First BMW, e92!

[Jettlife]

Just bought my first BMW, a 2007 328i coupe! It has about 56k miles and is still under warranty. I just took it into BMW and had all my fluids replaced and an STD scope done. I'm extremely excited about this purchase but id like to ask everyone a question!

WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW to maximize care of my car?

Would love some driving, maintenance and basic care tips, or links to people who already have !

Thank you and i'm glad to be apart of the BMW experience now.:redspot

[dkay1]

For starters, congrats on the new addition. The E92 is a good series, and I've had mine all but a month and still love it.

I've owned a few BMWs over the past years, and from what I can tell the first things I would start to look at are the brake pads, and rotors. Also, check the wear/tear on the tires to make sure your suspension is still good (ie.: one sway bar end link is going bad while the other is good, and/or the ball joints are still good).

Depending on the service records, (me personally) would also check the air filters, and spark plugs. Chances are the spark plugs are still in pretty fair condition (depending on the gas quality used, and previous drive style), but it never hurts to check.

Again, congrats on the new addiition, definately a fun car to have. :redspot

[Nyc2sd30]

Congrats. I am a new BMW owner as well. Check out the stickies section - especially the FAQ thread. Every question I was about to post about was answered there.

Sent from my iPad using BF.com

[cochise325]

I have a 2006 325xi Sportwagon. 66,000 miles.

Mine has an auto trans. I did an auto trans fluid change at 50,000 miles and replaced the plastic oil pan on the bottom of the zf trans. ZF sells the pan directly or you can find them at some of the bmw parts places online. The pan contains the trans fluid filter. BMW originally said the fluid was "lifetime" but have rethought that and are now recommending shorter intervals. This is failrly involved, but there are some good threads that show how it is done.

I just changed spark plugs at 65,000. The old ones looked good and BMW specifies 100,000 mile intervals, but 65,000 miles was good enough for me. It is easy to damage the coils when changing plugs, so be careful and don't be surprised if you have to replace a few of them.

I just had a 4 wheel alignment. All the suspension parts including bushing are sound. And I was told that the E9x cars are not requiring the bushing replacements that plagued the E46. Even at well over 100,000 miles.

My brake pads were replaced at less than 50,000 miles. This is the first car that I have owned that wore its rear pads faster than its front pads. Good idea to replace the wear pad sensor when you change the pads. My rotors were still in fine shape so only needed pads and sensors. I stuck with oem pads.

Cabin air filter is a good thing to replace. Now that they are in the engine compartment instead of under the dash, they are easy to replace. If you are gong to do the spark plugs, you can do the cabin air filter at the same time, since you need to move the air filter housing to get at the back cylinders.

Have fun and enjoy your new ride!

[ndog14]

ZF tranny on the 325? I thought they had the GM transmission. And BMW recommends 60k on spark plugs. Inspection 2 item.

I too had my rear pads wear faster than the front.

OP, if you want your car to last past the 11/12/13 Apocolypse (calling it now someone will claim the Mayans date is wrong) follow Mike Miller's guide.