Project: Space Wagon

[.RJ]

So after blogging for weeks here lamenting the sale of my A4, I've found its replacement.



Its a 2011 E90 Wagon (E91) xDrive (AWD) with 66k miles, 6 speed manual, non-turbo (da fuq?) inline 6.  This thing will be one car for two of us for a while and has to handle dog hauling, camping, bike racing, daily driving and ice fishing while not putting me to sleep behind the wheel.

More photos to come, but, space grey exterior/black interior.  Has some nice packages, with the upgraded leather, panoramic sunroof, heated seats and most importantly no auto transmission and no nav/iDrive.  It did not have the sport package, but on the xDrive cars that just gets you seats, steering wheel, and wheels I think.  

I found the car at a dealer in Boston, it was a one-owner trade in.  I had them on the horn at 9am sharp and had a deposit on it the day it hit autotrader.  Which was fun, because I was off to Chicago for a wedding that day so I'm walking through the airport trying to buy a car.  Had it shipped down to me and it arrived Tuesday.  The dealer had done a bunch of work on the car getting it ready for sale, new brakes, alignment, filters, oil change, ball joints.

Dropped the car at the indy shop I use in herndon for state inspections, and asked them to look over the car.  They noticed the belt tensioner was likely going to shit itself soon so I had that replaced and I've got a few things to rectify, the windshield had been replaced but it wasnt done properly so a new one is going in on Friday.  There was some light cosmetic damage on the rear 1/4 panel that didnt show up in the photos and I'm going to go get an estimate on that tomorrow morning.  The interior is mint and the car drives really, really well although much more sedate than the APR Stage II+ A4 it replaced.  Ok, maybe I'm still lamenting its departure.

I ordered a trailer hitch as soon as the car hit the transport truck, that was waiting for me at home and I got that installed this afternoon so I can transport my own bicycles again.  

Once the cosmetics are cleaned up, I've got a few plans for the car.  First up is the OE 3-stage intake manifold, the only difference between the 328 motor and the 330 is this thing and 30hp.



I have one here already, because buying parts for a car you dont own yet is totally normal.  You need an ECU flash for the manifold to do its thing, so I need to make some arrangements to have all that done at Mach V soon.  

I'm looking for the E90/91 sport package seats, steering wheel and some OE 18" wheels so I'll just pick those up as they come available locally.  Will likely change out the interior trim from the dark wood that's on there now for silver like i have in my 135.  The dark wood is too 'old man wagon' for me.  I'd like to put on the BMW performance exhaust & short shifter, but after getting the car cleaned up my budget is empty until the 135 sells.

Past that, I'm not sure what else this car needs.  Everything I read said that the xDrive handling was a giant bag of dicks but I dont agree with that.  Some FSD's would be nice, I put them on my A4 and was very pleased.  I'll wait until Koni does one of their sales and then think about it.

Long down the road, if this thing is paid off and I still have it I want to buy a wrecked RWD 335 and ship the lot down to DJ to swap the turbo drivetrain into it.  But thats a pipe dream for now....

[ispoonwithmugen]

:drool: I love these things. Paging Scotty to see what could've been his unicorn

[Senor_Taylor]

I want to see this!

So 328 is the turbo 4. 330 is NA i6 and 335 is turbo i6? I didn't know they made a 330 now.

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[ScottyB]

:drool: I love these things. Paging Scotty to see what could've been his unicorn

if i could have i would have.  ran out of time and couldn't get one in my budget.

stupid Americans and their SUV obsessions keep these things so rare, its ridiculous.  nice haul RJ

Long down the road, if this thing is paid off and I still have it I want to buy a wrecked RWD 335 and ship the lot down to DJ to swap the turbo drivetrain into it.  But thats a pipe dream for now....

i'll give it 6 months

[RawrImAMonster]

Nice, I didn't realize the 330's had a 30 hp bump over the 328's. I thought they were all 240hp until you got into the turbo motors. 270 hp out of that motor should make a perfect daily.

[Jake]

I want to see this!

So 328 is the turbo 4. 330 is NA i6 and 335 is turbo i6? I didn't know they made a 330 now.

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Not quite.

For the E90 generation:

• 325: 2006 only, N/A 2.5L I6
  
• 330: 2006 only, N/A 3.0L I6
  
• 328: 2007+, N/A 3.0L I6 with more restrictive intake manifold
  
• 335: 2007+, Turbo 3.0L I6
  

For the F30 (current) generation:

• 320: Turbo I4
  
• 328: Turbo I4, makes more power via different compression and tune
  
• 330: Turbo I4, new engine vs 328 but same power rating (ish)
  
• 335: Turbo I6
  
• 340: Turbo I6, new engine vs 335 but same power rating (ish)
  

Saw this thing in person last night and it's clean! Excited to see it all done up. Good that the belt tensioner is being done - check the oil filter housing gasket for leaks as well. Beyond those two points, the N52 is pretty tough.

[.RJ]

The motors in the F30/F31 are really nice. I drove one, and liked it even with the auto trans. But, the double whammy of price + a million of them sold means they'll continue falling off their depreciation cliff compared to the E91 I bought. I didnt want to spend $30+ k on a new car right now.

Fun time: I tried to get tags this morning and the dealer didnt fill out all the sections of the title, so I have to send that back.

[Ryan T]

Nice choice man! Love a good wagon.

[SlimKlim]

The motors in the F30/F31 are really nice.  I drove one, and liked it even with the auto trans.  But, the double whammy of price + a million of them sold means they'll continue falling off their depreciation cliff compared to the E91 I bought.  I didnt want to spend $30+ k on a new car right now.

Fun time: I tried to get tags this morning and the dealer didnt fill out all the sections of the title, so I have to send that back.

Nice buy! Looking forward to seeing what you do with it. 

What motor did you test drive in the F30? It always surprises me how clattery the 328s sound when I'm sitting next to them in traffic, although I'm sure they drive super well.

[.RJ]

The F31 I drove at carmax had the 2.0t gas engine.  All newer DI engines I've driven sound all clattery mcrattle, I think.

It was nice, and the availability of the Dinan tune would be nice and I was looking pretty hard at their tune/exhaust/intercooler package.  Its not cheap @ $3500 but wont turn the car into a limp-mode, rattle-trap, exhaust droning shitbox either.

The more I drive it the E91 the more I appreciate how quiet and sedate it is.  I just need to remember to appreciate what it is, without trying (and failing) to turn it into something it isnt.  I think most of what I add to the car will be OE sport or accessory parts.  It wont be the 1 car to rule them all forever, I suspect next spring I'll be adding something else back to the driveway.  I think I've already decided I want to try a 2nd gen Audi TT.

Next up though, I scored these on ebay. Coming from europe so will be at least a week before they arrive.



The dark wood for reference that I pulled off the googles.

[davej]

I want to see this!

So 328 is the turbo 4. 330 is NA i6 and 335 is turbo i6? I didn't know they made a 330 now.

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Not quite.

For the E90 generation:

• 325: 2006 only, N/A 2.5L I6
  
• 330: 2006 only, N/A 3.0L I6
  
• 328: 2007+, N/A 3.0L I6 with more restrictive intake manifold
  
• 335: 2007+, Turbo 3.0L I6
  

For the F30 (current) generation:

• 320: Turbo I4
  
• 328: Turbo I4, makes more power via different compression and tune
  
• 330: Turbo I4, new engine vs 328 but same power rating (ish)
  
• 335: Turbo I6
  
• 340: Turbo I6, new engine vs 335 but same power rating (ish)
  

Saw this thing in person last night and it's clean! Excited to see it all done up. Good that the belt tensioner is being done - check the oil filter housing gasket for leaks as well. Beyond those two points, the N52 is pretty tough.

BMW, staaaap please
life was so much simpler when you had series|displacement for your badge

But way to be quick on the trigger! I love the car and yes, it's totally ok to be buying parts before the car.

[JustinG]

Subscribed..... Following this very closely.

[.RJ]

I found a nice sport steering wheel, so thats on the way and meeting up with a local guy to pick up some sport seats next weekend.  I also ordered a bmw performance short shifter & weighted leather shift knob, so I'll knock all those out with the trim in one shot when everything is here.  

The interior updates are coming together pretty quickly, which also means I'm out of budget to do much else until this 135 sells.

One thing I'm hoping is the new intake manifold & tune sharpens up the throttle response. 

[.RJ]

Justin, if you're serious get on the phone this morning and call these guys, the car will be sold by Saturday.

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale...de1=328IXD



The oyster interior is probably not the best for kids but its not hard to swap that out.  Has the sport package, too.  Damn that color is nice.

Its $2000 more than I paid for mine but it does look in slightly nicer shape and does have iDrive/Nav if you're into that.

Wish this had been up a few weeks ago, its a nice, nice car.  The only thing that would get me to flip mine would be an m-sport RWD car though.

[JustinG]

:drool:

Thanks RJ, but I probably won't make any moves to spring.

The utility of a truck is very appealing so a Ridgeline is on my list. But damnit I miss having a wagon.

[.RJ]

Having gone from a Ridgeline to a wagon, there are maybe 3 or 4 times a year I miss the truck. Most of those times I'm buying shit from home depot, and can just rent their truck for $20, or rent a truck/van from uhaul, I have a gas station around the corner that does the rentals.

Seriously, just get the wagon.

And.... this popped up this morning.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1428279

The price is high, and he'll probably get it. I'd probably have caved and bought it if I hadnt just bought the grey one.

Or, Justin I'll sell you the grey one I just bought? I'm so dumb.

[JustinG]

I'll give you $16k + all the sport stuff you just bought.

[.RJ]

Make that $20k and I'd sell it. No bullshit.

[WRXtranceformed]

Make that $20k and I'd sell it.  No bullshit.

I feel like this whole situation is like you giving up heroine and trying to get your fix on methodone.  Just don't go full bath salts on us

[.RJ]

Bath salts is the one where you go eat someone's face, right?

I'm ok with that.

Justin wont buy it anyways so by the end of the day I'll have calmed my tits and reminded myself to stay the course. The xdrive is probably more sensible anyways for what I'm using the car for. The unicorn wagon idea is a nice idea when swinging your dick around on the internet but its still a 4,000 lb sled that wont ever drive anywhere close to what my 135 or a an M3 is like. Cant ever make it what its not, a sports car with a long roof.