We'd need to know your budget.

avoid production runs between 07/07 to 11/2011. There are timing chain issues within this time frame.

fantastic cars, most frugal engines for a given output by some margin.

I have an 11 plate 318d and have been told that anything manufactured after March 2011 is unlikely to be affected by the issue however it does continue to worry me especially given that the car is out of warranty next year. Mine has a manufacture date of May 2011.

The dealer has 'listened' to mine for tell tale signs and of course says nothing is wrong. I don't think this is as big a problem for BMW as, say, the ABS pump was for VW but I must confess it's one of the reasons I am actually considering moving the car on before the warranty expires as a failure out of warranty would be massively expensive to repair.

I also find the dealer servicing costs, as discussed in a recent post, quite prohibitive.

Shame, it's a lovely car and drives very well.

Edited by Dingle232 on 09/12/2013 at 16:12

No worries. To be honest the fact that mine has the N47 variant engine is enough to make me worry anyway regardless of manufacture date. I just dread anything happening to it once its out of warranty.

Does anyone know what date BMW stopped fitting the 3 series with the N47 and what the new variant engine is?

That's good to know.

FWIW I never subject mine to stress in fact I can't really justify owning such a nice car as it's sat in the garage half the time so I really don't do it any kind of justice at all. I am still toying with selling whilst it's value is still high and just buying a little runabout but I always had an aspiration to own a BMW and am really struggling letting it go.

Completely stupid logic but that's where I am at :-)