My beloved 1995 E36 318i "Don" is on his last legs, so I have returned to the CCA after a few years of hiatus (Don was fairly trouble free until recently, and I did have this wife and young daughter to take care of...) to prepare to part ways with him, and get advice on a new(er) E90. I'm ready for something still under warranty, and fairly new, although I don't need to pay for, nor do I particularly like the F's. Hence, after wandering around the local "expensive" dealer (Herb Chambers/Boston), I've narrowed my likely choice down to a lower milage 2011 E90 328i xDrive, with at least Premium, Value, and Xenons. I do *not* particularly want iDrive/Navigation: it's too many things to go wrong, and in the family we already have both an iPhone and an Android and a GPS, all of which we're perfectly happy providing maps on the few occasions we need them. What else should I do buying a used E90? While my uber-car friend scoffs at me even considering a CPO, I really hate having to worry about service, so I'm thinking I'm happy to pay a little extra (including extended warranty) for the peace of mind - even if I never actually get all my money's worth. The combination with Xenons (which seem so much brighter) but no nav is pretty hard to find so far, so another idea is to buy down south and simply fly to pick it up. But what else do I need to know before I actually consider signing papers and writing the big check? I need advice, since I haven't bought a new car for... oh, 15 years. Look soon for my posting for my beloved E36. The rust monster is finally chomping away at the rocker panels, as it so often does here in Boston, and I don't have the patience or time to do the proper repairs myself anymore - no matter how much I love the drive when I'm on my own, family requires more time than I have right now. Thanks all!
Welcome back to the club! The e90 is a very nice vehicle and your looking at the LCI years (the better looking ones). The engine is a N52 and is very reliable with very few issues. Main things that go wrong are valve cover leaks, water pump, evaporator, oil filter housing gasket. Best thing though is all those items would be covered under CPO if you purchase one with that. The CPO process is very long and very picky about what cars can be on that program. Now the CPO program does not cover any maintenance related items but does cover over 10,000 things on your vehicle. Personally I don't think nav is needed in cars any way until it can be updated easily like google maps or a iphone can. Good luck with the hunt and the xenons really make the car look better and you get the angle eyes
Ifn you like "looks", the Xenons come with angel eyes for daytime running lights. If you don't care so much about that trend, and don't need the adaptive feature (which is really the reason to get them) to swivel around corners, the halogens are fine. You'll be better than the E36, especially since the lenses don't haze nearly so much as the E36 ones. I believe that Value includes heated seats - you want them, possibly also the fold-down rear seats. Both come with the cold weather package, if they're not in Value.
I've had 4 cars now with Xenon headlights and every time I drive my wife's '03 Honda Pilot at night I realize just how much of a difference the Xenons make in terms of enhancing your visual field in the dark. At this point, I pretty much consider the Xenons a must-have. Just me $.02.
+ On the xenons. When I drive my E30 or E36 I have to turn the light off and on to see if they really are on. My E36 have euros which throw a little more light than the crappy US projectors, but still pale in comparison. Agree on the GPS. That is one option I would never get again. Not at least until maps and software update themselves. I'm locked into old software and maps in our 2003.
