[Markos ZimZimma]

Hi all, new member on the forum, but had my 2010 N53 E91 325i for a year now. Thought I'd create a thread with all that I've done to it so far, which has mainly just been getting it up to scratch cosmetically. Had a few Beemers before:

1990 E30 316i – had it for a year as a stop-gap car but it was a great little motor.

2005 E46 M3 SMG convertible – owned for a year and it was such a great all-rounder but I did get SMG problems and 10 years ago there were so many around.

2006 Z4M Coupe – Had it for 5.5 years, so much more rare than any E46 and I loved the looks of it. Rock hard suspension and almost impossible to drive in a civil manner though!

Then on to this one:

2010 E91 325i – been pleasantly surprised with it so far and no plans to move it on as it's doing all that I need of it so far. Was not prepared for just how hard it is to find a good estate car – buying sports cars is so much easier! I was being quite fussy on what I wanted and I saw that really good spec/low mileage Tourings were selling literally within the hour. I was mainly after a 330i, I felt a 335i was probably overkill for my needs but in the end I looked at 325i's too as no 330i's were coming up that I liked. In fairness the 218bhp and pace of the 325i are just fine for me – but if I can get an easy 45bhp extra out of it then I might well be tempted!

Mileage was 52k when I bought which seems pretty good for any 10 year old estate to be honest, and the spec was good as it is an M Sport with pan roof, elec folding mirrors, elec memory heated seats, pro nav, front and rear PDC, BT, cruise with braking, adaptive xenons with high beam assist, auto lights and wipers... not sure if some of that is standard across the range but it was the best spec I'd seen. Even though it was advertised around 8:30pm one evening and I'd called at 9pm to arrange to view it the next day, on the way there the seller said not to bother coming as he'd got someone else lined up to buy it, so I offered him over asking price and gave him a £500 deposit over the phone as I'd missed too many already...!

Gave it a service at Munich Legends a week after buying it, touch wood it's not needed anything else other than new rear pads on the maintenance front.

As I bought it. To be honest at this distance it looks mint but in reality it needed some TLC.





First job was to get rid of the fake wood interior and sort the scuffed front bumper.









Mint bumper and painted trims.











Heating and bending the private plate ready for fitting to the front.





Lockdown 1.0 meant the car didn't see that much action for a couple of months!





Next was ditching the run flats and sticking some non-RFTs Mich PS4s, then exchanging the very scruffy MV3s for freshly refurbed ones. Incidentally I saw that all 4 originals were slightly bent when doing the exchange

Befores.









Afters.






After that it was time to tint the rears. Not a fan of tints at all but needed a bit of sun shade back there.







Then it was time to clay bar, clean, polish and wax, including these cloudy trims.







Got a dent man to sort out a few door dings as that kind of thing really winds me up.





Only last week I finally found the time to clean the plastics in the engine bay.









Probably the biggest job has been changing the rear section of the exhaust last month. A little contentious as I know some are against twin exits on anything other than 335s, but for a decade I've been used to cars with twin exits and it looks so much better on these. Main reason for changing was that the OEM 325i exhaust is SO quiet and it sounds like a 2.0 4 cylinder to my ears, so the plan was to swap out the back box for a smaller one but in the end – as the original March job was postponed due to lockdown – it gave me more time to think about it and I went the whole hog and swapped the box and went twin exit (custom job).











Due to lockdowns my exhaust place couldn't get slash cut tips so I had to go with all that they had which are 4" straight cut tips. I thought 4" would be fine but in all honesty as I'm keeping the 18" wheels and not spacing them or lowering the car, the exhaust looks a touch OTT, so I might go back and get some slash cut tips in 3" or 3.5". In terms of sounds it's perfect as it now sounds a touch deeper like a BMW straight 6 engine should sound, nothing more, nothing less.

And that's it so far, pretty much exactly where I want it, but slightly tempted to remap it or stick an Apple carplay screen in but I just don't use it often enough to justify the latter. In terms of maintenance the only thing that is outstanding is getting the rear suspension looked at as I swear the rear is unsettled slightly with potholes, and – I know they're totally different cars – but the E46 M3 suspension was 100 times better than this M Sport one which is just too harsh I think on bad surfaces.

Suspension quibble aside, so far I've been impresed with the car even though I was originally after a Volvo V50 T5 2.5 5 cylinder turbo, but I'm pretty sure this is the better car overall and in the 5k miles I've covered it's been excellent. It is a damn fine looking compact estate too, I have to say

[Phil325i]

Nice work! To finish off the engine bay I would fit the optional black plastic cover over the oil/water heat exchanger. Part No. 11427537294.

[Markos ZimZimma]

Originally Posted by Phil325i

Nice work! To finish off the engine bay I would fit the optional black plastic cover over the oil/water heat exchanger. Part No. 11427537294.

Thanks Phil, didn't know a cover was available so will look into that

[Phil325i]

Pic of engine without the cover:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313130584761?var=0

and with the cover:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153776406492?var=0

[Markos ZimZimma]

Originally Posted by Phil325i

Pic of engine without the cover:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313130584761?var=0

and with the cover:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153776406492?var=0

It actually makes more of a difference than I thought it would! Thanks for this

[Markos ZimZimma]

This might be the last update for my 325i thread, as it will soon be advertised now the F31 335i is on the drive. Had a friend take these shots for me which have come out really well: the E91 is still a handsome thing. This is a reminder to get some good shots of the car prior to getting it ready to sell as you'd get more value from them I reckon. Anyways, thought I'd share these pics. It's been a fantastic car and I'll be sad to see it eventually go.

[Dormermike]

Nice car

How do you find the F car to the e91 in terms of engine and handling?

[Markos ZimZimma]

Originally Posted by Dormermike

Nice car

How do you find the F car to the e91 in terms of engine and handling?

Thanks! Many reports say the E9x is a better driver's car than the F3x, but there's not much in it, and my view is skewed by having more power in the F31 than the E91 (218 vs 306bhp) so that clouds my judgement a little... Also the noise (and Sport mode) from the 335i F31 (N55 3.0 turbo) are very addictive so right now the F31 wins hands down for me, plus it feels more refined and rides better – and that's with 19" wheels vs 18" wheels on the E91. Can't say I've pushed the new car on bends much but it's felt fine the few times that I've done so. The E91 feels more raw though, and that's not necessarily a bad thing for those into their cars...

[Dormermike]

Cool, sounds like you are enjoying it. Congrats!!