[Thrakos]

Gang,

A few years ago I owned a 1999 328i, great car but it had a few issues (pwr door locks stopped working; intermittent power loss (wiring harness? Not sure, wasn't going to pay BMW to change it); driver's seat heat went, etc. Needless to say I got rid of it.. though it was the most fun car to own and it was and remains my favorite.

I now find myself in need of an AWD vehicle and my desire to own another BMW is back and I found a 2009 328i xdrive. 65k KMS so it has a year of factory warranty left on it... it appears to be in excellent condition, is black with tan interior: in short, it's the car I'd love to own.

My concern is reliability of the xdrive - I am not familiar with it and I don't know the longevity of it, which rolls me into the extended warranty as well - as it's not a CPO vehicle, nor being sold by a BMW dealer, I'm not sure if I can just contact BMW Canada to buy extended warranty in the spring to extend the peace of mind..

Thoughts?

[PTinVT]

I've been on this forum for a few years now and while these cars are not without their quirks and concerns, the x-drive drivetrain itself appears to be extremely reliable... if I can infer that from the lack of posts about failures and repairs. I'm not worried about mine at all.

Assuming you want AWD for snow/ice, a 328 x-drive with snow tires is an excellent winter choice.

Good luck with your purchase decision.

[Thrakos]

bump
any others? I'm looking at this BMW and a 2008 Audi A4 Special Edition Quattro.. I'm looking for any input.. thanks!

[PTinVT]

The other point I would offer than is that BMW x-drive is a RWD-based system, while Audi's are FWD biased. BMW puts all the power to the rear and diverts to the front on slippage. It's quite a thing, especially when you put it in DTC mode, you can drive it like an old American car in the snow, powering/drifting through the turns vs. pulling/compensating for where you wanted to go. If only you could test drive both in a snowstorm (and know to press the DTC button) you'd be sold.

again... good luck with your purchase decision. Audi is fine too.

[335BBS]

Originally Posted by PTinVT

The other point I would offer than is that BMW x-drive is a RWD-based system, while Audi's are FWD biased. BMW puts all the power to the rear and diverts to the front on slippage. It's quite a thing, especially when you put it in DTC mode, you can drive it like an old American car in the snow, powering/drifting through the turns vs. pulling/compensating for where you wanted to go. If only you could test drive both in a snowstorm (and know to press the DTC button) you'd be sold.

again... good luck with your purchase decision. Audi is fine too.

I'm afraid you have it backwards. Audis old system was similar to what you are talking about but BMWs system has never been like that. unfortunately, compared to Audis quattro the BMW x drive is antiquated. I imagine they will make some changes to 2013 to keep up with S4.

[335BBS]

Originally Posted by BeMWeh

Gang,

A few years ago I owned a 1999 328i, great car but it had a few issues (pwr door locks stopped working; intermittent power loss (wiring harness? Not sure, wasn't going to pay BMW to change it); driver's seat heat went, etc. Needless to say I got rid of it.. though it was the most fun car to own and it was and remains my favorite.

I now find myself in need of an AWD vehicle and my desire to own another BMW is back and I found a 2009 328i xdrive. 65k KMS so it has a year of factory warranty left on it... it appears to be in excellent condition, is black with tan interior: in short, it's the car I'd love to own.

My concern is reliability of the xdrive - I am not familiar with it and I don't know the longevity of it, which rolls me into the extended warranty as well - as it's not a CPO vehicle, nor being sold by a BMW dealer, I'm not sure if I can just contact BMW Canada to buy extended warranty in the spring to extend the peace of mind..

Thoughts?

I have an 09 335 and its been at the dealer for over 2 weeks out of the last 5 on various occasions. I'l detail if you'd like but I will NEVER have another BMW. Only way is to lease for 3 years while its under warranty then give it back....in my opinion.

[sibhusky]

The Audi system is better in that it has a torsen whereas the 328 has a mechanically based transfer system. However the mechanical has less moving parts and does not rely on a stepper motor which can fail or produce weird electrical gremlins.

I think PTinVT meant that the BMW has more static bias to the rear wheels much like the Porsche system during normal driving unlike the Audi which is more neutral or front biased.

The only thing you need to keep up on with the BMW x drive is replacing the transfer case fluid which is pretty simple,every 50k or whatever is recommended.

[N55]

Both my past cars that had xi/X-Drive, worked flawlessly. Never had a problem with that feature of the car.

[Thrakos]

Originally Posted by N55

Both my past cars that had xi/X-Drive, worked flawlessly. Never had a problem with that feature of the car.

hehe from the looks of it, you haven't owned them long enough to develop problems

[335BBS]

Originally Posted by sibhusky

The Audi system is better in that it has a torsen whereas the 328 has a mechanically based transfer system. However the mechanical has less moving parts and does not rely on a stepper motor which can fail or produce weird electrical gremlins.

I think PTinVT meant that the BMW has more static bias to the rear wheels much like the Porsche system during normal driving unlike the Audi which is more neutral or front biased.

The only thing you need to keep up on with the BMW x drive is replacing the transfer case fluid which is pretty simple,every 50k or whatever is recommended.

I think you need to read some current Quattro info. You have it backwards. I think the TT may still use the old neutral/front bias but A4/s4 etc haven't used that for years . BMW is currently light years away from quattro re high performance awd.

[Thrakos]

Well.. I test drove a 2008 Audi 2.0T S-Line Quattro today - one of the shortest test drives I have had. The vibration of the steering wheel left my hands somewhat numb for a good 30 mins after the drive, the road noise was high and the ride was hard (ok - S-Line, sport tuned suspension... I can appreciate it being a firm ride, but not hard) and frankly, a Jetta TDI is quieter and shifts smoother than this 2.0T.

A friend has a 2003 A6 and the difference between it and this 2008 A4 is significant - the older A6 beats the 08 A4 hands down... but enough about my Audi experience (not a bash of Audi, simply an observation from someone who seriously considered both the 08 A4 and the 09 328ix.)

I then drove the BMW - and it was precisely how I imagined a high end car to be - smooth engine and ride, very little road noise and a gorgeous interior (tan): it was brilliant. Plenty of power, COMFY seats, sleek and sexy looks.. it is exactly what I am looking for in a vehicle.

The dealer has a 200k unlimited time frame warranty (never heard of that!) and I'll be checking it out before I sign anything, but aside from that the car still has a year of factory warranty as well... so I'm 99% sure I'll pull the trigger (depends on what the ext. warranty does/not cover). I'm excited and won't sleep much tonight!

[Kolyan2k]

X-drive is electronic clutch packs similar to Volvos, VW, TT.....

Quattro is mechanical AWD. And its not FWD biased

Never heard about problems with any of them

[Thrakos]

It's done.. bought the 09 328i xdrive Picking her up after work!