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      07-13-2025, 08:46 PM   #1
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N55 Better Than Early B58?

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Just had my recently bought 2015 M235i inspected by a local mechanic during the return period. They said the N55 is a great motor and better than the B58 before 2022. In fact they said they don’t recommend buying a B58 equipped BMW before 2022 model year. This seems to contradict the online consensus that B58 is more reliable than the N55. Any reason or insight as to why this mechanic was so adamant about trashing the early B58 motor?
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      07-13-2025, 09:51 PM   #2
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Interesting... I'd really like to hear opinions and some data backing them up on this.
N55 is pretty good, minus rod bearing problems and oil starvation issues, which might be related.
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      07-13-2025, 11:29 PM   #3
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Maybe he was smoking crack right before you got there?? He’s 100% WRONG and there’s zero empirical evidence to support his claim. Zero!!! The B58 has been a home run from the very beginning.
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      07-14-2025, 05:24 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jasonsl View Post
Just had my recently bought 2015 M235i inspected by a local mechanic during the return period. They said the N55 is a great motor and better than the B58 before 2022. In fact they said they don’t recommend buying a B58 equipped BMW before 2022 model year. This seems to contradict the online consensus that B58 is more reliable than the N55. Any reason or insight as to why this mechanic was so adamant about trashing the early B58 motor?
sometimes mechanics are confused, happens to everyone
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      07-14-2025, 02:00 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tturedraider View Post
Maybe he was smoking crack right before you got there?? He’s 100% WRONG and there’s zero empirical evidence to support his claim. Zero!!! The B58 has been a home run from the very beginning.
Maybe you were huffing spray paint right before you wrote this? What is the evidence to support your claim? At least they are speaking from experience.
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      07-14-2025, 02:17 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KevinC View Post
Maybe you were huffing spray paint right before you wrote this? What is the evidence to support your claim? At least they are speaking from experience.
Apparently not very much experience.
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Last edited by tturedraider; 07-14-2025 at 06:37 PM..
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      07-14-2025, 02:27 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by tturedraider View Post
. Apparently not very much experience.
And how do you know that? Cmon man.
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      07-14-2025, 02:38 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KevinC View Post
Maybe you were huffing spray paint right before you wrote this? What is the evidence to support your claim? At least they are speaking from experience.
give the '22 a few more years. these things are engineered to warranty. once warranty is gone things start to happen. of course there are no issues with the '22 they haven't even reached their first oil change in my country (for some reason BMW insist on a 24 month 30,000km (19,000miles) service period.

so just wait another 3-4 years and we will know.
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      07-14-2025, 02:39 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tturedraider View Post
. Apparently not very much experience.
in my country these cars won't even have had their first oil change yet. so statistically they would have seen exactly zero issues.
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      07-14-2025, 06:41 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by G30M View Post
in my country these cars won't even have had their first oil change yet. so statistically they would have seen exactly zero issues.
The B58 has been on the market since the 2016 model year in the U.S. I’m pretty sure it came to market around a year earlier in Europe. No reports of them cratering in any market to this point. More than a handful are now past 200,000 miles and I just saw a post with one over 300,000 miles.

Please, do tell about that “engineered to warranty” stuff.
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      07-14-2025, 06:50 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tturedraider View Post
The B58 has been on the market since the 2016 model year in the U.S. I’m pretty sure it came to market around a year earlier in Europe. No reports of them cratering in any market to this point. More than a handful are now past 200,000 miles and I just saw a post with one over 300,000 miles.

Please, do tell about that “engineered to warranty” stuff.
It's not the metal bits that go bang bang bang that breaks. It's everything else around it, the plastic bits, the pumps, the coolant and other lines, the HVAC, the sunroof seals, the diffs, in fact the vernesca leather seats in my m340i started to chafe after 10,000kms.

The metal bits of the engine, bullet proof. But 22+ is mild hybrid. Perhaps the mechanic refers to port injection giving less carbon build up, despite the fact that carbon build up is not a problem in the b58
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      07-15-2025, 06:27 AM   #12
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Who said, the mechanic or the salesperson? Salesperson will say anything to sell a car. Having owned both I'd say the B58 is much better. BMW quality rankings have improved dramatically over the last few years and I'm sure the B58 has something to do with that. There were still some issues with the N55 carried over from the N54, but not near as bad. Those issues were worked out with the B58.

And the OP is looking at a 2 series. The M340 is a mild hybrid, not the M240.
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      07-15-2025, 08:25 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by G30M View Post
give the '22 a few more years. these things are engineered to warranty. once warranty is gone things start to happen. of course there are no issues with the '22 they haven't even reached their first oil change in my country (for some reason BMW insist on a 24 month 30,000km (19,000miles) service period.

so just wait another 3-4 years and we will know.
This is practically a crime, and designed to grenade the engines earlier so that everyone is forced into EV's.
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      07-15-2025, 09:43 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SteVTEC View Post
designed to grenade the engines earlier so that everyone is forced into EV's.
Europeans are more sensitive to maintenance costs than Americans, so EUDM cars offer longer service intervals as a way to entice buyers with supposedly lower cost of ownership. This has been going on for much longer than EV mandates or offerings. My father's '04 Peugeot 206 had 2 years/30,000 KMs oil change interval (and lasted surprisingly well into 150,000 KMs).

If you compare service intervals for the same car between markets you'll see that it's mostly driven by consumer expectations rather than any engineering principle.

Last edited by Ohio Enthusiast; 07-15-2025 at 10:16 AM..
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      07-15-2025, 12:39 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by Ohio Enthusiast View Post
Europeans are more sensitive to maintenance costs than Americans, so EUDM cars offer longer service intervals as a way to entice buyers with supposedly lower cost of ownership. This has been going on for much longer than EV mandates or offerings. My father's '04 Peugeot 206 had 2 years/30,000 KMs oil change interval (and lasted surprisingly well into 150,000 KMs).

If you compare service intervals for the same car between markets you'll see that it's mostly driven by consumer expectations rather than any engineering principle.
Peugeot? We are talking about 600 hp M3 and M5s here.
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      07-15-2025, 12:41 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SteVTEC View Post
This is practically a crime, and designed to grenade the engines earlier so that everyone is forced into EV's.
Definitely. I don't buy used BMWs here. Both my cars were serviced annually at 6000miles. Very very sad to have had to let go of the pre 22 B58 M340i. I doubt the new owner will service it annually.
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      07-15-2025, 08:53 PM   #17
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In Germany, you can often find B58s with over 200,000 miles on the market. If you change the timing chain and oil pump chain on time, the engine will last a very long time.
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      07-15-2025, 10:19 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NaijeN View Post
In Germany, you can often find B58s with over 200,000 miles on the market. If you change the timing chain and oil pump chain on time, the engine will last a very long time.
you mean the pain in the ass chain towards the rear of the engine that requires you to lift and separate the trans?
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      07-15-2025, 10:58 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NaijeN View Post
In Germany, you can often find B58s with over 200,000 miles on the market. If you change the timing chain and oil pump chain on time, the engine will last a very long time.
They also would have changed all the plastic parts too.

But realistically, if you cruise on the autobahn at 130kph at 1800rpm in 8th gear, you could also do a million miles without too much issues.

Also my m340i could do 6L/100km like that around 40mpg.best car ever
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      07-16-2025, 12:07 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SteVTEC View Post
This is practically a crime, and designed to grenade the engines earlier so that everyone is forced into EV's.
Except it isn’t true. It’s someone’s imagination.
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      07-16-2025, 12:12 AM   #21
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Originally Posted by G30M View Post
Peugeot? We are talking about 600 hp M3 and M5s here.
No. We’re talking about 300 horsepower N55s and B58s here. It isn’t that hard to keep up.
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      07-16-2025, 12:17 AM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NaijeN View Post
In Germany, you can often find B58s with over 200,000 miles on the market. If you change the timing chain and oil pump chain on time, the engine will last a very long time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bmwstephen View Post
you mean the pain in the ass chain towards the rear of the engine that requires you to lift and separate the trans?
What are you talking about??? Timing chains are lifetime parts and do not require changing. That’s why manufacturers use chains rather than belts. Timing belts require replacement at regular intervals. Not timing chains. If the timing chain on an N55 or B58 requires maintenance there has been a significant failure somewhere. I haven’t seen a single post on any BMW forum complaining of a timing chain issue with either the N55 or the B58 since the introduction of either of them. Or the four cylinder B46/48 either for that matter.
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