Finally bought my 3 series (got something much better than what I hoped for)

[Katanator]

Hey guys finally got the car of my dreams(for now). Initially I wanted a 320i or 320d e90 since that was what was in my budget. Luckily found something way above my expectations. Busy with final steps in arranging finance and will hopefully get the car in next week.

Its a 2006 320d m-pack with 86000 on the clock, car is still in mint condition and got a subwoofer system as bonus

Okay so now over to taking care of my car to the best of my ability, has anyone got me some maintenance or service related tips. The other thing is I have about two months of motorplan left, but car already went in for service in June this year so is there anything I can stil score out of this bit of motorplan.

 

[moranor@axis]

looks good :rollsmile:

 

[drugekull]

Congrats man good choice

My Advice to you is extend the time on the motor plan you can still do it for another 2 years and it will not cost a lot. It will be about between R3k and R6k

Then you should be able to get rid of any issue in the next 14k km's

 

[Philip Foglar]

Looking very nice!!! Agree with extending the motorplan just for the extra piece of mind. Is this your first diesel? Basically these cars rock, but to get the best out of them in the long term means treating them right - gentle from cold starts (no large throttle openings at high or low revs), allow time to idle when stopping at your destination to allow the turbo to cool down and stop spinning so fast. A good trick is to anticipate when you are close to stopping and just ease off a bit allowing the engine as much as possible to run under off throttle in gear conditions - no combustions so just cool air going through the engine, exhaust and therefore turbo.

This is just general turbo diesel good practice, there are quite a few members here with these suburb cars that will be able to give better advice from experience with their cars! :thumbs:

 

[Wick-ed]

CONGRATULATION!!!! Philip :thumbs:

 

[BRUCE G]

Congrats :thumbs:

 

[Sankekur]

Congrats, looking good :=):

 

[Inspector_Gadget]

OK, so do the year extension and then take the car in and complain about everything. If you don't get too much Joy simply book at another BMW dealer and try again.
Have them replace control arms, wishbones and anything else you can think of.

I have owned three of these 320d BMW's and they have been great.
First one had a turbo go at 147000 km's and then an injector at 155000.
Second car did 297000 km's with no issues.
Third one was sold because I started working for BMW and purchased a 5 series for my wife.

Great car. Remember, 50 ppm diesel only and I always changed oil every 7500 km's.
Always let turbo cool at idle before switching off the engine.

Take out the cats as soon as plan expires.
Remap for great power gain.

Lastly, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy:thumbs:

 

[AshG108]

Congrats, the car looks awesome!!!

 

[hoosain]

:thumbs: nice congrats

 

[herr bmw]

congrates,

have to aggree extend the motorplan,at least by a year.bought my car and had some issues,that were all sorted out under mp,so didnt have to worry finding cash for these problems

 

[Coisman]

imp:
Very nice find there, and enjoy her to bits! :thumbs:
Agree with the guys in that contact BMW finance, look up their number on the net under "bmw motorplan extension" then call them.
It might cost you like R3-5K to extend it by another year, and if you take 5,000km extra just in case then still under R10k and well worth it.

 

[frikkieh]

Congrats, I extended my MP and used it within 5 days.

 

[andrewbuch]

Congrats :thumbs:

I agree with the others, Extend the motorplan by a year & no mileage.. The dealer might tell you its not possible, so tell them to get approval from motorplan.. Because often the system at the dealer does not allow them to do it.. Happened with our E46 & E60.. So they send a request to motorplan & it gets done.. For the E46 it was R3k for extra year, for the E60 it was R5.3k..

Then after this, take the car in & complain that its not handling nicely, they might just do wheel alignment, then take it back a few weeks later & complain again of same issue but say you think its shocks, control arms, etc.. Until they replace control arms & bushes & shocks etc.. Complain about everything.. how the clutch does not feel right, how the brakes feel like the disks are warped, how it seems like there is a oil leak from the diff, how the back shocks are leaking oil(some Q20 could help here)...


the more you complain about things, the better the chances of them replacing them for you..

 

[Edwinz]

MP. And then coomplain like there is no tomorrow.

Start with the clutch and gearbox sincs.
New starter motor and brake disks and pads.

When i bought my car it had 500km left on MP. The amount of work I made 3 different dealers do came to 32K. if It wasn't on MP this price would have been much more than that.

Good buy. Enjoy.

And remember. Us Enthusiasts live on pics. It is our food and wate rof the day. Don't let us starve man.:thumbs:

 

[tcal69]

OMG, you guys just complain about every haha

 

[Katanator]

Cool thanks allot for the awesome feedback guys,I will certainly look into extending the motorplan for another year and then see thereafter what I will do. So you guys reckon the 1 year extension wont cost me me more than 5k. And yes its my first diesel as well as my first car.

Some questions though :
Firstly where do you get 50 ppm diesel because I only know of one type of diesel available at garages?
Secondly do I change the oil myself or at dealership?

I will certainly let the turbo cool down after drives and thanks for the heads up and the picks will come as soon as I've got the car,my family also still has to drive it down form PTA.

 

[drugekull]

Cool thanks allot for the awesome feedback guys,I will certainly look into extending the motorplan for another year and then see thereafter what I will do. So you guys reckon the 1 year extension wont cost me me more than 5k. And yes its my first diesel as well as my first car.

Some questions though :
Firstly where do you get 50 ppm diesel because I only know of one type of diesel available at garages?
Secondly do I change the oil myself or at dealership?

I will certainly let the turbo cool down after drives and thanks for the heads up and the picks will come as soon as I've got the car,my family also still has to drive it down form PTA.

Where abouts do you stay? So I can tell you where to get 50ppm diesel?

I found this on the kia site it might help
http://www.kia.co.za/Services/DieselStationLocator

I think they will only allow you to extend it for 2 years minimum if its only time then it will be cheap but the issue when I tried it a few years back is thatyou have to have 20000km's left before you hit 100000 before they will extend time only

But try anyway these rules cahnge all the time

 

[ASH M]

Congrats :thumbs: You've got yourself a true gem there, enjoy.

 

[Katanator]

okay guys after reading up about the what type of diesel to use ive just comfused myself allot more since everyones opinion is different.
So the thing is the previous owner probably didnt wory about what type of diesel he used so would most prob be 500ppm so would it hurt to continue with 500 ppm,also they say that older cars worked beter on the 500 due too lube properties,so is a 2006 model of the newer gen or not?,im kinda confused now so any 2006 or older owners whay do you use)
?
Im not going to do alot of driving in the next year so think if possible will only extend the mp time for another year and then try to get as much out of it as possible over the year.
Another thing that comes to mind is if the cats should break should i remove them completely and what effect wil this have on the car.
Thanks a mill for all the input so far,promise u guys a proper pick update as soon as ive recieved the car,im so excited now can hardly sleep at night since its my first car aswell.