No, just skip the petrol engine model and go for diesel. My father owns the e90 320d and until today engine issues is quite minimal compare to petrol engine equivalent. As my mechanic place also got few 320i with different generation engine, petrol also got a lot of problems from valvematic controller, ignition coil, sensor, electric water pump etc...

My mechanic personally feedback if want less issue and can accept the clutter sound of the high pressure fuel pump & injectors the diesel engine is way more reliable and less electrical part to worry about..

Besides that also higher torque fun..

This post has been edited by littlefire: Jul 22 2022, 09:06 AM

Nop. There are CKD batch of official E90 & F10 diesel units in Malaysia thus got plenty of spare part availability. Besides that if any spare part no stock, nowadays can just wait 1~2 weeks ship from Germany. BMW spare part availability is way more common and faster even compare to Proton nowadays.

This post has been edited by littlefire: Jul 22 2022, 03:18 PM

For sure 323i/325i is more better compare to 320i from engine layout (4 cylinder vs 6 cylinder) to output.
If really want to drive petrol engine from BMW, the 6 cylinder engine is one of the best.

Similar problems across petrol engine as most items are quite similar, some older engine might be using mechanical water pump so cheaper a bit to change, but the rest should be similar. For 6 cylinder engine, the engine mounting might last longer due to less vibration.

All N52 engine got vanos, if you dont want vanos will need to get back those old rides from 90's which is the E34 early batch M50 (non-TU) engine.

My father own 2010 model of LCI 320d, the issue already solved since the LCI model. Until today i never heard of timing chain snap from my mechanic side, during my major fix of oil leak last 2 years back when my mechanic bring down the engine & gearbox to fix those seals, he also help inspect the timing chain condition at 150k @ 10 years it is still in good condition. The most he tell me just to change the timing chain guides & pre-tensioner and good to go for another 5 to 10 years and recommend me to come back to check at around 250k.

He only advice me that for all timing chain vehicles using good quality fully synthetic oil is a must and also dont drag too long for oil change. If you look at Europe why a lot of chain issue, just look at their oil change intervals almost double of what we do locally. In Europe they only change the engine oil at 10,000miles or 16000km...

This post has been edited by littlefire: Aug 8 2022, 09:46 AM

Not sure why, but silvertop got the worse engine recommendation from my mechanic. This generation engine want to go for lightweight/fuel saving route but when doing overhauling most of the screw, bolts & nuts need to be replaced and drill out as it is aluminum base. Yes, aluminum bolts! Just imagine how many pcs in the engine and broke into half when try to dissemble? Most mechanic after took out, propose to replace with either steel or stainless steel type bolts. Just imagine those broken bolts sent to machining house to pick out one by one..

You got stainless steel bolts if your concern about corrosion, i work in steel industry before and a lot of our end customer products also use a lot of these material mix together during assembly and there is no concern. If concern about material expansion & holding strength, usually it can be solve using helicoil, treads inserts & loctite solutions put in between 2 different material. We did a lot of test during assembly time with vibration, pressure & heat test and even used in automotive, locomotive & aerospace products also no issues.

Magnesium material is always the biggest problem, altho it is the most light weight but also the most easiest to oxidized, if you live near to seaside or high moisture area the magnesium material will easily create those powdery stuff and surface might got pitting holes due to it. Thus a lot of manufacturer in the end either revert back to Aluminum or use alternate material like plastic to replace especially engine cover (FYI Old Merc engine top cover M103/M104 usually are made from Magnesium also in the past and got a lot of case hole or crack after certain period)

This post has been edited by littlefire: Aug 12 2022, 08:04 AM

Well this is different case for the silvertop engine, even if it is factory torque spec with original bolts it will mostly break when disassembly even for the first time. My mechanic did a lot of BMW engine before, when he see silvertop engine want to do overhauling he usually will tell the owner to prepare more money due to higher chance of bolt broke, some owner did not believe & purposely stay behind just to see during disassembly to understand. Just imagine sending to machining shop to do 1 by 1 , after that need to do retreads or put in helicoil 1 by 1, all these are extra cost money. Thus this engine generation is the most hated engine to do overhauling from my mechanic feedback.

May google/youtube about broken bolts N52 engine, plenty of information.

This post has been edited by littlefire: Aug 12 2022, 07:57 AM