[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by Jesda

Blows through control arms and tie rods like crazy. The front end is fragile.

Nah. My front end control arms and tie rods went well over 320,000 miles and I'd put the control arms back in if one of the current parts broke. My car does at least 50 miles on back country roads 5 days a week (well 2 - 3 days now).

[csquared013]

2006 330xi purchased March 2007 at 32k miles, now I'm at 155k.

In no particular order, I Replaced:
- Thermostat, water pump, OFHG 2x, all coolant hoses, crankcase breather hose 2x, both rear shocks and support cups, TCU, rear passenger bearing, oil level sensor, IBS module, snapped valve cover bolts.

What's currently wrong and getting fixed this winter? :
Full suspension overhaul because it's toasted, engine oil pan gasket, miscellaneous bushings, engine mounts, tons of codes to track down and clear, adaptive headlight malfunction.

Overall though, the paint looks great (even before I buffed it out this past weekend) and even though there's some peeling in the interior, it's an awesome car and I plan on holding on to it as a fun project.

[ADEe92]

Originally Posted by Welcome to NBA Jam

I dunno, my experience has been quite different. The E46 and E30 definitely did that though.

I've had my e30 for 12 years, and did a full suspension overhaul when I first got it that included control arms, a poly bush kit, Eibach springs / Bilstein B8 shocks. Got 9 years / 85k miles out of the new no-name (probably Chinese or Eastern European) control arms. I'd have expected Lemforder or other OEM arms to have lasted longer.

Not sure about how the e9x arms wear, but on a RHD e30 the right control arm wears out at about double the rate of the left arm. I've always changed them in pairs, but you could get away with just doing the right side without problems and just do the left side every second time.

A gratuitous shot of my e30:



Won't list what I've replaced on the e30 as the list would be too long, but being 32 years old suffice to say it's the proverbial Grandpa's Axe

That said, I drove it as a reliable daily for 10 years, it never left me stranded up until it was replaced by the e92 for daily duties.

Mods are a different story: it has a M30B35 engine from a 535i / manual swap / Eibach + Bilstein suspension / LSD / custom exhaust to fit the M30 / Recaros. All up a tidy sleeper & surprisingly quick - performance is somewhere near an e36 M3

[mook1178]

2011 130k miles.

Owned it for 5.5 years.

Replaced OFHG, water pump, serpentine belt.

Just recently replaced the upper radiator hose. Needs from struts and bushings.

After that I'm going to start with some bolt on mods.

[BayMoWe335]

2010 E92 335i 6MT. Ordered from Germany in August 2009, original owner.

55,400 miles.

Everything works. No warning lights.

No accidents or replaced body work.

Issues have been limited to HPFP (3, but none in 5 years), Injectors once, heater core once, windshield fluid pump once, and an oil filter housing gasket.

Everything except the gasket and windshield fluid pump was warranty.

Paint is near perfect, wheels perfect, and no scratches.

Interior is “like new” except the plastic door pull has some coating wear.

[bimmaa]

Originally Posted by Bimmer_Engineer

Any correspondence from Vargas on that one? Hard to blame that on poor install...

The other wastegate looks completely fine with no visible areas of cracking or anything like that which leads me to believe the rear assembly was manufactured with a little less care than the others, causing it to snap/fall off.

[neilvan]

We have 2 N54 E90s and an N52 and I gotta say the experience has been excellent. Mileage varies: 102,147 and 197 km respectively

-Cupholders suck but that's a european thing and we never use them (All)
-Soft touch on the door panel and steering wheel trim has been flakey, but a saturday DIY has fixed them for good (N54 #1/2)
-I had a coolant line go on my N54 but that was an easy fix (N54 car #1)
-Drivers power folding mirror on one doesn't like to stay at "home" sometimes (N54 #1)
-ccc unit wouldnt read disk(CIC swap solved it) (N54 #1)
-OFH gaskets/valve cover gasket(super easy diy and typical bmw) (ALL)

In 3 years that is the only issues we have had other than typical maintenance like brakes, tires etc. The chassis has been super solid, as well as the engines/drivetrains. That being said we try to get ones without all the useless "newest" tech

[JingChai]

I had my 2011 E90 328i for 5 years now. I got the car back in 2015 with 39k miles. It now has 81k miles.

I had a few major repairs over the years such as OFHG, VCG, ESS, Belt tension, Oil pan gasket, and normal wear items.

Interior has been holding up pretty well and have had a few minor repairs.

For a 10 year car, it's running fantastic.

[vladskies]

2008 335i E90 approaching 135K miles

Great car, and a keeper, easy to work on with how extensive the knowledge is across the forums.

Going from most recent repairs to older: Battery replaced, Voltage regulator replaced, Valve cover gasket, Index 12 injector replacement, Walnut blast, PCV Flapper Delete (old one was coming off), RB PCV upgraded, top hats aka strut mounts, control arms, and trail arms, belt broke two times but that was due to me not noticing the leak on the oil filter housing, LPFP (upgraded to stage 2, no issues for 20k miles)

Currently dealing with a steering noise in the front, I am going to post about in a moment just for some advice, but I do have some other preventative maintnance things to do: inner and outer tie rods, oil pan and the gasket, motor mounts, power steering fluid flush, coolant flush

[Gamb1t]

06 330i N52 holding up supremely. Paint is still like new.
Performed the usual maintenance. Just took it on a family road-trip. Loving its reliability. The more I drive it, the more I am loving this car.

[PichaDis11]

08 N52 e90 - 204k mi and counting. It is my first car so I babied it in terms of care but did sure haul through it's gears when the time was right. Maintained it pretty well and gave it some worthy upgrades (base car problems). the most recent stuff to happen are the trans gave out. I stripped it out, did a year's worth of DIY refurb work (GM strike & learning curve) and now running somewhat sluggish. Ohh I hit a dear few weeks back. Now I am thinking to do a manual swap.
Running it until BMW and OE manufacturers decide to stop making parts for it.

[Jesda]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Nah. My front end control arms and tie rods went well over 320,000 miles and I'd put the control arms back in if one of the current parts broke. My car does at least 50 miles on back country roads 5 days a week (well 2 - 3 days now).

I go 6 months before I hear clunking and creaking. This is a notorious e9x problem especially for verts with more weight, lower ride height, and larger wheels.

[Jesda]

Honestly, these cars are dependable by German standards but trash by normal standards.

But at least they're pretty and comfortable.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by Jesda

I go 6 months before I hear clunking and creaking. This is a notorious e9x problem especially for verts with more weight, lower ride height, and larger wheels.

My car has the lowered sport suspension and 312,000 of the 336,000 miles on my original front end components was on 18" wheels. And I drive very fast on very un-straight and un-level roads.

[simsima90]

Ya dunno what he's talking about probably something wrong with his car only.

[hassmaschine]

Originally Posted by Jesda

Honestly, these cars are dependable by German standards but trash by normal standards.

But at least they're pretty and comfortable.

Well, my car is basically like a Toyota Camry, except it's not FWD, has a manual, and it's not boring and ugly.

I mean, I know this is an E90 forum - and there are definitely well known issues on these cars. But the front suspension is widely known to fall apart? Huh? I bought mine from a buddy who runs an independent BMW shop - he said pretty much the opposite. The suspension on these cars (except struts, which are a wear item anyway) seems like it never breaks.

Are you taking your car off sweet jumps or going rock crawling or something? The roads in my neighborhood are so bad parts of them look like gravel driveways. There are literally patches on top of patches on top of patches...

[mecheng77]

Originally Posted by hassmaschine

Well, my car is basically like a Toyota Camry, except it's not FWD, has a manual, and it's not boring and ugly.

I mean, I know this is an E90 forum - and there are definitely well known issues on these cars. But the front suspension is widely known to fall apart? Huh? I bought mine from a buddy who runs an independent BMW shop - he said pretty much the opposite. The suspension on these cars (except struts, which are a wear item anyway) seems like it never breaks.

Are you taking your car off sweet jumps or going rock crawling or something? The roads in my neighborhood are so bad parts of them look like gravel driveways. There are literally patches on top of patches on top of patches...

I agree, the suspension is the best part of these cars both in terms of handling, comfort and durability. The only complaint is sometimes it doesn't handle pot holes well but really you should do your best to avoid them.
I am on my stock suspension and it is tight as drum and handles amazing yet is decently comfortable.