[0:09]Hello and welcome back to Carsza. I'm David Taylor, and in today's video, we're looking at how to buy a used BMW X3. And this is a collaboration video with Bosch Car Service Centers. In this video, we're going to be looking at what can go wrong, what to look for in your test drive, parts pricing, Bosch parts pricing versus OEM pricing, and which is the best value derivative. We've got a lot of info to come, strap yourselves in, if you want a BMW X3, this is the must watch video. But first, a word from Carl.
[1:03]Let's do a quick history lesson of the BMW X3 because this, guys, is probably one of the most popular premium family SUVs. And the cool part is it's assembled right here in South Africa. Remember that BMW has its plants in Rosland, Pretoria, they used to make a lot of BMW 3 series. And as we know, Sedans fell out of favor, and everyone switched to SUVs. So BMW has been building the X3 for a number of years now. The GO1 generation, that's this beautiful thing, that came to market in 2017, and an LCI, which is their term for facelift came out in 2021. The vehicle we have today, lovely condition. Shout out to SMG Century City for supplying this. This is a pre-facelift, this is a 2021 pre-facelift X3 20D XDrive. And in my opinion, I think a 20D XDrive X3 is pretty much all the family premium SUV you'd ever need. So you've found your perfect X3 on Cars, well done for finding it. Good job. It takes the boxes for spec, price, and so on. You've filled in the leads, you've booked your test drive, and now you're at the dealership. What do you look for when you're driving? So, first things first, you get into the vehicle, start it up. Listen to what you're hearing as the engine slowly comes to temperature. I'm not mechanically minded, so I've got a basic understanding of how engine works, and anything that sounds a little bit off-ish, some strange clicking noises as the vehicle warms up. That's cause for concern. So think about that. Also, have a look at the dashboard. How many check engine lights are there? I mean, I can see that there's one on here, because this car is due for its service. So there's a nice cute little orange spanner. Now, we've gone through the data and the technical recalls, and we understand that there has been a recall on this generation of X3 in terms of starter motor. So it's definitely worth chatting to the dealer and saying, guys, has the starter motor on this generation of X3 been checked, and if it's faulty, replaced? Another thing to look out for when you're doing your test drive is vibrations, particularly at low speed, and on the other end of the scale at higher speed. If there are vibrations, this could mean a number of things. Things like worn engine mounts. The tires could need replacing, because particularly if it's been sitting on a showroom floor for months, there could be flat spots. These are important things to consider. And we've got a lot of speed bumps in South Africa, and this is the perfect opportunity for a test. If you go over a bump and you hear like a whistling noise coming from the back, that means that the rear shocks are on their way out and desperately need replacing. So we've got a couple of bumps coming up, and we're going to listen very carefully. Nope, this car's good. Now, BMW has its own recommended service intervals, and usually they're determined by the onboard computer. Now, my gut feeling is if you're shopping for an X3, I would be looking for something that's had its services a little bit earlier than the suggested intervals. That means for me, that the car's, there's a little bit more care involved. The car's been serviced and looked after on the regular. And if you're in a high mileage market and looking for something that has a lot of kilometers on the clock, these things compound. So if a car's been serviced early, it's generally going to be in better condition at higher mileage than a car that's late services, and so on and so forth. So, these are things worth considering.
[4:30]On the inside when it comes to electronics, you guys, let's be honest, so many modern cars, they're infested with electronics, and this can mean things that can go wrong. And this BMW X3 is not immune from such issues. This generation of X3 is known for excessive battery drain. So there's a lot of electronics here, and they can slowly sap the battery while the car's idling. So you got to have that checked. This generation of X3 also has an I Drive system, and there's been a number of glitches reported. Later generations, like the LCI, have over the air updates, which is an easier fix. So this is something to be aware of, make sure that your I Drive has had the latest firmware uploaded. And because it has a pano roof, guys, you know what it's like with a high mileage car and pano roof, they are prone to leaks. So make sure those rubber seals around the roof have been checked, and if they have been leaks, they have been repaired. Right, those are a quick superficial things to look at when you're doing your basic test drive, but it's time to get properly serious with the good people at Bosch Car Service. They're going to do a deep dive and look at the oily bits and the mechanicals and things that Shawn and I don't really do. We're not specialists in that, we make nice content instead.
[5:48]Right, we've pulled into the local Bosch Car Service Center. Guys, there's over 120 branches dotted around South Africa. Today's expert, this is Dylan. Dylan, how long have you been with Bosch? I've been working for Bosch for 5 years now. Nice. Do you have a favorite car brand? What do you drive? Yeah, I drive a BMW and a Hyundai Atos as well. So the BMW, so today is pretty, pretty personal. Yeah. Okay. Right. Let's get stuck in. X3, good, bad, do you see, do you see them often in the shops? 20D, 20Ds are are good, yes. We do see them quite often. Uh, just for your regular maintenance. Okay. Sometimes cooling leaks and so forth, but overall they are quite good. In your opinion, what are the known issues of the X3 20D? The, um, some known issues, they, they do give some, uh, DPF issues. Okay. Yeah. So with the DPF, um, that is blocked, uh, the car will smoke, it will also have a performance, uh, loss. And, um, some of the other issues would be, uh, suspension issues. Knocking noises while braking. And then also cooling, cooling losses. Wow, okay. Uh, water pumps, uh, EGR cooler leaks. Every day is a school day. Yeah. Right, should we do a visual inspection? Let's have a look at the B48 engine. I remember the engine code this time. B48 engine. Let's have a look. Yes, let's do that.
[7:13]Okay, visual inspection time. I am your customer. What should I be looking at when it comes to X3s? Just from a visual point, you have to check around the engine for any leaks, uh, engine leaks, you know, some suit buildup. And then also just have to check your, um, your cooling reservoir bottle. If it's low, then that would be a sign of of a leak. Have a check out by by one of our workshops. They have a pre-check test done, and then we can pinpoint any, uh, coolant leaks around the engine. Um, basically, just also see if everything is in place, and all your, all your intake that nothing has been, you know, tampered with or or the car, everything just sits where it needs to be, so that, um, that you know, the car wasn't in an accident. To my untrained eye, this looks, dare I say, normal. Yeah. Everything looks good to me.
[8:02]All right. All right, so our eyes are so far, so good, as you would say. But guys, you know what it's like with a modern car, we have to learn all of the secrets, and the only way you can do this is by plugging it in to the Bosch diagnostic tool. So let's do that. Yes, let's get the diagnostic on it.
[8:22]And now we're at the diagnostic station. The Bosch diagnostic tool is capable of talking to every make, every model to OEM specifications. Dylan, right, you've connected the car up. Where would we start? Yeah, so basically, if a vehicle comes in for diagnostic, we will start, um, doing a diagnostic on it, but what we also have on this system is we can check all the Bosch parts that's available for this vehicle. Let's do that. Let's see what's available. Yeah, so this is the list of all the Bosch parts that we have available for this vehicle. Wiper blades, bulbs, bulb main beam. Geez. LED brake lamp. Wow. Cooler. Brakes as well. Yeah. Brakes would be there as well. It's a lot of stuff. With a picture, um, references as well. I suppose you can order these parts as well, if if something was was amiss. There we go. So there's a camshaft sensor. That's really cool. In the camshaft sensor, we have an image of it as well. And there's a part number as well. Okay. Amazing. And also now, also have known fixes. And this is problems known to an X3. Known to an X3, yes. Amazing. Let's see how many errors there are. So, so when we fault finding and, um, you can, you can come to the known fixes and you can check if the, if there's another vehicle that they've had the, the same issue with, and you can run through that. Clicking noises, rattling noises, uh, feel empty, the gauge indicates fuel in tank. Wow. Humming noises. All of those things, yeah. Quiet. Yeah. Rear view camera not working. Component mileage, engine may not start. Engine difficult to start. Engine operates sporadically, opens automatically. The system navigation system does not find the current location. And these are common, and I suppose if you click on one, it'll tell you how to fix it. It will, it will run through some. Engine jerks sporadically, bad throttle response. Okay. So there we go. So it tells you what it is. So the general conditions, it will be a particulate filter that he mentioned. Okay. Um, sequential turbocharging, and then hot film air mass flow meter. Good grief. So even if the car's got a problem, but it's not showing a fault code, this, you can actually just dive into this database and go, and you can dive into that, and it will give you a basic start from it. And then it will, most importantly for me as a customer, I see remedy. There we go. Replace this, check this. Yeah. That's very cool. All right. Let's have another look. Known fixes. What, what are the problems can we find? Let's find something that would be quite relatable. Rattling noises. Yeah, let's try rattling. Because rattles and squeaks, that's an industry standard. That's an industry standard. So, rattle noises in the area of the component of the engine at idle. Surely that's, that's a problem with all these rattling. So, no, no warning lamp. Yeah. So, no warning lamp. Maybe loose covers in the engine compartment. EGR system, common rail system, hot film air mass meter. That is throttle valve control unit. Wow. That is that is what was popping up on that. And also the charge air pipe.
[11:26]And in my basic understanding, like these don't seem like crazy fixes, like your car's not going to be in the shop for two days. Yeah. It's it's basically either something that is loose or, um, something that wasn't put back properly. Sheesh. What else can the system do? I see there's maintenance, there's manual. So basically, Have you got the car manual loaded up on here as well? Um, yeah. So we are on the manuals. We also, what, what the manuals has is, um, I will show you now, it's also similar to the, to the fault finding, to the, to the known fixes. But what it has is, um, when, when, when you are diagnosing the car, and you have an oxygen sensor fault, you can come to the, to the manual, and you can check by the manual which wiring to to test.
[12:13]Sheesh. To make sure that it's the the oxygen sensor itself or the wiring. So testers and tools. You can go into that, and then it will give us a diagram of tools that we need to remove the sensor. This is, this is the level of detail, this is incredible. And then also, um, to to test the wiring on the vehicle to make sure that the sensor is fault free. Maintenance. So maintenance, uh, it's it's all to to do with servicing of the vehicle. So we can see the service schedules of the, of the vehicle, and at the mileage that, that the car is at. And then it will tell us what to replace at that, uh, particular mileage. So this particular, if you were to come in for a service. Yeah. It will give you the work units as well. So, so, um, labor rate. It gives you the labor rate as well. And then, uh, we also have the service illustrations, so it will tell you where to find the cabin folder. Where to drain the gearbox oil. Uh, the, the diagram. So basically what you're saying is I could get the system and service my car myself. Yeah, so it basically it encompasses with all the information that is needed. I suppose that would save you time because imagine having to learn each and every make and model of car. So, no one has the time or the brain power to learn each and every single car. So this will actually be your best friend, really, isn't it? So, any car that comes in, yeah, you can come in here, we can see exactly where the parts are located. What oil to use as well. And I suppose if you've never worked on an X3 before, you could just quickly, right, today we're learning. Okay, Dylan, moment of truth. Run the diagnosis. We'll do the diagnostic test now, and we'll see what faults are, are coming up. Let's see. Be good. Be good, little X3. You've been kind to us so far. So that's, that's just all the control units that's on the vehicle. All the modules. All the modules. Right. I'm just check the fault quickly. Fault details. Okay. There's no fault codes. There's no fault codes in the engine. All right. Okay. So basically, you can say in your professional opinion that this X3's engine is is good. Yeah. No issue, yes. Success. You've just got some other fault codes under the central electronics. Uh, electric window regulator. What's that? So it's the, it's the, the regulator means actually like the window mechanism. Okay. So it picks up a fault on there when, um, it says that the button, the button sticks. Jeez. So there are quite, uh, quite accurate, and technically when it comes to the electronics on this car. Um, and then I just got, I've got some, uh, AC, AC faults on the, the heater control. And then, um, some drive information. So that's just the, the emergency pull fire. If you're involved in an incident. Yeah. But these are not massive problems, are they? These should be easy to fix and and solved. So on these faults as well, um, what is nice about the the KTS system is that you can go into the control unit, then go into that fault code, and you can actually search that fault code as well. Oh, wow. Dylan, this is a really cool diagnostic tool. Um, let's talk about parts and servicing. I assume you won't stock everything here, but I suppose you have a massive parts warehouse and you just phone and say, hello, we'd like XYZ and they'd be delivered within a couple of days. So what we do is we give, we, we write down these part numbers that what, oh, that we're quoting on on this particular. If it will be this particular vehicle, we'll write down the part number that we need. We'll give it to, hand it over to our service advisors, and they will, we'll, we'll get that part for. And that's consumables like filters, pads and so on. Brake, brake pads. Wiper blades as well. So for, for this particular vehicle, we've got the camshaft sensor, we've got glow plugs, we've got the alternator, we've got the alternator belt, belt tensioners, idle wheels. And all of these are available from Bosch. From Bosch. With the Bosch part number for them. Got batteries, air filters. We've got also the high pressure pump, which will be the diesel, the diesel high pressure pump. We've got injectors, we've got lambda control sensors. Uh, knock, knock sensors, which is quite common on them as well. Uh, and then we've got your service item, your air filters, which is consumables like. Yeah. Yeah. Got your wiper blades, your bulbs, all the different type of bulbs that, that this vehicle come with. And then, um, and this is not just for BMW, you cater for all makes, all models. You cater for all makes, all brands. Yeah, the stuff is, it's pretty good. This is same as ours. Yeah. Right. So, you know, the Bosch, uh, it speaks for itself. Then we've got the cabin filters, we've got the, uh, coolant valve. And then also what, what is important, we've got the brake discs. Okay. We've got the, the brake, the brake pads.
[16:55]And then also the sensors that come, you know, the, the BMW they, they have front and rear brake sensors. Um, this car's currently asking for new brakes because it's, it's due for its service. Yeah. So, we may have to order a pair of brakes. And then we've also got, uh, the low way and highway connection, um, plugs. And, yeah. So the nice, the nice thing about, um, the KTS system is that it gives you the, um, the part numbers and all of that, but with a picture, like for instance, an air filter. You can actually air filter is easy to take out of a vehicle.
[17:30]Sheesh. And then you can actually come and check your the image of it, and you can see that it is the correct air filter. Oh, wow. You know. And then you will confirm that, and you will, you'll give them the part number and they'll order the part for us. One other thing that is also, uh, quite important. Um, and that's the, we get asked a lot by our customers when we're quoting on brakes, they will, they will ask us what is the minimum thickness of the brakes. So on this system, you can actually come and check what is the minimum thickness before we replace it. So either we can have it skimmed or replaced. Sheesh. And then obviously also the, the brake pad, uh, thickness and, uh, minimum thickness, yeah. Maximum and minimum thickness. Amazing. Yeah. And then also, um, on our air conditioning side. Very important. I can't do without aircon, so I live on aircon. You will come here and you will see exactly how much grams, uh, the refrigerant, the refrigerant quality must be. And then it will also give us just a indicator to always check under the, under the bonnet for the AC label, so that we do not mix the, the different gases. Yeah, because you get the R134A or the R1234YF gas. That's totally what I was going to say. Yeah. Dylan, that was really awesome and so detailed. But guys, it's time to compare parts pricing. We're going to put on the screen very shortly Bosch prices versus OEM prices, but I've got some really cool news, because if you're a Discovery Insure customer, you qualify for up to 20% discounts at a Bosch Car Service Center on your next service. And now that for me is a deal worth looking into. Okay, how much are those parts? Let's take a look.
[19:24]Guys, if you've reached the end of the video, thank you so much for watching. It's been a really educational and enlightening day, learning all about the X3 and potentially how good this exact X3 20D XDrive is. Try say that after a few. Right, and now we're going to chat to one of the Bosch Service Center owners. As a reminder, guys, Bosch has over 120 branches across South Africa. Jonathan, tell us your story. Well, my story comes from humble beginnings. Growing up, it was never part of my plan to be a Bosch owner. But growing up, I always knew Bosch and what Bosch means to, to the public. Um, so I, I think it's around 2019. I was introduced to Bosch, being part of this exact branch as a manager. Amazing. As a manager, yeah, and then Mr. Cole himself, he, he asked us, he approached us to open our first Bosch, um, part service center up in Portland, and, um, ever since that journey, we now, myself and my wife, Rene and I have four Bosch service under our belt. Oh, jeez. So this is your a multiple offender. You've got lots of services. We have, we have. We are stressed but, um, we like it, because We, you look you're still smiling, so I can't be all that bad. You're still smiling, yeah. So that's a good thing for us. And, and what I like about, about the Bosch Car Service, um, is the networking. Um, you are the owner, but you're not alone. So, so that's good for us. No, that's fantastic. Now I've noticed this box that you've put on. What is, what exactly have we got here? Oh. So this is one of, um, Robert Boss S A's numerous campaigns each month. So this month is extra rewards for Easter coming up. Okay. Tell me more. And and with that, there's a a three-tier, um, cash prize or a discount prize. So you have your your blue, um, in here. Can I take one out? Sure. Go for it. So what we have done on the side, it's your blue.
[21:16]Um, so with this, you get, um, cash prize as well. Instant free cash prize going along on on your journey. Once you come in here, if you draw this, you get a instant cash prize or freebie like I would call it. And then also you get your your future surprise, which means once you come here on the day, if you draw this, your, your future service could be free. Jeez. This is one of those prizes. I like that. And then there's the gold one. Everyone loves free stuff. Yeah, I see the gold one is hidden. There's a gold one. Found it. Found it. Right there you go. Found it. Yeah. So once you come in the morning, once you draw this one, you have instant cash prize on this one, which means anything between 250 and 1,000, you can get off on the day on your service. Brilliant. That is that is the campaign and we're looking forward. So in any given box there's about 100 of these, um, and the campaign runs up until Easter and maybe beyond, but we'll get that confirmation from Robert Boss S A itself. Jonathan, thank you for welcoming us into one of your many workshops. Thank you so much for having us. You've still This is season two of the Bosch series. Stay tuned. We've got more cars, more testing, more examination of vehicles that you really want to own and are too afraid to actually take the plunge. So stay tuned. Don't forget to like, subscribe and share.
