[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by JeanCa

I have a e92 n55 with 70K miles and I love it. So far as maintenance done to the car has been: Valve cover, rear main seal, oil housing gasket, water pump, sparks (changed for meth injection) and coils, serpentine belt (was not bad, just changed for prevention). I did have to change the power steering pump, but this was my bad since I broke it doing donuts at full lock (lesson learned jaja). Something that I like about the 335's is that they are very modifiable. Mine has JB4, METH, intake, upgraded FMIC, Catless downpipe, m3 strut brace, m3 control arms, and ST XTA coilovers. oil changes done every 5k miles. I use it as a daily and have plenty of fun in it when I go to mountain roads, etc... One of my close friend also has a e92 n55 with about 75K miles, as for maintenance goes he has only done radiator, battery and blown struts (suspension). But his car is bone stock. Compared to the n54 I believe the biggest pro would be that u can squeeze more power out of the n54 and the biggest con for the n54 is the sound (which for me is bad compared to the n55). In my book both have plenty of power capability since I do not do track days. When buying I would put aside about 1.5k-2.5k money to fix any problem it has, being a n54 or n55 regardless.

Whaaat you had to change rear main seal already?

[JeanCa]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

Whaaat you had to change rear main seal already?

Yes along with the valve cover. Had this weird whistling noise coming out the engine whenever I took the foot off the throttle. It was leaking through both the rear main and the valve cover. Changing both fixed it. My mechanic has done quite a few rear main seal already in n54 and n55 with 70k-100k miles on the odo.

[bimmerzeit]

Should you buy a n54 335i in 2021 and 2022? I say just do it! Getting harder to find clean 335i cars that haven't been modified and neglected.

[tomasp001]

Been 3 years with my daily FBO e90 n54 and I wouldnt trade it for any other car. I've been running it with MHD Stage 2+ Tune and she rippppsssss. I've had 0 issues so far as I do replace everything once it is due.

I agree with posts here saying Maintenance first over mods. if you do it the other way you'll most certainly regret is as failing components will be more apparent when you tune/mod the car. I didn't have any experience wrenching on a car until I got the N54. Since it does have a big fan base, there's a lot of aftermarket support/ DIY videos on maintenance should you need. So you can save money by doing some maintenance yourself.

When I was on the market, I was just looking to tune a car to about 400hp like yourself, heard of n54, did research and got it since it had a high ceiling when it comes to modifications. I was not sure whether 400hp can satisfy me, So I got the n54 because of it's tuning potential even after 400hp. After I reached my goal, I got addicted. I wanted more POWA!!! so I am lucky to pick this car with a high ceiling for mods. My point is, if you have a STRICT goal and DON'T want anything more than 400hp then don't go with an n54 as it is costly. But if you get addicted to power once you attain that goal (like me) then hopefully the platform you choose has room for you to mod your car to greater heights!

There's a saying that I heard somewhere that goes like, "Take care of your car and your car will take care of you." This car holds testament to that, and it will give you much more smiles per miles if you do meticulously take care of her.

Can't wait to go Single Turbo/Manual Swap this coming spring! BIG THINGS NEXT CAR SEASON CANT WAIT!