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Buying guide · 2006–⁠2010 · N54B30 · 306 PS

BMW 335i N54

Everything that decides whether the one you are looking at is a good buy or an expensive one.

17-page guide, A4 and phone · 2-page inspection card · instant PDF · VAT included

Or read the free guide first

BMW 335i N54
OSX · public domain · Wikimedia Commons · cropped
The contents of the BMW 335i N54 guideThe BMW 335i N54 inspection card
A page of the BMW 335i N54 guide on a phone

In the guide

What the BMW 335i N54 guide covers

  1. 01Every fault this engine has, and how much work it is
  2. 02Why a clean fault memory proves little on this engine, and which two numbers in the live data decide the purchase
  3. 03Why the body is the short chapter on this car, and what modification history tells you instead
  4. 04What is simply fifteen years old — and can be left alone
  5. 05The inspection card: the whole viewing on paper, in order, to take with you
  6. 06What to say to the seller, and what to keep to yourself

From the guide itself

This is how it reads

This is what one of the eleven looks likeLast Real Engines

10 · Brakes, bushes and tyres

Half a day each · ordinary

Fifteen years of a quick car. Read tyre date codes rather than tread.

When they announce themselves.

And this is how the card readsLast Real Engines

  • Cold start, before anything else
  • Standing
  • On the move
  • Data, before you agree anything
€2417-page guide, A4 and phone · 2-page inspection card · instant PDF · VAT included · updated 9 October 2026

What €24 buys, put next to what it saves

The biggest job on the list is the wastegate rattle when it means one or both turbochargers — a day or more, with the parts making up almost all of it. It is also the one you can find with your ears, for nothing, at the viewing. The guide is €24. It will not stop any of that from being needed — but it does tell you which of them you are looking at before you agree a price, and that is the whole of the difference between paying for a car and paying for someone else's postponed maintenance.

Get the guide · €24

VAT included · sold by Lemon Squeezy as merchant of record · questions first? buyersguide@lastrealengines.com

Start with the free guide

The six questions that decide whether this car is a good buy

  1. Has the high-pressure fuel pump been replaced, and do you have the invoice?
  2. What index are the injectors?
  3. Does it rattle or clank when you lift off?
  4. Has the electric water pump been replaced, and when?
  5. Has it been remapped, and is it still?
  6. Will you let a specialist read the live data?

Start with the free guide: what this car is, and the questions that decide whether the one you are looking at is a good buy or an expensive one.

Read the free guide

Before you buy

Questions

What exactly do I get?

The full guide as a PDF, 17 pages in A4, plus a phone edition to read at the car; and the inspection card, 2 pages to print and take to the viewing. €24, VAT included.

How is it delivered?

Straight after payment you get a download link for the guide, the phone edition and the card. No subscription, no account.

Can I get a refund?

EU consumer law gives you fourteen days to change your mind. For digital content that right ends the moment delivery starts, provided you agreed to that at the checkout. If the file will not open, or you were sent the wrong car, write to us and we will fix it or refund it.

Who handles the payment?

Lemon Squeezy, who sell the guide to you as merchant of record. They charge the VAT at the rate of your country, send the invoice, and email you the download link. We never see your card.

Why are there no prices in it?

Because a price we cannot verify is worse than no price, and because a price would be wrong for most of the people reading it: workshop rates across Europe differ by a factor of two or three. What does not change is how much work a job is, so every point says whether it is an hour, half a day, a day, or a week in the workshop. Ask your own workshop for its hourly rate, and every hour in the guide becomes your own number.

Is this advice about a specific car?

No. A guide tells you what to look at; it is general information about the model and not advice about a specific car. Have every car inspected before you buy by someone who knows the engine.

Going to look at a BMW 335i N54?

Take the guide and the card with you.

Get the guide · €24

17-page guide, A4 and phone · 2-page inspection card · instant PDF · VAT included