2016 328d Used Purchase

[SejRamkas]

Looking for some advice here. I’m looking at possibly purchasing a 2016 328d F31 xdrive. Background: I’ve owned e36s and I currently daily drive and have maintained my e46 touring the past 5 years including major maintenance, engine swap, cooling overhaul, transmission rebuild, all gaskets, etc. consider me a skilled garage mechanic who is looking to stop wrenching one weekend every other month. Looking for something to be a RELIABLE daily driver.

The car in question has 4 owners and a service history that goes blank past 40k miles in 2019. Car currently has 98k miles and is being offered at $25k. The last 30k miles happened in the last 1.5 years… Having owned older BMWs I know the horrors a poorly maintained higher mileage OLD BMW brings.

How much of a gamble do you guys think this car would be as a 2016 328d xdrive? Number of owners and lack of maintenance past 40k miles concerns me, but there’s also some goofy stuff in the owner history of the carfax so not sure how accurate owner count is…. Should I trust my gut and head for the hills or is it worth a serious consideration? Car looks very very clean.

I know of transfer case issues in earlier models, timing chain issues in non diesel 328s, and high pressure fuel pump issues. Is there anything I should be really concerned about with this model?

Lastly would a PPI even be worth it? Would they find anything that I can’t myself that could potentially point to an upcoming major issue?

[dworthy]

As a fellow E-46 wagon owner, I can tell you that a cheap BMW is the most expensive BMW you will ever own.

Those car's tend to be quite reliable if taken care of, but with a lack of provable maintenance records, I would run away. Plus 4 owners in 6 years... yikes!

BTW, a PPI will find most issues, but not all, so always use a shop that you trust to do it.

[SejRamkas]

As a fellow E-46 wagon owner, I can tell you that a cheap BMW is the most expensive BMW you will ever own.

Those car's tend to be quite reliable if taken care of, but with a lack of provable maintenance records, I would run away. Plus 4 owners in 6 years... yikes!

BTW, a PPI will find most issues, but not all, so always use a shop that you trust to do it.

Oh trust me that's one thing I've learned is to avoid any cheap BMWs through my years of owning them. This one looks incredibly clean inside and out, but as you have alluded to without maintenance records past 40k miles it has me seriously concerned. I know that doesnt necessarily mean it WASNT maintained, but I cant prove it. It was also traded in to a Toyota dealership which also has me concerned. With Toyota being historically known as one of, if not THE, most reliable manufacturer on the market were they intentionally looking for this after dealing with tons of maintenance owning this BMW.... Or they couldn't afford the proper maintenance and therefore didn't properly maintain and traded it... Or since they put 30K miles on it in 1.5 years and they obviously commute long distances were concerned with reliability of a 100K mile BMW and dumped it right before hitting 100K.

Lots of potential red flags so I'm trying to trust my gut, but I've had a history of ignoring my instincts when sitting in shiny German cars.

[Onizukachan]

You know the issues, I’d run the vin to see if it qualifies for the hpfp recall,too.
That’s a lot of money but then cars are crazy now. I got mine with 55k couple years ago for less than that, and guess what, got it from a Toyota dealership too!

I came out of an e34 touring and e46 touring for the same reason. Mines been dead nuts reliable, had the transfer case replaced under recall before it failed but that’s it.

Maintenance on diesels is pretty easy, change the fuel filter air filter and cabin filter yearly (all diy) and use an additive like optilube xpd (3oz) per fill up to protect the hpfp. And regular oil changes. Diesels still have a dipstick so you can do your own oil changes if you want.


I plan on keeping mine for life since they don’t import diesel wagons anymore.