[STR8-6IX]

Originally Posted by Sinmastah

Anyone can comment on reliability other than the engine?

its always been hit or miss with BMW's but the newer models (2012+) seem to have tons of little quality control issues. my 2011 f10 is very solid, not a single problem to report at 70k.

[Crassus]

I had a well top equipped certified owned 2012 F30 for a year and put 18,000 miles on it. It was a brilliant car and didn't suffer any mechanical or electronic issues.

However, I wouldn't be brave enough to buy one, or any techy German car without warranty as they can be expensive to repair.

[pcwong325]

I have a 2012 F30 CPO that came from So. Cal. (I live in Oregon) with 21k about 1.5 years ago. I've only added 10k to the car. So far no issues thankfully, I've taken it in for regular maintenance only.

I'm wimped out and bought the 2 year warranty offered during purchase b/c this is my first bimmer and I know nothing so there was willingness to "throw money away" for some peace of mind. I've gotten all 4 brake pads replaced under the extended warranty when the manufacturer warranty ran out, that won't make up for the ext warranty purchase but it helped.

[ouengineer]

Any new chassis or engine is very likely to have issues. I can attest that it's almost impossible to shake out all the bugs in any fairly complex product and still meet a deadline, no matter how much time is allowed. There will always be a few things missed that did not show up in testing or were created sometime during production.

The mark of good design is when these issues are very minimal. The N54 motor had a lot of these issues (and it seems there are still class actions suits popping up about it...). But the N55 seems to have been very good even from the beginning. This makes sense though because the changes made from the N54 were relatively minor whereas the N54 was a radical change from any previous motors BMW had done. We will still need more time to evaluate the B58. Though everything looks promising for it now, I have my doubts due to the significant changes made from the N55.

In general, I think it's usually a good idea to buy a car that is on a chassis and/or engine that has been out for a year or two. And in particular, when the new one has just came out and the demand for the older less exciting version is lower and you can find incredible deals on them. This is where the 2014-2015 335 is right now and I think it's a great buy on what should be the most reliable MY 335's made (will still be some time before this is confirmed however).

[iki4life]

bought my 2013 328i at 32k miles. It has 54k miles on it now....Ive had problems but all of them are very minor.

1. parking light had to be replaced
2. fuel pump replaced (this was a recall that was taken care of by BMW)
3. oil line replaced (also a recall taken care of by BMW)
4. normal oil changes

the only recurring problem is squeaky brakes that tend to occur during the winter. BMW says its normal, and its quite common. I dont know why BMW brakes squeak and my acura, toyota, lexus brakes dont.

[Ali Shiralian]

2014 F30, other than the battery discharge warning last year that happened in minus 30 Celsius, went away on its own, not a single issue...

[englishguy84]

Given that it's been out in Europe for two years or so, it seems odd that there's NOTHING about the B48/46 on the forums. I guess no news is good news? The timing chain/N20 stuff is still worrisome.

[bimmer456]

I haven't had any issues with my f30 except for low coolant. I think they're a little better than the e90. I have 13k miles.

[2012328i]

http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1363658

[Correnbrenner]

2015 328i xdrive. While the n20 and n26 both have timming belt tensioner issues. I like my n26. With the deletion of the 2 over restrictive cats, about 3000 grand in AWE exhaust, down pipe 300, vsfr intercooler 1000, intake 300, biger turbo 1300, solid charge pipes 200, and dyno street tune. This things a dam missle!!! BUT YOU HAVE TO PAY TO PLAY. Lol anything's possible with a big wallet.

[chhappy7]

Originally Posted by Correnbrenner

2015 328i xdrive. While the n20 and n26 both have timming belt tensioner issues. I like my n26. With the deletion of the 2 over restrictive cats, about 3000 grand in AWE exhaust, down pipe 300, vsfr intercooler 1000, intake 300, biger turbo 1300, solid charge pipes 200, and dyno street tune. This things a dam missle!!! BUT YOU HAVE TO PAY TO PLAY. Lol anything's possible with a big wallet.

That necro XD

That is one hell of an exhaust, to pay 3 million for it!!

[Zanity]

Originally Posted by STR8-6IX

if you're looking for reliability, I wouldnt go for a 328i with the new turbo engine, they are nothing but problems. the 335i is a solid choice, i heard lots of the reliability issues with the older model n54 were resolved with the introduction of the 2011+ n55..

Where did you get the idea that N20 motor has a lot of reliability issues? Its the same motor as the N55 with 2 less cylinders. I've only heard that 320i had issues because they used cheaper parts for the detuned engine, and the tensioner issue, but in the total volume of N20 models, that was minor in comparison. otherwise 328i should be just as reliable as N55, if not more because theres 2 less cylinders to worry about. The N54 gave birth to N55, the N55 gave birth to N20 so N54 had the most issues, N55 was much better, N20 should be about the same.

[lens]

Originally Posted by Zanity

Where did you get the idea that N20 motor has a lot of reliability issues? Its the same motor as the N55 with 2 less cylinders. I've only heard that 320i had issues because they used cheaper parts for the detuned engine, and the tensioner issue, but in the total volume of N20 models, that was minor in comparison. otherwise 328i should be just as reliable as N55, if not more because theres 2 less cylinders to worry about. The N54 gave birth to N55, the N55 gave birth to N20 so N54 had the most issues, N55 was much better, N20 should be about the same.

Oh boy, it is NOT the N55 with 2 less cylinders. Its a completely different engine. N20 and N26 has timing chain issues and the block will literally blow up if you add too much boost, check out the posts on the forums. There are guys that had pistons shoot out of the block, or the block literally blew a hole.

Trust me, these engines were made to be economic, not reliable. If it was the N55 with 2 less cylinders, you should be able to easily make 300-400whp without blowing the engine up, but as you can tell, you cannot.

[AGONXF30]

I have a 2012 (built in 2011) and it has been pretty ok so far. The only major issue I had was a upper strut bearing making a noise and the water pump (replaced buscase it was over speeding, if that makes sense, but it was showing that code). Also the driver side mirror became slightly loose needed a new unit. I have nearly 100K and still runs like new, with the exception of the damn rotors which finally need replacement (shuffle while breaking). Other than that I still enjoy the car after all these years.

[Zanity]

Originally Posted by chaungo

Oh boy, it is NOT the N55 with 2 less cylinders. Its a completely different engine. N20 and N26 has timing chain issues and the block will literally blow up if you add too much boost, check out the posts on the forums. There are guys that had pistons shoot out of the block, or the block literally blew a hole.

Trust me, these engines were made to be economic, not reliable. If it was the N55 with 2 less cylinders, you should be able to easily make 300-400whp without blowing the engine up, but as you can tell, you cannot.

This is from the press release:

"The N20 4-cylinder TwinPower Turbo is directly related to the N55 in that the basic technology package was applied to a 4-cylinder, and they are closely related in terms of objectives and requirements," says Bernardo Lopez, who leads BMW Group's Powertrain Assessment department. "The aim was to build a 4-cylinder counterpart of that very successful 6-cylinder N55 with similar characteristics. And while the N20 shares the same 500cc per cylinder displacement as the N55, its bore and stroke are slightly different." As with its N55 sibling, the TwinPower designation stands not for twin turbochargers but for the combination of BMW's Valvetronic fully variable intake-valve lift system and (Bosch) gasoline direct injection, along with a single twin-scroll turbo supplied by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The engine was designed from the beginning to be turbocharged only like the N55. There is no naturally aspirated variant, now or planned. Among the N20's other key components are Federal-Mogul pistons, a Faurecia exhaust manifold and a Mann & Hummel intake system.

Like I said, N20 was built based on the N55, obviously components will be different. If you're talking about modifying and boost increase, that's a whole different ball game. I'm talking about the stock motor reliability. N54/N55 are also not as mod friendly as I'm sure you know, you think you can run a 400whp N55 without doing a huge investment in supporting components? I like to see you try 400whp on the stock N55 plastic charge pipe, see how long that lasts before you blow a hole in the motor.

My last car was an E92 335i, I had both of these motors. I picked N20 this time round because I'm using it in traffic jam mostly to the office, so gas mileage and red light low speed acceleration were my priorities, the N20 checks both boxes, I dont care about top end high speed power since i rarely get to use it.

[vinzcast21]

Just got a 2016 340i

all seems good for now, no issues other than wanting more power :/

[lens]

Originally Posted by Zanity

This is from the press release:

"The N20 4-cylinder TwinPower Turbo is directly related to the N55 in that the basic technology package was applied to a 4-cylinder, and they are closely related in terms of objectives and requirements," says Bernardo Lopez, who leads BMW Group's Powertrain Assessment department. "The aim was to build a 4-cylinder counterpart of that very successful 6-cylinder N55 with similar characteristics. And while the N20 shares the same 500cc per cylinder displacement as the N55, its bore and stroke are slightly different." As with its N55 sibling, the TwinPower designation stands not for twin turbochargers but for the combination of BMW's Valvetronic fully variable intake-valve lift system and (Bosch) gasoline direct injection, along with a single twin-scroll turbo supplied by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The engine was designed from the beginning to be turbocharged only like the N55. There is no naturally aspirated variant, now or planned. Among the N20's other key components are Federal-Mogul pistons, a Faurecia exhaust manifold and a Mann & Hummel intake system.

Like I said, N20 was built based on the N55, obviously components will be different. If you're talking about modifying and boost increase, that's a whole different ball game. I'm talking about the stock motor reliability. N54/N55 are also not as mod friendly as I'm sure you know, you think you can run a 400whp N55 without doing a huge investment in supporting components? I like to see you try 400whp on the stock N55 plastic charge pipe, see how long that lasts before you blow a hole in the motor.

My last car was an E92 335i, I had both of these motors. I picked N20 this time round because I'm using it in traffic jam mostly to the office, so gas mileage and red light low speed acceleration were my priorities, the N20 checks both boxes, I dont care about top end high speed power since i rarely get to use it.

That's the only problem with the N55, it's literally the plastic chargepipe.

N54/N55 are absolutely mod friendly. The chargepipe literally costs 400$CAD, there's nothing huge in that investment. If you go FBO, it'll literally cost less than 3500$ CAD.

I have 114k miles on my F30 335xi at the moment, I put 50k miles FBO and 34k miles with PS2 (picked the car up at 30k miles). I track the car every summer (lapping, time attack), and I drive it in the winter at -30C average temps.

My car dyno'd 420awhp/438awtq on 94 octane on a dynojet. If you could see how much I abuse this car, you would know how much the N55 can take a beating.

Stock motor wise, I've owned the N26 before and I can say it had it fair share of problems before I traded it in for a N55. The car was economic and comfortable, but that's about it.

[chhappy7]

Originally Posted by chaungo

Oh boy, it is NOT the N55 with 2 less cylinders. Its a completely different engine. N20 and N26 has timing chain issues and the block will literally blow up if you add too much boost, check out the posts on the forums. There are guys that had pistons shoot out of the block, or the block literally blew a hole.

Trust me, these engines were made to be economic, not reliable. If it was the N55 with 2 less cylinders, you should be able to easily make 300-400whp without blowing the engine up, but as you can tell, you cannot.

Wasn't timing chain just in earlier N20's? It was my understanding that the issue was fixed in the later ones.

[Zanity]

Originally Posted by chhappy7

Wasn't timing chain just in earlier N20's? It was my understanding that the issue was fixed in the later ones.

Yes, I believe that is the case. Just like the HPFP issue for the N54, later years are fine.

Originally Posted by chaungo

Stock motor wise, I've owned the N26 before and I can say it had it fair share of problems before I traded it in for a N55. The car was economic and comfortable, but that's about it.

I don't know if you N26 is slower than a N20 because of the flow restriction for ultra low emissions or what. But my current N20 with the ZF8 feels faster than my 335i with manual tranny. So I know it's more than just economy and comfort, at low end pick up, there is really not much difference between the 2 engines.

[slipperyzoo]

Originally Posted by isosunrise

Hey guys quick question. Looking into an earlier model f30. Haven't decided on 335 or 328 but ha e questions on reliability. My partner had a 2015 328 alpine white/coral red interior sport. It's a nice car but his is brand new can't expect many issues with a new car. I'm looking at a 12-14 and was wondering what problems I'll run into with higher miles? I had an e92 (335 coupe) loved it but had to get rid of it before hpfp failed and all that good stuff. Replaced my cic through dealer and was pretty much done with the car after that. Will I experience those issues with an f30? I've looked around and don't see many people complain and reliability. Thanks

I have a 2013 328xi with the N26 engine. 73k miles and I'm struggling with whether or not to sell it now that it's out of warranty. In terms of issues:
1) Had the turbo replaced at around 40k mi
2) The transmission line blew/dealer screwed something up (it happened after they did work on the transmission) which resulted in possible transmission damage and the car being towed in
3) Had a failing timing chain replaced under warranty (that was replaced for free due to the lawsuit, as far as I understand)
4) Front passenger door won't always open when unlocked and I've had it in 4 times to be fixed for that issue alone with no resolution.

I do take good care of the car with frequent oil changes, recommended maintenance at BMW service centers, letting it warm up before driving, not flooring it before it's warmed up (not just engine temp warmed up) and generally babying the turbo to avoid it failing again etc. Just other points to consider: the halogen headlights are absolute garbage and to replace them with HID or LED will be $1k+ DIY or $2k+ at a dealer.

I do love how the car drives and the AWD being in NJ is nice. Moving to Florida soon so I'm not sure I care about the AWD and cold weather package as much. Since there aren't a lot of N26 engines with 100k+ (at least in the forums) it's fairly uncharted territory. I've had $10k+ worth of work done under the CPO warranty which expires in June, so unless BMWs age like fine wine I'm thinking it's time to say goodbye.

Regardless, if choosing between the 328 and 335 I'd say go with the 335 strictly from a driving experience perspective. The 328 is decently sporty, but I find myself yearning for a true sports car, as the sports sedan didn't quite cut it and perhaps a 335 would have. Having test driven both the N52 and the N26, I preferred the N26 especially when in sports mode with minimal turbo lag. Let the riots commence.

[MmmmmM2]

Originally Posted by slipperyzoo

I have a 2013 328xi with the N26 engine. 73k miles and I'm struggling with whether or not to sell it now that it's out of warranty. In terms of issues:
1) Had the turbo replaced at around 40k mi
2) The transmission line blew/dealer screwed something up (it happened after they did work on the transmission) which resulted in possible transmission damage and the car being towed in
3) Had a failing timing chain replaced under warranty (that was replaced for free due to the lawsuit, as far as I understand)
4) Front passenger door won't always open when unlocked and I've had it in 4 times to be fixed for that issue alone with no resolution.

I do take good care of the car with frequent oil changes, recommended maintenance at BMW service centers, letting it warm up before driving, not flooring it before it's warmed up (not just engine temp warmed up) and generally babying the turbo to avoid it failing again etc. Just other points to consider: the halogen headlights are absolute garbage and to replace them with HID or LED will be $1k+ DIY or $2k+ at a dealer.

I do love how the car drives and the AWD being in NJ is nice. Moving to Florida soon so I'm not sure I care about the AWD and cold weather package as much. Since there aren't a lot of N26 engines with 100k+ (at least in the forums) it's fairly uncharted territory. I've had $10k+ worth of work done under the CPO warranty which expires in June, so unless BMWs age like fine wine I'm thinking it's time to say goodbye.

Regardless, if choosing between the 328 and 335 I'd say go with the 335 strictly from a driving experience perspective. The 328 is decently sporty, but I find myself yearning for a true sports car, as the sports sedan didn't quite cut it and perhaps a 335 would have. Having test driven both the N52 and the N26, I preferred the N26 especially when in sports mode with minimal turbo lag. Let the riots commence.

My take on it is this, you have 3 options:

1) If you know how to work on your own car, then you can keep it and make your own repairs.

2) You could probably pick up a BMW warranty for a hefty price (I would not recommend this).

3) Get rid of it, as most BMW's past 70K miles start to have issues (at least my 2012 E92 335i sure did).

[kingmonkey8]

I had an early 2013 F32, had a drive train vibration problem from low miles and came back again after 25k miles. Never got it fixed, no body could diagnose it.
Fuel pump failed just outside warranty.
Boot release from fob never really opened properly. Drivers door didn't close smoothly. Steering wheel plastic creak, peeling steering wheel roundel.
My 2015 car has less issues. Don't think I would be an early model again.