2014 BMW 320i. Six speed manual, N20 2.0 turbo 4 cylinder. 215,xxx miles.
This car was my daily from 2019 (110k miles) until this past fall when it became my wife's daily. She's still daily driving it. At about 200,000 miles it started intermittently displaying a driveline malfunction error message. Powering off/on would clear it up and it would drive normally for days at a time. At some point, it stopped clearing up and has been in that mode (including reduced power) for at least 10,000 miles. It runs fine otherwise. My code scanner never gave me enough info to get past the parts cannon stage, and since it drove just fine, I never pursued it further. In fact, in the reduced power mode, I started getting another couple of MPGs. I'll run out when the current storms stop and plug in the code scanner & post the current codes.
I wasn't looking for a BMW when I bought this. I happened into it through a friend who called me from Carmax and said "They'll give me $6k for it. If you can match that, you can have it." The car was only four of five years old then, so it was a killer deal. As it turned out, it was a fantastic daily. Full disclosure: because I got it cheap, I sorta treated it like a Camry. It got what it needed, but nothing more. Over the years I've done brakes, tires, oil changes, and a valve cover. Oh, and I did coils & plugs early on in the "driveline malfunction" stage as a local "expert" assured me that was the issue, even though there were no misfire codes.
The turbo wastegate has rattled for years. In recent history, the oil cooler housing has been leaking externally. Not enough to consume oil between changes, but enough to be obvious. It will sometimes smoke at startup after sitting for a couple of days. Old school me immediately thinks valve seals, but Google certified mechanic me realizes that it's more likely to be a turbo issue. I suspect (with just about zero supporting evidence) that the turbo is the source of the driveline malfunction code as well. The N20 was known for timing chain guide issues early on. When I did the valve cover I inspected the guides and found them to be in great shape. Full disclosure again, that was 50k miles ago.
I have hit two deer in this car. Both were light hits where I was almost dead stopped at impact. The first got the hood, driver side fender, bumper, grill, headlight, etc. The second was just the hood & grill. Both were fixed properly by Amer-Tech Collision in Wilmington, DE.
In contrast to my "Camry approach," the PO was the "open checkbook at the dealer" type. I tossed all of the service history into a spreadsheet when I bought the car - see below for pics.
All that said, the car presents really well. it's not perfect, but it's good. For someone skilled in BMW diagnosis and repair, this might be a deal. For someone wanting a good LS swap candidate, this might also be a deal. I'm open to discussion, and some potential trades. I'm kind of in a "less stuff" mode right now, but this car doesn't really owe me much of anything at this point, so I'm willing to be creative.
