[TAM11M]

Hi Guys

Been a while since I have been on the forum and a long time since I have been enjoying my cars at all!

With me getting a new job and things settling down a little in my life I have thought its about time I get back into a car I like to drive.

My new workplace is going to be a 10 mile commute, but it will be in a town center so rush hour traffic might be an issue at times.

I used to have a E90 330I which to me was a bit slow compared to my friends cars, but they are much older than me and earn a hell of a lot more, for example they own tuned GTR's. I want something to make me feel happy when I'm around them and not feel completely out of place.

For this reason I thought maybe getting an E92 335I but looking into the reliability of them its something that's daunting to me. To me its like the 335D mights be better in terms of reliability but then will the low amount of work commute be bad for the engine? I will be doing long distance drives say every 2-3 weeks, around 300 miles commute for them so will that balance out?

I have thought of maybe just getting a 330I again and just enjoying it as the handling car it is and save up for something faster later on.

Another option is the E46 M3 or the 6 Series. E46 does feel a little older fashioned now but the handling and engine is awesome and fuel economy isnt that bad either! 6 Series is just a nice GT car I wouldn't mind spending time in, wouldn't handle anything like the others but with a V8 it will still move and on my long drives every so often it might be better than the others.

Budget is around £7-8k so I ask you guys, if you were me, what car would you buy? Now you know what my daily use will be plus the lifestyle use after that.

Thanks in advance guys

[M4rius]

Buy mine, £8k and it's yours

[John320d]

Instead of trying to compete with your friends for speed, maybe go for a convertible which might put them on the backfoot.

[gangzoom]

7-8k is really not a big budget when you looking at older big engined cars from any brand, you might be able to buy a car for that much but can you afford the running costs/bills that inevitably come with big engined car....

Buy what makes you happy, not what will impress your mates/guys at work....If I was young, single and carefree again with £7-8k I would love a VX220/Elise.

[TAM11M]

Originally Posted by M4rius

Buy mine, £8k and it's yours

Mate I just checked out your car and it is LOVELY!

Sadly not for me due to being manual, yes I am now an auto guy which I really wish I didnt get used to but once you go auto.. its all you want for a daily driver haha.

I have thought about a convertible but one of the other friends has a e93 325i convertible. I wouldnt mind one but it is a heavy car and I would want it as a 335i and then the whole reliability issue starts again.. are the 335i really that unreliable with all the small but expensive issues?

[TAM11M]

Originally Posted by gangzoom

7-8k is really not a big budget when you looking at older big engined cars from any brand, you might be able to buy a car for that much but can you afford the running costs/bills that inevitably come with big engined car....

Buy what makes you happy, not what will impress your mates/guys at work....If I was young, single and carefree again I would love a VX220/Elise.

Yeah I know its a fairly small budget but I dont want to spend all my money buying the car, but my monthly income is more than enough to have spare cash on maintenance.

I just dont really like the hatchbacks anymore.. really sad but I think I grew up to quickly and now all I want are saloons or coupes/converts haha

just thought I would add, its not that I want to impress the friends, just want to have a car I feel happy with when I am around them, but still be able to have fun on the B roads and stick up with them when we all go for our leisure drives.

[gangzoom]

A Elise/VX220 (light weight,RWD, not much power) is about as far removed from a hot hatch as you can get

If you really must have a 335, be warned stock they really aren't all that good, hence there's a whole load of people with modified 335s on the forum....add in the reliability issues, and your much better of just buying a M3.

[TAM11M]

Originally Posted by gangzoom

A Elise/VX220 (light weight,RWD, not much power) is about as far removed from a hot hatch as you can get

If you really must have a 335, be warned stock they really aren't all that good, hence there's a whole load of people with modified 335s on the forum....add in the reliability issues, and your much better of just buying a M3.

That is true.. no idea why I thought you said VXR.. my eyes must be tired haha.

Yeah I have no problem with tuning but then like you said the reliability is the issue, then gets me thinking if the 335d better? Is 10 mile commute healthy for the engine with a long distance drive every so often?

Wish I could afford the initial purchase price of the M3.. would love one!

[TAM11M]

Originally Posted by gangzoom

A Elise/VX220 (light weight,RWD, not much power) is about as far removed from a hot hatch as you can get

If you really must have a 335, be warned stock they really aren't all that good, hence there's a whole load of people with modified 335s on the forum....add in the reliability issues, and your much better of just buying a M3.

That is true.. no idea why I thought you said VXR.. my eyes must be tired haha.

Yeah I have no problem with tuning but then like you said the reliability is the issue, then gets me thinking if the 335d better? Is 10 mile commute healthy for the engine with a long distance drive every so often?

Wish I could afford the initial purchase price of the M3.. would love one!

[M4rius]

You will struggle to find good e92 335d for £7k

[TAM11M]

Originally Posted by M4rius

You will struggle to find good e92 335d for £7k

That is true.. having a quick look didnt find any e92's for that price.. why is car buying so hard these days :P

[Sparky68]

It isnt, you just have to aim for cars that are within budget.

[M4rius]

Originally Posted by Sparky68

It isnt, you just have to aim for cars that are within budget.

[Kerr]

I don't think the 335i is any less reliable than the 335d.

Read through people's quotes for insured warranties and often the 335i is cheapest. Insurance polices are based on risk.

I'd never choose the I over the d, especially if you are only doing short trips and low miles.

As before at £7-8k you will be looking at an older car which will be far from perfect condition. You are looking at the very bottom of the market and often cheap ones are cheap for a reason.

Although I've said in the past people are being too fussy when buying a car either side of the higher and lower tax band switch over, I think at £7k suddenly the early tax cars road tax bill starts looking sizeable.

You say you can afford monthly bills, but it's not really the monthly bills that should concern you, it's the unseen one off big bills.

Suffer a big issue in any of the big engined cars and you're going to see a big bill that is a sizeable amount of your original budget.

I wouldn't be scraping about at the bottom of the market for this type of car.

I'd go with your other plan of saving up first.

[TAM11M]

Haha.. problem is for me im trying not to spend all my money.. I have seen a few around the 5-6k so I thought maybe it might be something possible but I guess I was wrong.

@Kerr Do you mind if I ask how long you have owned your car for, what kind of problems you have had and what you would advise to do and look out for? seeing as your someone who owns a 335i

[Kerr]

A 335i for £5k? I've never seem them near that money yet. Even the 200,000 miles ones that I've seen for sale. Values have been rising or staying very stable for a little while.

I've had my car since 2010.

I had my turbos changed due to rattly wastegates. At dealers this is a big fix. £3000+ for the turbos and labour. That was manufacturers warranty.

Obviously turbos fail on all cars. Shame they don't just replace the wastegates on their own.

I had 3 injectors replaced under recall. Never noticed or had a fault.

Last month my water pump failed. I'm lead to believe the unit is £450 before labour which is quite a few hours.

I still have my BMW assured warranty.

I've had a few other issues but they are BMW issues rather than 335i specific faults. Headlamp washers and rear windscreen due to aerial for radio breaking inside the glass. Also spot welds on bulkhead.

The fuel pump is another known fault. I've not suffered it and believe that cheap fuels play their part in these failures. Something I don't use.

I often recommend the 335i. It does offer good value against other cars.

However looking at the cheapest possible way to buy a 335i I fear you are going to be looking at bad cars that people need shot of as they can't afford them.

Although I've never seen cars that cheap, if you pick a bad one, you could pay the same in bills to get it fixed.

I guess the fact there is 200,000+ mile cars out there, it could be possible.

Pay your money and take your chances as they say.

I'd try and buy a fresh one and look for a BMW warranty.

[Kerr]

I'd you are used to the running costs of the 330i, I don't imagine a 335i will be any more for general items.

As I say, buying an old tired car, which you'll get for the money you are talking, you have to be prepared for bills.

[gangzoom]

I wouldn't touch a 5k 335 with a barge pool.

Mine is a 08 car, 51k on the clock, owned it now for 3 years +, oil service every 8k miles. Last 6 months I've spent the following on the car:

1: Leak from autobox, needing new transmission fluid: £450

2: New x1 coil pack and x6 spark plugs due to misfire: £100

3: High pressure fuel pump failure and Electric water pump failure: £800

4: oil service and new brake pads/discs all round (EBC kit): £800

So all in I've spent 2k+ on maintenance for the car in 6 months, for the performance on offer I actually think that's pretty reasonable costs, especially given a lot of the items wouldn't need replacing again for a while....but other things that wouldn't surprise me if they fail on the car in the next 6-12 months would include: Turbos, ABS/DSC pump, Steering rack electronic lock, Battery.

So although running costs for a 335 isn't that much unless you have a BMW warranty I would make sure you have at least 1-2k in the bank ready for unexpected repairs.....and once again I wouldn't touch a 5k one, these are complex machines that need to be maintained regardless of costs, a 5k car is likely to have been neglected and who knows what problems your buying into.

[Soul_Glo]

Convertible would be slow and heavy even if it was a top engine.

I came close to buying a 335D last year. When I test drove it, it easily wafted me into three figure speed without knowing it. It was like riding a wave of torque. It was remapped. Its no M car but in a straight line acceleration it had me impressed. Sadly, the spare key was missing so I walked away. It came close o changing me from a petrol head though and I did not think it was as fun as the 335i anyway.

[TAM11M]

Thanks for all the advise guys!

With regards to my comment about cars around £5k I was talking about e92's in general

I think I might just get something nice and cool for a little while and save up for the perfect car instead of going half way on a car just for now. Who knows what god has planned for me car wise haha.

@gangzoom thanks for the info, £2k in 6 months is way to much for me to spend on a car at the moment, yes your right in saying that most of that will go on parts that you wont have to change for a while but thats stuff that if I was to buy a car.. I know I would need to factor in for a 335i