to any european shops.
Have had a very bad experience with eccentric shaft sensor failure and they ended up almost replacing the valvetronic motor and eccentric camshaft which wouldve been over $2000. Ended up driving around for a while with the system disabled and fixed it myself with a genuine $330 eccentric shaft sensor off eBay. Big job but much better than being told the completely wrong thing by someone who is supposed to know what they are doing.
Well yeah that's true I suppose. i guess I'm lucky that my friend who has owned multiple BMW's who works as a mechanic does the work on my cars. And I've never had to "diagnose" anything on them, just normal services, spark plugs, etc. Easy stuff
BMW = Burn My Wallet
Enjoy your Toyota!
My biggest problem besides the fact they're not awesome to work on/repair, is the parts are not really cheap if you're doing major work, at least down here, very different if we lived in the EU
See I've had to buy parts for Hondas, Nissan, BMW, Subaru. BMW was the cheapest of all. Nissan was horrendously expensive. $3500 for a timing chain kit. Just for some chains!
On FCP Euro a timing chain kit for N52 is $156
So answer is no 😂
Certain ones absolutely, but not all.
I have a better way to deal with BMW reliability. I drive an Audi. Note: Just as bad.
HAHA well that's one way to do it!
you forgot to check the electric leather seats and push start button that's considered premium in other cars 😄
Timeless design 😊
Yes true!
so yes haha
Some are... not all. Very important distinction!
First
Well done
POS in shop monthly. Resale sucks for a reason 😂
@@Longdongsilver-oy6nj what do you have?
@@KiwiCarLife Lexus. Only brand beside Porsche that holds resale. I have a Lexus I bought new 19yrs ago, 180k on it now. Been in shop 3 times ever for minor repairs. Not a bmw in history or nor will one ever do that . Very common for Lexus, my GX never been in shop in 9 yrs. Hence Lexus for life. My drs buddies bmw’s all in shop monthly. New or not it don’t matter. My buddy owns an import repair shop. Says bmw and Benz make him a lot of $$
@@Longdongsilver-oy6nj oh yuck GX that’s like driving a building. There’s a balance between reliability and great driving characteristics. Couldn’t care less how little a Lexus has been in a shop if it drives like a sack of potatoes. I’ve been driving BMW’s for 3 years and none have been in the shop for any repairs haha just oil changes!
Nah in all seriousness though Lexus is a great product, I had an ISF, awesome car. But the only ones you can buy if you want a drivers car is an F, an even then it’s thoroughly outclassed by BMW M3/M5 in every driving aspect. IS350’s compared with like a 335i are just not even close - mainly due to the transmission