# Diesel enthusiast... Looking at 328d sport wagon



## InTheRed (Aug 29, 2016)

Hey everyone. First time poster long time diesel user. My family had a 1982 rabbit a long time ago and I had an 05 Jetta and 13 Passat, all diesel. I have the opportunity to do the Volkswagen buy back due to the emissions scandal and am heavily looking to do that and have identified the 328d sports wagon as really the only potential replacement. 

I estimate that I would walk away with +7000 from the settlement with VW. I'm looking at either a CPO or something from a private seller (auto trader or even here). I'm sad to see that I'd have to finally give up the manual transmission but I need fuel economy above all else without sacrificing the creature comforts of Bluetooth, heated seats, etc.

I know that BMW owners take good care of their vehicles and so do I. My Jetta had 180k on it and it looked very good for its age. My Passat has 93k on it and looks very good for that use. My commute to work is about 73 miles each way so I rack up mileage very quickly. 

What advice can you guys and girls give a potential buyer for this model? I have seen 2011 - 2014 on my searches. The prices have been 21k - 31k. 31k is the top of my range as I could see myself getting a 2014 or maybe even a 2015 for that price as I may not buy for a year still. With this settlement I do have some time to make a decision on what to do. 

Thanks much in advance for your help.


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## Doug Huffman (Apr 25, 2015)

I sold my 13 y.o. ALH TDI months before the dieselgate broke, but because Milady Wife was concerned about the collision robustness of the VW. Unless there is something that you are particularly and personally concerned with, why sell? My VW did 50+ mpg every year that I had it. I like my X5 but it has large shoes to fill.


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## InTheRed (Aug 29, 2016)

I've considered keeping it as well but I do see it as an opportunity to get a good amount of money for a car with 100k on it and upgrade to another car such as a BMW for a minimal price change. 

Keeping the car is still an option, however, I am perusing this option to get it out as well. Wi all the research I've done I believe either I will keep it or move to the 328d sport wagon.


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## floydarogers (Oct 11, 2010)

FYI, the sportwagon probably runs $3K or more than a sedan, if you can get by with a smaller cargo opening.

Many of the cars on the dealer lots (that were sold/leased) had few options on them and are rather basic for BMWs. Be sure to check that *all* the features you want are on the car you look to buy; you will probably be surprised at the basic level of equipment that comes on BMWs. I think that the dealers were pegging diesel buyers at people moving up from VW TDI and didn't option them up too much to keep the prices reasonable. A new diesel sport wagon optioned the way I would buy it would be a $52K car (or perhaps even more.)

Haven't seen many problems with the diesel here in the USA/CA, so I can't hazard a guess on whether the extra $ for a CPO will be worth it. It appears you drive a lot, so you'd probably hit the mileage before the years. You're in NJ; California emissions coverage to 7/70K applies (if you buy a car originally sold and licensed in NJ).

Good luck!


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## InTheRed (Aug 29, 2016)

Hi Floyd thanks for the info. 

I did notice the website had a lot of options listed - that's something I will have to look into further. The one thing I liked about the VW cars was that almost everything was standard. 

I guess the VW guys are more into wagons than sedans. I've always had a sedan but I do see an advantage to having a wagon. I get the price goes up some but a nice advantage is getting the x drive automatically. 

Does anyone have any issues with the car overall? Like does the transmission seem to die at 90k for a lot of people? Stuff like that.


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## floydarogers (Oct 11, 2010)

InTheRed said:


> ...Does anyone have any issues with the car overall? Like does the transmission seem to die at 90k for a lot of people? Stuff like that.


Most 328d don't have that many miles. However, many European owners (it's called a 320d over there, btw) have well over 100K miles, many in the 200K range, without major problems. You have to be a bit careful looking at EU/UK posts, as many of them are slightly older iterations of the M47/N47 engines which had two particular trouble spots that the newer N47 engines have been updated to fix: 1) timing chain problems, 2) problems with swirl flaps breaking off and falling into engine.

The transmission is the newer ZF 8 speed, again miles low. But the previous 6 speed ZF's in the E9x seem to have been pretty rock-solid and are going strong at higher miles. Lots of complaints about the sealed nature of them ("Oh, woe, I can't check the fluid level.") and the fact that BMW tried to pass them off as "lifetime fluid never needs changing".

Many people in the USA/CA complain about BMW NA and it's marketing department's impact upon the cars we get here in US. The option packages, etc. are constructed so as to keep BMW in the "luxury" market, while in EU/UK you can buy strippers that make them more mainstream. They have to pick and choose on what they can afford to put in the car to maintain some pretense of "luxury". Hence, no cloth seats. BT streaming is an option. Garage door opener is part of Premium package. Etc.

Frankly, electronics problems seem to be fairly common. These things (actually most cars these days) are incredibly computer intensive. And if one electronic/computer module fails it requires re-programming to integrate the new one. Even radio changes need re-programming. And the radio can take down iDrive. Good thing is that BMW has been doing it longer and understands these things better, but that still doesn't make things foolproof.


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## InTheRed (Aug 29, 2016)

That's a lot of good information. As I've stated I'm doing my research now so I can be ready later. I've always been that type of person where I read the facts and know the problems up front. I don't fall for that salesman schmooze stuff and quite frankly I'm put off by it. Don't think I'm going to pay an additional 10k because I want to feel like I'm part of a special elite club or not. I never considered BMW until multiple people in my thread on the TDI club brought up this particular model. Getting a used / CPO might be an excellent deal. 

Thanks for your help so far.


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## Jstarr70 (Jun 30, 2021)

InTheRed said:


> That's a lot of good information. As I've stated I'm doing my research now so I can be ready later. I've always been that type of person where I read the facts and know the problems up front. I don't fall for that salesman schmooze stuff and quite frankly I'm put off by it. Don't think I'm going to pay an additional 10k because I want to feel like I'm part of a special elite club or not. I never considered BMW until multiple people in my thread on the TDI club brought up this particular model. Getting a used / CPO might be an excellent deal.
> 
> Thanks for your help so far.


Did you buy the bmw?


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