2014 BMW X3 2.0 Inline Turbo

[BISCUT]

I posted previously with a saga of my 17 year old cracking up a very sweet 2012 RAV4 that was pristine! Looking for used vehicles in the 8k realm is rather ugly! I hit up my friends and two of the three had vehicles I couldn't take the plunge on. These are solid guys, we all help each other. They will open their books to show me what they paid and they will take a $500 profit above that. Good group to be in with. Jeep Compass, Volkswagons, Hyundai's, etc.... No offense to anyone but I don't have faith in em with unknown history.

A solid friend of mine I worked with for over 20 years on the job sent me his inventory. I found a 2014 X3 2.0 with 71k on it. Apparently, one owner and a death in the family was the reason for sale. Makes sense at only 7k a year. I'm stopping by tomorrow to get a hug, lunch and a beer, and the keys for a week to see how I like it.

From what I know the N20 is a good engine but I'm sure there are quirks to be aware of. I'm familiar with maintenance on BMW's and I'm fine there. My last experience with BMW was a 2008 328X with the N52. Loved that inline 6. I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

I posted previously with a saga of my 17 year old cracking up a very sweet 2012 RAV4 that was pristine! Looking for used vehicles in the 8k realm is rather ugly! I hit up my friends and two of the three had vehicles I couldn't take the plunge on. These are solid guys, we all help each other. They will open their books to show me what they paid and they will take a $500 profit above that. Good group to be in with. Jeep Compass, Volkswagons, Hyundai's, etc.... No offense to anyone but I don't have faith in em with unknown history.

A solid friend of mine I worked with for over 20 years on the job sent me his inventory. I found a 2014 X3 2.0 with 71k on it. Apparently, one owner and a death in the family was the reason for sale. Makes sense at only 7k a year. I'm stopping by tomorrow to get a hug, lunch and a beer, and the keys for a week to see how I like it.

From what I know the N20 is a good engine but I'm sure there are quirks to be aware of. I'm familiar with maintenance on BMW's and I'm fine there. My last experience with BMW was a 2008 328X with the N52. Loved that inline 6. I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

Google N20 timing chain and recall.

 

[BISCUT]

Google N20 timing chain and recall.

Thank you, Sir.

 

[BISCUT]

Google N20 timing chain and recall.

What's your opinion on the 14 N20? Trans as well!

 

[Rand]

What kind of $$$$ if you dont mind?

 

[The Critic]

Borrowing a line from someone I know....
"n20's are the 40k car that cost another 40k every 5 years."

 

[BISCUT]

Borrowing a line from someone I know....
"n20's are the 40k car that cost another 40k every 5 years."

Herein lies my issue. I can say the same for many Hyundai, Audi, VW, Fords, Jeeps, Chevy's, and on and on. Thanks to @BMWTurboDzl and net searches I'll make sure the chain issue is investigated on this one. At under 10k almost everything is a roll of the dice in this market. I'm not complaining and you offer good insight on it.

Other than the breaking plastic tensioners I seem to see the other issues as standard BMW. Know for weeping on the valve gaskets and of course, the oil filter housing leak. Last two were common on the inline 6 I had in 08.

 

[The Critic]

Herein lies my issue. I can say the same for many Hyundai, Audi, VW, Fords, Jeeps, Chevy's, and on and on. Thanks to @BMWTurboDzl and net searches I'll make sure the chain issue is investigated on this one.

Chains aren't the only issue with the N20. The oil pump bits are equally (if not more) problematic and the cam bearings tend to get scored as well.

Not to mention the valvetronic, turbo and wastegate issues...

 

[RooflessVW]

If you want an F25, get one ('11 or '12) with the N52.

 

[BISCUT]

Chains aren't the only issue with the N20. The oil pump bits are equally (if not more) problematic and the cam bearings tend to get scored as well.

Not to mention the valvetronic, turbo and wastegate issues...

You are solid. I've read that the pump was not part of the recall fix and if done out of the 7/70k recall the pump should be done as well. Can you elaborate on the turbo & wastegate issues? Sticking like early Ecoboosts? Or worse? Appreciate it.

I'm also likely to get 4/100k (I will drive it 24-32k a year) bumper to bumper.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

What's your opinion on the 14 N20? Trans as well!

ZF8HP is fine. As for the this particular N20 I would want to confirm whether or not the chain has been serviced. I don't know if this vintage of N20 has electronic (ewg) or pneumatic wastegates (pwg). BMW switched to ewg on the N55 around this time. EWG are viewed as more durable. Another thing is that BMW began filling these engines with 20 grade and LL01FE (sub 3.5 hths 30 grade), I wouldn't be thrilled about that personally when the opinion of the community is that a min 3.5 hths is required.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2021/MC-10204534-9999.pdf

 

[edyvw]

What's your opinion on the 14 N20? Trans as well!

ZF8 is probably best transmission on the market in the last 15yrs.
However, N20 is not particularly liked. Besides timing chain issues, what @The Critic said. Also as @BMWTurboDzl said, oil switch bcs. CAFE probably has to do with some of these issues. I have neighbors in 80's who have one of those. They did not have any major issues. Why? They take it to the dealership, not some 10min oil change etc. So, that being an older couple, maybe they did due diligence on maintenance.

 

[The Critic]

You are solid. I've read that the pump was not part of the recall fix and if done out of the 7/70k recall the pump should be done as well. Can you elaborate on the turbo & wastegate issues? Sticking like early Ecoboosts? Or worse? Appreciate it.

I'm also likely to get 4/100k (I will drive it 24-32k a year) bumper to bumper.

I am not familiar with the intimate details of those issues, sorry.

 

[The Critic]

ZF8 is probably best transmission on the market in the last 15yrs.
However, N20 is not particularly liked. Besides timing chain issues, what @The Critic said. Also as @BMWTurboDzl said, oil switch bcs. CAFE probably has to do with some of these issues. I have neighbors in 80's who have one of those. They did not have any major issues. Why? They take it to the dealership, not some 10min oil change etc. So, that being an older couple, maybe they did due diligence on maintenance.

I doubt dealership maintenance is the reason. On time oil changes, even with the “wrong” oil, is generally adequate for most situations. Doing your plugs, filters and wallet flushes on time will not make your N20 last longer.

It also wouldn’t surprise me if the dealer either sold them repair work or goodwilled it and they just did not remember the details.

 

[edyvw]

I doubt dealership maintenance is the reason. On time oil changes, even with the “wrong” oil, is generally adequate for most situations. Doing your plugs, filters and wallet flushes on time will not make your N20 last longer.

It also wouldn’t surprise me if the dealer either sold them repair work or goodwilled it and they just did not remember the details.

True. I am just saying. They had the vehicle for about 8yrs at least. Some goodwill work? Possible, of course.

 

[The Critic]

True. I am just saying. They had the vehicle for about 8yrs at least. Some goodwill work? Possible, of course.

If you buy all of their “preferred” maintenance packages (which includes all of the snake oil and wallet flushes) and an alignment at every visit, you’d be surprised how much they’re suddenly willing to goodwill for their good clients.

Since valued BMW service customers tend to leave in a loaner anyway, they may take care of these items and the customer doesn’t even notice.

 

[MCompact]

My wife's X1 has the N20 motor. At 70k miles the only unscheduled maintenance has been the replacement of the plastic valve cover

 

[meep]

I had a brief stint with a 2021. Man, there are some absolutely lovable things about the X3. Nobody can get engine/transmission tuning dialed in like bmw - it was surreal even for their little suv runabout, and the handling and chassis was of course solid. Test drive one - it’s more substantial and refined than a CRV or RAV.

It’s also … more insulated from the road, or at least the 21 was, and the RAV actually had more “scrappy” in it.

We didn’t keep ours for two reasons, one of which was the seat. I could get it to contour my shape perfectly, but after a week of driving my body just ached. I may have been able to make that work with some neoprene and engenuity, but decided not since I was still within a “satisfaction guarantee” refund option. (In our case, the hybrids smaller fuel tank size and real-world highway gas mileage was worse than the gasser, shortening the range significantly - 320 or so per tank, which gets me 4 days basically and I couldn’t do that.)

Definitely take it for a drive. There are some unique strengths in the little SUV.

Now, we also have a Rav4H. And I’ll say that these two often get compared - and are both excellent vehicles of similar size but also hard to compare. The BMW is heavily dampened and softly sprung and has a lot of suspension compliance. The RAV is rubber-on-the-ground, not a whole lot of suspension travel, and noisier going down the road. The RAV has light steering and you can feel the ground, while the BMW has little steering feedback, just a consistent weight to it. The RAV gets significantly better mileage and has better switchgear. The BMW designers put more thought into their interfaces and features. Seats in the RAV are far far better for long stints than the bimmer, and that’s kinda sad to say.