N54 Bimmer

Welp. I'm thinking it's gonna be that time soon.. More specifically late this upcoming Spring/early Summer.

Time to buy a racekar.

I've been looking at all kinds of stuff in the $15k range. I am head over heels in love with/obsessed with the 135i. A very nice example can be picked up just over my $15k or so budget, which is fine by me. Anyone here have any experience with these cars, or the N54 in general? I know I've seen a couple here with Bimmers, but have forgotten the screen names.

From my forum surfing and research, it seems that the common problems the platform has are not too annoying or expensive to deal with. Biggest two issues I've seen are the fuel pump failures and the electric water pump failures. Regardless, the how-to videos/write ups look very doable, and the pricing for the parts, while not quite 3800 cheap, are not exactly bank breakers either.

If possible, the Bonerville will stick around. There's nothing really crucially wrong with it, and it's a good car short of its body damage. It's just not worth selling or trading to me, as the simple fact that it's a turn key reliable car is worth more to me than the $1000-1500 I'd get for it. Perfect winter/bad weather beater while the BMW can stay put, although I'd likely get a winter set up for it so it's not a useless car should anything come up. Plus, I already know I'd enjoy it too much to make it sit for a whole season.

Any opinions and advice, or helpful links are very welcome. While this is still far in the future relatively speaking, I like to plan ahead.

Thanks in advance.
 

willizm

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May 13, 2009
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I'm looking at getting into another n54 car except for it being another sedan. I had a 135i 6mt and 335xi before both with n54 motors. I will say that the 135i's are becoming harder to find cheap. You'll have your pick of any 335i coupe for 15k but finding a 135i for that much is a daunting task. As for the issues it seems the worst things to replace are injectors, coil packs, plugs, fuel pump(newer version is solid), vanos solinoids, etc. All of which are easy fixes in my opinion.
 

willizm

Very Nice, Very Evil
May 13, 2009
12,829
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The Woodlands, TX
si.

my plan as well. I'm going to beat it until they let go now, since I've got the second vehicle to drive around

What do you see the going rate for a 07-09 335i sedan with 60k miles on it? It seems the prices are all over the place but I'm thinking the median rate is around 13k. Not sure if I'm too out of touch or not on that number.
 
Thanks for all the input so far guys.

Before I settled on wanting a 135i, I researched both the 3 series and 5 series. Since I have the Bonerville, the logic for the 5 series fell away instantly. While I do love the 3 series coupe, the 1 series is just a little more dorky and cool to me. Plus it's smaller and lighter. Willizm, it seems you are correct on the pricing though. Checking out the 1Addicts Classifieds Section shows that they're still a little closer to the 18-22k range for a very nice sub 50k mile example.

The N55 is single turbo twin-scroll, while the N54 is twin turbo. From what I've read, it seems the N54 has a higher overall potential than the N55, but the N55 is a little bit more fuel efficient and more reliable. But it requires meth and other stuff to reach the same numbers a N54 can. I love the modability of the N54. A tune and some bolt ons increases power quite a bit. I love how the JB4 works, with the interface through the gauge cluster. It's quite neat.
 

OffshoreDrilling

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Aug 28, 2007
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What do you see the going rate for a 07-09 335i sedan with 60k miles on it? It seems the prices are all over the place but I'm thinking the median rate is around 13k. Not sure if I'm too out of touch or not on that number.

I'd say 15 would be a plenty fair price for one that is in overall good condition at those miles. but, I'm really only familiar with coupe prices. 07-08 coupes with sport package in the 60-80k mile range were right about 18k
 

cacicgtp7

Some Military Dude
Nov 9, 2008
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Loved the time I had with my N54 - had an 08 335i. There's some threads already on here that have extensive responses about this engine and the 335i platform in general. I'll see if I can dig them up.

N54 > N55 in terms of easy performance. N55 had less problems than early N54's though. Your sweet spot is basically 2009/2010. Don't get me wrong both platforms are great though. Prices have seemed to stay constant for about the last 2-3 years on these cars. They haven't really dipped that much lately. Finding a lower mileage N54 might be a challenge, they are out there and people are asking like 24K for them. Crazy.
 
I'll have to do some digging here later on. Given my price range, an N54 135i is likely the only possibility. For the most part, it seems that many of the repairs (minus the turbos) are something that I could do by myself. Most of the ones I've seen were 2010s, so that makes me feel a little more at ease. I'm pretty set on a 1, but a 3 would be very awesome too. I guess I'll have to see what's on the market in a couple months.

Currently watching some exhaust videos and wiping my drool.
 
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