chsu74

I bought the complete cooling kit from ECS tuning which included water pump, expansion tank, radiator, hoses and other assorted hardware for $699. That is a level 3 refresh which is basically a complete replacement. A Indy shop charged me 4-5 hrs of labor but I think you can do it in 3 hrs. I dropped the car off at 3:30PM and he stayed until 7PM to finish the work. You would have this problem more in the warmer climates like down south and out west. My cooling system lasted me 12 years and 129K miles. The radiator was leaking on me and I decided to replace everything. The whole front pulls out and it is very easy to work on.

There is no subframe or control arm bushing problem with the AWD models although the front drive shafts wear out to be replaced with OEM only. The Crank Case Vent valve (Air oil separator) do go bad and you just end up burning a qt of oil in 300 miles until you replace it. E46fanatics is a good DIY site after you wade through the 17yr old BS.

I like the BMW oil filter housing located on top of the engine. The filter gets changed every 4K miles and oil gets changed every 8K miles.

race911

I lived there from '83-'88, while finishing at ASU then running the first Porsche shop.

But the idea is to NOT be anywhere near the place from post-spring training until sometime after Labor Day.

And the plan is to mix/match what I've already got. Latest hairbrained idea is to mate the 4S with the yellow car, in addition to the not-yet-started Ruby guts into '73 "RS" shell project. Which leaves a pretty decent street driveable Targa left over.

1pcarnut

My experience with that generation BMW was not the best, had two 325iTs. To the point I was so pissed I swore off any more BMWs. By 60k miles, the last one, an 03, needed tons of stuff like a new alternator, radiator, VANOS seals, the seal on the oil filter housing leaked and took forever to figure out where it was coming from, control arm bushing, just on and on.

I have a friend with one and he loves it and has good luck with it. The day I sold the last one, the windshield washer reservoir decides spring a leak minutes before the buyer shows up to get it and there I am with the hood open messing with water everywhere. From the day I bought it to the day I sold it I was constantly working on it. Couldn't wait to see it go.

zirrah

LOL, I got one of my older co-workers with that big time.

If it helps, you can do fine in FWD as well. I've never had any issues in any of the snow storms we've had in CT the past 4 years with a FWD Sonata as a DD. Naturally I'm not going to bust through 6 or 7 inches that hasn't been plowed, but honest I wouldn't attempt that in AWD either


+1

Definitely agree.

That's so true. And it's been that way ever since '06 when I first joined it.

Could happen with any car honestly. Sucks you had such bad experiences.

hoggel

I have a 2004 TDi that I drive daily, 33 miles one way. The commute is about 95% freeway with little traffic so I get 48-50 mpg. But diesel costs 60 cents to a dollar more per gallon. So that put's me in the same fuel cost range as a gas car getting around 38 mpg (regular gas). And the initial cost of the TDi was about $2k higher. When I bought the car I calculated I would drive about 75k miles before I recovered the car cost differential (2004 gas vs diesel prices) I'm going to drive the car into the ground so I plan to save a bit of money over gas with the expected life of the engine.

I live in Utah where we get significant snowfall and I do make regular trips to the mountains in winter. I have not had a problem with the front wheel drive only.

I too love the 04 R! I can't justify the cost for a commuter. If I had more space in the garage ... .

chsu74

BMW has a bumper to bumper warranty for 50K miles and 4 years including maintenance. Wipers and light bulbs were free. Most of your problems should have been covered by warranty no? If you had bought an used with no CPO, then that is tough luck. a CPO warranty was only $2500 up to 100K miles.