2012 is the first year BMW put the N20 engine in the 328i. I've owned a fair number of BMWs, but you couldn't pay me to own an N20. The early ones are a ticking time bomb. The timing chain guides were made of a plastic that got brittle when exposed to heat and oil. Not great for something that lives in the crank case.

The plastic starts to break apart, clogs the oil pickup, and ultimately fails causing timing slip. When that happens, the valves hit the pistons and the motor is destroyed.

That's not the only plastic that gets brittle. Most of the black plastic fittings in the engine bay, including the coolant lines are made from a black plastic that crumbles to bits after 10 years or so.

Oh, and the charge pipe is also prone to cracking.

Oh, and if it's an xDrive model, you can also expect to replace the transfer case at some point.

Oh, and the front diffs are prone to failure.

Oh, and the engine leaks oil from the valve cover, oil pan, and oil filter housing.

Oh, and the PCV valves are pretty notorious for failing, but the good news is they're built into the valve cover the cracks, so you get to kill two birds with one stone.

Oh, and if you want to remove the oil pan, you have to drop the front sub-frame and remove the passenger side axle, because it runs through the oil pan. Yeah, you read that right. The front axle goes through the oil pan.

As a BMW fan, fuck that entire generation of BMW cars. I'm so pissed at BMW for trashing their brand.