Cars of Crackers: Wagon In

7,618 · March 13

1 hour ago, hairnet said:

crackers it seems a bit sensible

wtf is up with that

So, I wanted something mainstream and sensible for a while, but still with enough punch as I really like driving powerful cars slowly, it's so relaxing.

The Jag is still out of service (2.5 months...) and the Fiesta is fun, but doesn't suit my journeys that well. This 330i came up for a good price and stood out as a nice "sensible but powerful" car.

The N52 is meant to be one of BMW's high points for reliability, so despite being quite thirsty I'm happy to pay a little extra in fuel if it doesn't come with the risk of diesel/turbos/timing chains/etc.

March 13

As Si said, I’ve got one. Taken it from 138-225k so far and it’s been golden (touch wood). Mines a manual SE on Bilstein suspension with various other bits.

As you say, very stout engines and I think brilliant to drive. The main two things that can leave you at the side of the road are the waterpump failing, and the fan belt tensioner. The waterpump actually sets a code in the engine ECU before it fails. Usually for speed deviation or shutdown. The belt tensioner folds in, and because of the design of the front pulley, it sucks bits of belt through the front main seal. End up with belt in the oil, and then the boom that Ecoboosts and puretechs.

If you don’t have the receipt for it, I’d put a belt and tensioner on it. A schäffler one isn’t that much, and is the OE part. Mine is off to Norway on a couple of months, and it’s been as far as Italy and Croatia. Great car.

20,295 · March 13

5 hours ago, Crackers said:

So, I wanted something mainstream and sensible for a while, but still with enough punch as I really like driving powerful cars slowly, it's so relaxing.

The Jag is still out of service (2.5 months...) and the Fiesta is fun, but doesn't suit my journeys that well. This 330i came up for a good price and stood out as a nice "sensible but powerful" car.

The N52 is meant to be one of BMW's high points for reliability, so despite being quite thirsty I'm happy to pay a little extra in fuel if it doesn't come with the risk of diesel/turbos/timing chains/etc.

I really wanted an e91 335d. Most are mega miles and good ones are more expensive than some later F models. Yours looks lovely.

38,111 · March 13

+1 on the belt and tensioner.

There is a thing on BMWs where stuff gets replaced "just because" or "while you're there" or "if you have no history of it being changed". I don't subscribe to that as most stuff doesn't actually need it doing.

However the tensioner is such a critical failure path and the parts are cheap. It was pretty much the first thing I did on mine. Mostly also because it was starting to come off. I used a Febi kit mostly as I could get it next day on Amazon. Took me about half hour tops to do and definitely not rushing it.

I have no history with my car, so I have no idea if/when the water pump has been changed. Again people seem to change these willy nilly. Unlike the tensioner, apart from codes stored but no warning lights when it starts to fail, if it does completely fail you'll get a big warning up so you don't cook the engine.

Personally the most important thing to buy in my opinion is a BMW specific code reader to live in the glovebox. Mine was like £45 or something like that. Even as just insurance when you get a warning light ping up to know if it's serious enough or not to carry on with your journey.

Loads of info on how to fix these N52 as they were such a popular engine in the USA (they never got the N53) and many more people out there fix their own cars thus more guides on stuff.

38,111 · March 13

Fuel economy wise I don't find them too bad but I guess it depends on your expectations. Low to mid 20s on short runs and around town. Low to mid 30s on a motorway run. Autos use a bit more fuel than the manuals. Mines an auto.

I don't think that's too bad for a 3 litre straight six naturally aspirated lump with indirect injection.

N53 with their direct injection get a 2-5mpg or so more. But that saving is negated if injectors or hpfp inevitably fail as those parts are mega bucks now. If you're risking that hassle, you might as well go full hog with a 335i N54 imo.

11,400 · March 13

As per @JakeT and @SiC i also have an N52 engined car. I replaced the water pump and belt and tensioner as a precaution immediatly. Belt and tensioner are cheap as chips. Water pump was pricier but i went for OEM and replaced the alloy bolts and the thermostat and housing at the same time. Other than that (frantically looks around for wood) it's been great. Plenty of poke, makes a lovely noise and revs like it has no fly wheel. A great engine. Easy 40mpg on a long run too.

Edit just read Sics post above about fuel consumption. To clarify ours is pushing round a Z4 coupe which is a bit lighter than yours. And it's a manual. She goes to work in it over the moors, she's an "enthusiastic" driver and it barely ever sees a motorway. Still turns in an easy 26 to 28 mpg in those conditions. Get in on a long motorway trip in 6th and it gets 40 no bother.

7,618 · March 13

@JakeT @SiC @Matty

Thanks gents. It's had a waterpump already, I'll leaf through the receipts and check for the tensioner. If not I'll plan one in.

Hopefully at the weekend I might get a few minutes to actually look at what I've bought!

38,111 · March 13

What toys were fitted?

I keep toying with the idea of retrofitting active cruise on mine. Just the radars aren't easy to find as it was a super rare option.

38,111 · March 13

I suggest going INA as OE is INA iirc but these were the tensioner and belt I got:

Prices have gone up a tad but its still around/under 100 quid all in.

This is what mine looked like. Note how it's walked off the pulley. The tensioner on mine was date coded 2005 and so original to the car with 150k+ miles on it.

This is how it should be ( @JakeT pic)

How I did it here:

Super easy with loads of room to work and you'd be done in a jiffy.

38,111 · March 22

On 12/03/2025 at 22:12, Crackers said:

Well it's a bit late as I've been out, but here's the reveal:

It's an E91 330i with the N52 engine.

Got it for what seems to be a pretty good price, and it's a nice example. Will report back when I have time to actually examine what I've bought.

How are you getting on with it?

11,400 · March 22

8 minutes ago, SiC said:

How are you getting on with it?

I had to use hers today to go to my dad's. As much as the car overall isn't my scene that's some engine! Poss one of BMs finest. I know I'm a known auto hater but with a 6 speed manual, it's so responsive to revs you really can play tunes with it.

7,618 · March 23

2 hours ago, SiC said:

How are you getting on with it?

Pros:

Build, ride and NVH is great. Wagon-ness is great. It's in very good shape for a 19 year old car. It's quiet on the move and pretty much everything works. I really like how it drives and feels, except the gearbox as mentioned below. I also like the styling of these a lot, they look smart and the interior design is superb.

It's the first car in 6 years that I've shown my mates and they've got "Oh, nice" instead of "Why?!", so I suppose that's good.

The lifting tailgate glass is a genuinely useful feature, not a gimmick.

Cons: Washer fluid all leaks out 🙄. It's thirsty AF. Auto box (pre-steptronic, possibly GM box?) is slow from a standstill and a bit dithery on the move. It really takes the shine off what would be a nice engine. Upgraded stereo works well with Carplay, but sounds rubbish in Android auto. Frustrating as it has potential to sound great but I have a Samsung phone.

Seems to have a misfire on warm start, it stumbles quite badly straight off idle if you free-rev it.

Although the ride is very good, it gets a bit bouncy over wavy surfaces. Feels like a suspension refresh would help, but that's quite costly so will probably get left.

Overall, I'm happy with the car and what I paid. If it was a steptronic ZF auto it'd be so much better. The MPG is worse than I'd hoped for, but c'est la vie. At least it's working and feels like it's got plenty of life in it.

Needs a bloody good wash. It's covered in dust and has moss growing in all the window seals. The interior also would come up lovely if I spent a day cleaning it which I might do when I have a chance.

38,111 · March 23

6 hours ago, Crackers said:

Washer fluid all leaks out 🙄

Possibly the headlight washers? If so they're cheap. Always fail too. Even brand new they failed and BMW didn't honour warranty replacements on them unless you use the genuine washer fluid 🙃

You can replace them without taking the bumper off. I did mine on the drive with the wheel at an angle and not even jacked it up. They commonly fail with them stuck out too. Often people remove the fuse to disable them. They should spray on a first windscreen wash with the lights on.

If not then could be the tank split or the pump has fallen out. Possibly someone in the past has filled it up with plain water and it's frozen?

Tank is in the driver's wheel arch. Supposed to be a pain to remove. I need to remove mine to clean out gunk that keeps bunging up the pump inlet...

6 hours ago, Crackers said:

steptronic ZF auto

Pretty sure it was only the US examples that got the GM box. Not 100% sure on that though.

HOWEVER my 55 plate is definitely a ZF 6HP box.

6 hours ago, Crackers said:

slow from a standstill and a bit dithery on the move

Mine is a bit like that. Combination of being a slightly older design box (unlike the 8 speeds) and also a fluid+mechatronic seal replacement is what apparently massively improves them. BMW filled for life nonsense even though ZF said change the fluid every 60k miles.

There is also the XHP gearbox remap that can really liven them up too. Need to change the fluids and seals ideally before doing that.

Slow from a standstill is the box going into neutral when stationary. XHP gearbox remap can apparently disable that. I let off the brake first and then after a split second then accelerate to allow it to fully take up drive. Annoying and I'm hoping a fluid+seal change will improve mine. If not I'll be doing the gearbox remap.

6 hours ago, Crackers said:

I also like the styling of these a lot, they look smart and the interior design is superb.

It's the first car in 6 years that I've shown my mates and they've got "Oh, nice" instead of "Why?!", so I suppose that's good.

I think they still look pretty smart and modern looking for something that is pretty much 20yr old now. Bangle got it right after all. I think it helps that, to the untrained eye, the F20 after looks very similar.

It's also the kind of car that is kind of expected our age/demographic will drive as such.

6 hours ago, Crackers said:

Seems to have a misfire on warm start, it stumbles quite badly straight off idle if you free-rev it.

If plugs and coils haven't been done for a while or no history, then probably worth doing. At the very least pull them to inspect (bit of a hassle pulling the cover but not a massive job). I bought 6 genuine Bosch coils for £130 or so from car parts in motion with an eBay promo code that often comes up.

There is also two types of coils. One for earlier engines and one for later. Mine took the earlier and is a different code. Put the later coils in a earlier engine and they have a stronger spark which erodes the plugs quicker. Could possibly it may have the wrong ones in too.

38,111 · March 23

What MPG do you get and what sort of driving is that?

(Could be that duff coils might not be helping here either)

7,618 · March 23

5 hours ago, SiC said:

Post snipped

This is great info, thank you.

I'll definitely be getting the gearbox work done as it's on 120k. Will be interesting to find out if it's a ZF box, I'll definitely get the XHP remap done if it is.

When I have time (rare) I do want to whip the plugs out for inspection. I wouldn't be surprised if it's overdue plugs and coils like you say.

MPG wise I managed to squeeze 31 out of it on a run up and down the A23 yesterday, which is acceptable. Around town it's low 20s. I suppose that's the be expected, but I'd have preferred it to drive a bit more interestingly for that sort of economy. Maybe doing the gearbox will liven it up.

Today's revelation was that it's gone through most of the litre of oil I put in it last weekend. That's about 600 miles. I really hope it's leaking it, not burning it. 🙄

38,111 · March 23

2 hours ago, Crackers said:

MPG wise I managed to squeeze 31 out of it on a run up and down the A23 yesterday, which is acceptable. Around town it's low 20s. I suppose that's the be expected, but I'd have preferred it to drive a bit more interestingly for that sort of economy. Maybe doing the gearbox will liven it up.

That's around what I get. I don't mind too much as it's comfortable and sprightly enough. Obviously no turbo so it doesn't give the back of the seat kick like a diesel or modern turbo petrol does. The smoothness and quietness hides quite the speed you're actually doing. Plus I went from a E320 V6 that was doing worse economy.

The manual box cars do a fair bit better in economy. Also livelier driving experience. Shame the F20 generation didn't get the N52 with the 8speed ZF that they all had. Much better (and modern) driving box.

Could be worse, you could have a 911 Tiptronic with the older and even slushier ZF 5HP box. Lovely flat-6 in a great chassis completely dulled by a very slushy box.

N53 engined vehicles even more so better on fuel - a good +5mpg to +10mpg. However then you have all the piezo direct injection shenanigans and if that stuff breaks (which is pretty common) the costs are like £250 or so per injector and twice that for a HPFP.

On a run however the autos can really do pretty good economy on a run. Right now we've been to the NEC classic car show and back (with my wife driving who doesn't mash the accelerator like I do) at pretty much constant 70mph with the economy looking pretty respectable. It's the most I've ever seen out of this.

The other way I look at it is that:

(8k miles per annum / 25mpg average) * (£1.35p/l * 4.54 (litres to gallon)) = £1961.28

So basically 2 grand-ish a year/£165 a month in fuel for something that is nice to drive, quiet/smooth, pretty sprightly performance and pretty solid reliability. I'd rather be spending that on consumables than either fixing something more expensive or depreciation on a financed new boring car like a base engined Focus/Astra/Golf or some shit.

7,618 · March 27

On 23/03/2025 at 07:18, SiC said:

There is also the XHP gearbox remap that can really liven them up too. Need to change the fluids and seals ideally before doing that.

Booked in for a box service + seals in a couple of weeks.

Then XHP remap time.

Hope it's worth it 🤞

32,079 · March 27

On 23/03/2025 at 02:08, Crackers said:

Auto box

I wonder if it's a ZF5 or 6HP? If so, I think the engines have a 'throttle delay' (or that might just be the manuals and I know the engine in yours is completely different to the M54 in mine) as on my E46 there is a slight delay on take up. Even with a replacement box it still does it, difference being now, the take up is smooth. Mine also sometimes can't decide what gear to be in around town although replacing the idle control valve helped massively as it was jamming (again, no idea if N series engines have this but worth a try). I've found the best way to drive it is to take it by the balls but mine is a toy so MPG is not a concern. I've honestly found the MPG on the Saab to be awful, mid 20s at best so I don't think you're losing out too much!

38,111 · March 27

E9x never came with the ZF 5HP.

N52 doesn't have an idle control valve and while it has a throttle body, it doesn't actually use it in normal running. It has a system called Valvetronic that essentially alters the valve opening with an extra cam to control the throttle. Of course it's something complicated because it's a BMW and can't be simple 😆

7,618 · March 27

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

I've honestly found the MPG on the Saab to be awful, mid 20s at best so I don't think you're losing out too much!

If it's that bad I'd better have it back 😝

I assume you're doing a lot of short journeys or town driving. I did find the MPG got much worse in winter, I usually got 28 winter and 32 summer. 35+ on motorway runs, 40+ if taken very stead. Do you run super unleaded in it?

38,111 · March 27

That's the one thing I like about my M54 and N52 over most other German engines is that they run happily on regular 95 without any power loss or ill effects.

32,079 · March 27

12 minutes ago, Crackers said:

If it's that bad I'd better have it back 😝

I assume you're doing a lot of short journeys or town driving. I did find the MPG got much worse in winter, I usually got 28 winter and 32 summer. 35+ on motorway runs, 40+ if taken very stead. Do you run super unleaded in it?

I don't do many long runs but I always reset it at the start of a long run. Dundee and back was 31mpg before I came off the motorway and into the towns. I dont always put super into it but I've heard it actually gives better mpg so next tank it's getting the hard stuff!

7,618 · March 27

3 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

I've heard it actually gives better mpg so next tank it's getting the hard stuff!

Anecdotally I'd agree. I almost always ran it on super and although I never did the maths, I would say it did give slightly better economy overall. Worth a try!

March 27

Slight thread derail, but thank you @SiC @Crackers and @Matty for reminding me of the tensioner.

Turned out the belt has gone walkies on my N53 as well, just ordered an INA tensioner for it.

~~(Same supplier offered a «Tronbelts» belt for it, anyone know of that’s any good?)~~

EDIT: Never mind, it seems to be the motor factor’s own brand.

38,111 · March 27

Super generally has less ethanol content. So more energy per litre of fuel - thus less is needed to make you go forward and better fuel economy.

38,111 · March 27

2 hours ago, EspenO said:

Slight thread derail, but thank you @SiC @Crackers and @Matty for reminding me of the tensioner.

Turned out the belt has gone walkies on my N53 as well, just ordered an INA tensioner for it.

~~(Same supplier offered a «Tronbelts» belt for it, anyone know of that’s any good?)~~

EDIT: Never mind, it seems to be the motor factor’s own brand.

I think apart from the tensioner, iirc there is an idler pulley too that is worth changing too. At least from memory.

March 27

Number 3 in this? Real OEM diagram

Was thinking about that one, too. It isn’t big money.

38,111 · March 27

42 minutes ago, EspenO said:

Number 3 in this? Real OEM diagram

Was thinking about that one, too. It isn’t big money.

Yeah that looks like the badger. Might be absolutely fine on your car ofc but sods law the bearings are either shot now or knacker out soon after with a new belt and more tension on it.

7,618 · March 29

Bit of a 10 footer, you can tell it's spent years in London, but doesn't scrub up too badly.

7,618 · April 5

Fuck my life.

All because of a single poxy tyre.

I hate cars. So much.

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