[akshay4587]

Prologue

I moved to Melbourne in early 2016, and Dad retired later the same year.
Before I moved, Linea MJD Emotion Pack was my Daily since 2012 and I did over 100K kms in 4 years with it; since I was relocating and we had other vehicles as well, so it was decided, we get rid of the Linea. I found a buyer, and the deal was sealed, just a day before, I was to fly to Melbourne. We still had 5 cars in our Garage.

I have been flying back often since then, on my first trip back home, dad who is fond of cars as much as I do; expressed his desire to own a AT, since all our cars were MT. So in January 2018, it was decided, we replace our 2014 Polo Comfortline 1.2P (Mom's Car), with an AT hatch. Polo GT Tsi was ruled out primarily due to It being the same car. We had a Look at Ignis AMT and a Swift AMT and ruled them out. I went back, and the idea of getting an AT was dropped for the time being, since our usage is very less, when I am not around. Years went by, and it was November 2020, when I came back home for a long hiatus.

The Endeavour Saga

Due to some unforeseen circumstances back home, I had to travel, and this was supposed to be a long trip. In January 2021, Dad, again expressed his desire to own an Automatic Transmission Car, so the search began, we had a look at the new options and decided, that let us replace Polo with a Used Polo GT Tsi. So, the search began, and as expected there were hardly any good clean GT Tsi cars in the market. When buying preowned, it is our rule to not even look at a second owner car, no matter how clean it may be. The search for a used Polo GT Tsi was getting us nowhere.

One odd day, got to know of a 2011 Ford Endeavour 3.0 4X4 AT being sold by an acquaintance, the vehicle’s history was clean, Single owner and 61K kms with records. Dad has always been a fan of this vehicle due to its size and shape, somehow, he managed to convince mom that this is going to be her Polo’s replacement. No time was wasted in closing the deal, and the Endeavour was home.

Upon Arrival, My Mom’s First reaction; I am not driving this Truck!
So Endeavour was home and the Polo was retained.




















BMW Fables

Exactly 2 days into the Endeavour Ownership, we were back to square one, the plan was to replace Mom’s car with an Automatic, and now we had an Automatic car in our garage, which My Mom Will not touch. So, we resumed the search for an automatic small car. I contacted an old friend, who recently fell on tough times and from being owner of a manufacturing unit, has gotten into used car sales. He informed me that he does not have any Small AT cars, however what he has is a clean single owner E90 BMW 320D Msport.
Upon hearing this, without consulting anyone at home, I asked him to bring the car over.
And true to his word, the car was really clean, Single owner car with 37K kms on its odometer. Upon closer inspection, I figured out that the car had a fair bit of extras apart from BMW Motorsport division apart from M sport bits. The Extras on the car were as follows, listing out Msport bits first, and then the BMW Motorsport Extra’s

Msport Bits

• Black Grille
• Msport Rims
• Side Skirts
• CF Boot Lip.
• CF Mirrors

BMW Motor Sport extras

• BMW M Performance pack that includes A ECU with 205bhp Map, Bigger Intercooler, A Muffler with twin Exhaust outlets.
• Big Brake Kit, I am not sure, but the calipers are 380MM, they, look a size bigger than 330MM Brembo’s I have on my Alfa Romeo in Australia.
• Strut Brace finished in Brushed Aluminum
• BMW Motorsport Flat Bottom Steering wheel with LCD display for displaying Oil/Water temperature, Shift lights, Lap timer/ Quarter mile timer and few other things.
• illuminated BMW Motorsport Scuff Plates
• Carbon Fiber Diffuser for rear bumper.

It was love at first sight for me, and I decided I wanted this car no matter what.

But then, our typical problem, too many cars and not enough users or even usage to justify another car. Got both my parents to drive the E90, and they really liked it. Dad knew about F30, so he was like why not a F30, had a look around, and most F30’s in our budget were either second owner, or with too many kms 75K+, even asked another friend of mine to bring over his F30 for my dad to test, since he is the one who will drive, it when I am back to Australia.

Being an old school guy, he absolutely hated the joystick shifter of F30 as compared to gated shifter of E90. So, the path was clear, and E90 was coming home for sure; now, what should it replace? The Thar Crde?, since we had already got another 4WD the previous week, or my beloved W124 E220. Since W124 is the least used car in our garage, and me being the only user, it was decided that we will replace the W124 with the E90. It was an extremely difficult decision for me, but E90 was too good to let go. After a fair bit of negotiations and arguments with the middleman, the E90 was home.
Solving the F30 Vs E90 Dilemma


Coming Home


Love the LCI Lights and Rear CF Diffuser with M Performance Pack Exhaust


Side Skirts


Love the Pull Up Sun Shades


All Black Interiors


Red Cushions add a nice Subtle touch, Came with the Car


Piano Black Finish and Flat Bottom Wheel, really miss the M sport Logo


Msport Rims


Big Brake Kit


Strut Brace


Illuminated Side Sills


I love the wheel as it displays Water and Oil Temperature


The Start Up Sequence!



I had people already lining up for my W124, and I had deposit for it in my account the next day.
As a family, we have this habit, of getting attached to cars, I still remember, back in 2001, when we sold our Gypsy, my younger brother was inconsolable. Thankfully, parking space is not a problem for us, so one fine morning, dad acknowledged all my efforts, that I had put in the W124 to bring it to its current shape, and he asked me to return the deposit, and retain the car. So while looking for a AT replacement for our trustworthy polo, we had gone overboard, and added two more cars in our garage within a span of 7 days. The Polo was still here and So was the W124.


While Window shopping before closing the deals of these two cars, we came across two interesting deals, apart from usual A4's/3's and C's.
Two Porsche Cayenne's (Both V6 Petrol's) which were being sold for a song, both were V6's and the Golden Beige one was Sold for a Slightly lesser amount than what we paid for the Endeavour!

Porsche being Porsche, we Walked out of these two deals for some other day

[akshay4587]

Endeavour Ownership

Got the Endeavour at 61500 kms and the Current Odometer stands at 67K kms, and our only grudge against it, is it’s dismal FE.I never really cared about FE in the past, but at 92/L, FE of 6/7Kmpl does hurt on long drives; Imagine having a 71L tank, that barely has a range of 500kms.
The only issue I have had with the Endeavour, ever since we got it, is CEL, first time it popped up when I got a tank full of fuel for the first time. Upon Scanning, it came up with two errors.

P0101FF -was cured when I replaced MAF sensor.

P0402FF -was cured after EGR was cleaned.

Other than this, Endeavour is going strong, and I completed a 2000kms road trip to Himachal in July, the only issue at the end of the trip was fuel bill. More on the Endeavour later, as I rack in more kms.

Pros

• Size, at over 5.1M in length, it is massive, Vcross is the only vehicle from the segment which is longer. But it feels like I am driving a Bus at times
• 4 Airbags, when competition at its time only offered two.
• Decent ICE for its age with Bluetooth/Navigation etc.
• Leaf Springs at the back, it is a workhorse and I like it that way.
• Excellent cruiser, that is when it gets into overdrive

Cons

• Fuel Efficiency, I would have been okay with 8-10 kmpl, but 6-7kmpl in this age is quite dismal and hefty on the pocket.
• Slow Transmission, 5R55W is the slowest AT I have ever driven, it just hates to downshift. Not that, I want to race with the endeavour, but sometimes It gets a bit irritating. Surprisingly, it was not much of an issue on steep climbs in the mountains.
• Again Transmission, No Manual mode, and the top gear only engages when it crosses 90km/hr, that means sometimes, I end up travelling between two cities without getting into top gear, no wonder it returns 6-7kmpl.
• Middle row is uncomfortable, but I barely drive with more than 2 people on board, so it’s acceptable.

Error Codes


MAF Sensor


Cleaned MAF sensor with Isopropyl Alcohol


FE figures, they are a bit inaccurate though.


I use my 4WD's for Touring, and I had a trip lined up to Lahaul-Spiti Valley in July, Usually My Thar has been a trustworthy companion for trips like these, however, at the last moment Friend's Girlfriend decided to join in for the trip, so we were now 3 pax, Thar was dropped, and I decided to take the Endeavour. Even though the vehicle has a clean history, and has been taken care of nicely, I was a bit skeptical about taking her on a long trip. Got her Serviced and a full underbody/hoses etc checked and completed the 2000kms trip without any issues at all. In fact I enjoyed the 380NM torque, and she felt a lot more effortless on climbs as compared to my Thar Crde. Surprisingly Overall FE for the trip was around 8.5kmpl, which was more than what I was expecting.
Here a few Photos from the trip.








More Updates, as I log in more kms on her Odometer.

[akshay4587]

BMW E90 320D Msport Ownership

Likes

• With a Map, it is fast, it feels faster than my friend’s F30 which has a better ZF gear box.
• Handles as if it is on rails, it’s a tie between this and my Alfa Romeo.
• Steering Feedback from the Electrohydraulic unit is phenomenal.
• Thanks to Big Brake Kit, the stopping power is amazing.
• Extremely low seating position.

Dislikes

• Harsh ride, I feel even the smallest of pebbles inside, but I guess I can live with it, since it’s not like a family daily drive. 225/45/17 tubeless Michelin’s do not help either, I plan to switch to 225/50/17 at the next change.
• Low Ground clearance, thanks to side skirts, and a long front overhang, I have to plan my trips for the car, and take either of the SUV’s or Polo to the places where I am not sure about roads.
• No Sunroof in my car, I love Sunroofs, and how I wish I had it in this. I was looking at F30’s only due to this.
• No HID’s, it has iDrive but no HID’s, though I am extremely impressed by the throw of stock halogens, best stock lights I have ever experienced, in fact my friend who owns the F30 was impressed with the headlights.
• Rear seat space does not really bother me though.
• Last but most important- No Spare Tyre, really BMW?; with tubeless Tyres, I have anxiety during every drive, though I carry Inflator and the emergency puncture repair can with me always.

I got the car at 37,743kms on Odometer, on 22nd February 2021, and it said Oil change/Brake Oil Change was due. One Phone call to BMW Confirmed that the car had it’s last service/oil change at 29,XXX kms, so as for Kms, it was within permissible limits, but overdue by 6 months as compared to one year. I am a firm believer of FNG’s for simple jobs like basic services etc.

Being close to Chandigarh, I am blessed with two friends, who own workshops and work on European cars regularly. A Quick Look at the user manual informed me that I need LL-04 approved oil for the car. A look around the local market, and I found that only Liqui Moly toptec 4100 is LL-04 approved, and incidentally it is one of my preferred brands of oils. Picked up OEM oil filter from BMW Spares counter, asked for Air Filter and it was 5000 bucks. I thought, let us skip that for now, and try after market for the same; and behold, I got the OEM LX-1640 from Mahle brand for 1500 bucks. The amount saved was more than what I paid for labor at my friend’s workshop for service. Oil changed, iDrive reset, next service was due after a year and 13000kms. I have done around 4500kms on the car since February, and it has been flawless No problems to speak of whatsoever (touchwood).
Recently, completed a 700 kms road trip and got an overall FE of 16.5kmpl, cannot ask for more from a car like that.
Next up will be rear brake pads in a few thousand kms, still contemplating on what brand of pads to go for.

OEM Filter


Mahle OEM Replacement at 1/3rd Cost


OEM Oil Filter I got from BMW


Liqui Moly LL-04 Approved FS oil


N47/B57 Share the same Oil Filter


Oil Filter


Total Cost for Service Including Parts and Labour was around 12K with all work done in front of me to my Satisfaction.

The Car has returned some impressive FE figures when Driven Sedately.

While Driving to a Tbhp Meet


After Finishing off the Meet


This was an Early Morning Run hence decent Avg speed.


However, the FE can drop to 10-11 when its driven the way it's meant to be, On roads like these

Them twisties


Taking a Break


What's Better, the Car or the Zinger?


More updates, as I log in more kms on her.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Reviews section. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage today

[KingKong]

Brilliant cars, great review. These are two of my favourite diesel vehicles, and they have their drawbacks but are great to be driven in (only in the front passenger seat). Wish you and your parents a great journey with these beasts.

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by KingKong

Brilliant cars, great review. These are two of my favourite diesel vehicles, and they have their drawbacks but are great to be driven in (only in the front passenger seat). Wish you and your parents a great journey with these beasts.

I agree, with these being good front seat vehicles only.
I am always there so, I never complain

[BHPjunkie]

Brilliant reviews. Those are one of the cleanest pre-owned cars considering the age. Both being at least 8 years +. The 320d looks smashing with the M-Sport kit and the interiors look very clean. Love how the steering wheel lights up on start the vehicle.

I would be tempted to come down to just drive the 320d down the winding road shared in your picture.

Kudos and wish you many miles with both these beasts.

[KingKong]

Akshay please do post some pictures of your cars together. Your fleet is one that I surely envy after and they are insanely cool vehicles.

[Thegermanbadger]

That's a nice looking e90. The lci lights really add to the looks. The msport kit just adds even more!

The steering wheel and wheels are my favorite bits.

Can you share some more info on the steering wheel please.

Wish you many more happy miles!

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by BHPjunkie

Brilliant reviews. Those are one of the cleanest pre-owned cars considering the age. Both being at least 8 years +. The 320d looks smashing with the M-Sport kit and the interiors look very clean. Love how the steering wheel lights up on start the vehicle.

I would be tempted to come down to just drive the 320d down the winding road shared in your picture.

Kudos and wish you many miles with both these beasts.

Spotless and almost brand new Interiors was one major attraction for this particular car. You are most welcome for a Drive Anytime

Originally Posted by Thegermanbadger

That's a nice looking e90. The lci lights really add to the looks. The msport kit just adds even more!

The steering wheel and wheels are my favorite bits.

Can you share some more info on the steering wheel please.

Wish you many more happy miles!

Thank you buddy.
This is the steering wheel I have in my car.

https://www.getbmwparts.com/oem-part...b3J5IFBhZ2U%3D

[Jagatvir]

Congratulations on both the purchases Akshay! I happened to own that particular Golden Beige Porsche Cayenne. The Porsche seems to be standing at Sangha's Motorcraft in Mohali, I recollect having dropped it there since a prospective buyer wanted to have it inspected. I didn't expect the Porsche to pop-up in one of the forums .

It was a fun car to drive for the short period we owned it.



I can empathise on how difficult it must be to let go of a solid W124.

We should plan a meet up for W124 owners in and around Chandigarh.

[Thegermanbadger]

Originally Posted by akshay4587

Thank you buddy.
This is the steering wheel I have in my car.

https://www.getbmwparts.com/oem-part...b3J5IFBhZ2U%3D

Thanks man, I had a look at the website. Saw some other interesting stuff too.

I was told about some Russian website that sends original and reps for stuff like this too.

I might be letting go my e90 soon but was look for things for the f25.

Cheers!

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by Jagatvir

Congratulations on both the purchases Akshay! I happened to own that particular Golden Beige Porsche Cayenne. The Porsche seems to be standing at Sangha's Motorcraft in Mohali, I recollect having dropped it there since a prospective buyer wanted to have it inspected. I didn't expect the Porsche to pop-up in one of the forums .
Attachment 2226069
It was a fun car to drive for the short period we owned it.


Attachment 2226070
I can empathise on how difficult it must be to let go of a solid W124.

We should plan a meet up for W124 owners in and around Chandigarh.

It's a small world
And Yes, It was at Sangha's Motorcraft, it's my go to place, I went there to get a BMW Inspected.
We already have a group of MB Owners in Chandigarh.
Please Inbox me your number, we have a meet coming up soon

[akshay4587]

Endeavour Update

An Update on the Endeavour I missed on.
After the Spiti Trip, I took her for a old School wash on a Hydraulic lift.
Told the washing guys, to wash the under body thoroughly since it had picked up a lot of muck in the last 10 days.

Little did I realise, that it was sooo thorough that the vehicle will break down

So this is what happened. Reverse gear refused to engage and 4WD indicators lit up, and then went off. Parked the vehicle for sometime and then gave under body a good blast of high pressure air. After about 15 minutes, everything returned to normal. Will have to be careful, next time I go for a wash.

[VW2010]

I agree, with these being good front seat vehicles only.

This guy seems to disagree. He loves the rear space. I love the rear seat and the kids love the 3rd row. The rear seat is so comfortable for family to be honest. But it's difficult to talk about rear seat when you have that bimmer.