This is important information. No one here is bashing, and good to hear from actual owners.

 

Thinking what's with all this about BMWs being hard to maintain and then realized I haven't touched anything newer than an e46. So who knows.

I have an 01 and 02 M and they have small issues but mostly manageable in terms of DIY. The 01 went to the dealer a lot ... Starter. Alternator. Coils. This and that but that was early on in life. It settled down.

Worst car in terms of warranty work was a 2002 Audi A4.

 

BMWs are very sensitive to maintenance and you need to be proactive. If you're getting one out of warranty then make sure it has been fastidiously maintained (with receipts) and get a PPI. Now that's good advice for any car, but essential for a BMW.

I've had several now and even with careful maintenance they start to nickel and dime you above 80k. Mostly little things here and there. In my experience the mechanicals are solid, but I do oil changes with synthetic every 5k with my cars and there's a couple of excellent Indy shops in the area that know what to change before it it breaks. I follow their advice.

I'm currently in 2011 535i. I don't love the car - it has too much of a luxury bias for my tastes and I've only ever owned 3-series. Materials and interior are top notch, but it's wafts around a bit too much like a Buick for my taste. Wife loves it.

 

Have to agree with mostly everyone. My BMW experience has been expensive and rather sub-par lately.

Close to 3k, for example, for a headlight that started leaking and because if it's non repairable design had to be purchased new, the leak also shorted the interior headlight switch which is 700 dollars because it's actually a logic board.

Good friend of mine is now reduced to having to sue BMW because his clear coat started pealing 6 months after he purchased a new car. BMW wet sanded it under warranty and it did nothing...they won't do anything else. He's spent months dealing with that, with a new car. He's intelligent and diligent and he's gone down every road to try to get BMW to make it right.

I'm not sure I'd ever buy another one.

 

I posted earlier saying my two BMW service manager friends told me to run from the 2008 328 after 80k miles. I pushed it to 96k. It had the M sport performance package w/ 6-speed.

The clutch feel and trans in general were great mechanically and from a sense of precision and actuation. The gear ratios were horse**** -- utter horse****. Clearly the ratios were setup to extract MPG ratings.

My lineup until three weeks ago was my current Porsche (weekends, etc) and a 2002 Toyota Celica GTS with a 6 speeed manual and the BMW with a 6 speed manual.

The Toyota handled better and absorbed bumps MUCH better. It was nearly as fast, but 10x more rewarding to drive. Brakes were cheap. Parts were cheap. It rarely needed anything. At 125k miles, it was more solid and smooth than the BMW.

I lost sleep over owning the BMW. It didn'tr return X am't of anything to me to counter the Y am't of sleep it was costing me! Lol.

Anecdotal evidence and isolated examples abound, but be warned that multiple posts indicate that BMW techs and service managers don't encourage higher-mileage ownership.

Sold off the Celica and BMW for a new GTI. Got one warrantied daily driver and one toy in the garage. Get over the badge (BMW), because they have barely any prestige anymore and are NOT the enthusiast cars they once were (well, some very specific models with certain equipment and under warranty are though).

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Wow! Quite a disparity of experiences. My luxury car experiences are a 2008 E60 550i (V8, 360 hp, 300 lb ft (or was it 360 also?), manual transmission) and now my 997.1 '08 T4S.

The FIRST thing I learned was, if you are going to get a luxury level car, you will pay for it--they are ALL expensive. One way or another, you will pay for it. As you add performance and luxury, you add complexity and cost. We must think it is worth it; we all bought the cars. If you want to pay as little as possible on a car, get a Honda X, Toyota Y, Nissan Z (not a 350Z or 370Z--that's not what I meant). Get your 4-banger, change the oil at Jiffy Lube, get your cheap gas at the 7-11, don't spend money on washes, God forbid you even think about "swirl marks". We have chosen our poison--we tend to drink it with passion and come back for more.

Each car has its problems. For the newer BMWs with the 6-cyl twin turbo , it was the high pressure fuel pump. For the 997.1 it's the IMS (maybe--have we figured that out yet); 997.2--Bore issues.

The only serious issue I had with the BMW was the DME computer that went bad--BMW has to warranty those for 8 years/80K miles, since it is an emmissions issue. I would definitely get an aftermarket warranty--it may not pay for itself unless you get the catastrophic failure, but at least you have a piece of mind. Speaking of catastrophic failures, after all the time on the BMW 5 series forums, engine replacement was not a common topic. The Porsche forums discuss it on a near weekly basis--maybe just recycled threads resurrected from years gone by--unless it happens to you.

From looking at forums, I think the corporate BMW can be a bit more sticky than dealing with Porsche North America, but if you are going to corporate to solve issues, you may have bigger problems.

I LOVED my 550i. The only thing I would give it up for--a Porsche 911--DONE.

 

The E36 is a lot simpler car than everything that came after it. In my personal experience with later models (E46, E38, E39) at high mileage, it's not like you have a major engine failure to worry about, it's all the little stuff that keeps going bad over and over again. Cooling systems, valve cover gaskets, lower control arm bushings, thrust bushings, sensors, window regulators, electrical issues, and every time you go to fix something, that 8 year old plastic is less likely to bend and more likely to shatter. So before when you tagged a parking lot barrier, the bumper would flex. This time when the wife does it, it breaks, and you're out a few hundred bucks for a new one, plus painting. And then the speedometer stops working and the check engine light comes on again. It's not just $1K a year, it's $200 + $200 + $200 + $200 + $200 + $200 + $200 +.

If you buy the car for $10K and put $2K in it a year, plus the hassle of all of those repairs and neglected maintenance, and then sell it in two years for $6K, then it cost you about $5K a year to drive a smelly old car. For that kind of money you should be able to lease a new 3 series.

If it were my wife, I'd put her in the newer, safer, more reliable car.

 

Our past and current Bimmers, with many other marques mixed in:

Me -

1984 BMW 316
1986 BMW 325es
1995 BMW 540i Sport M edition
2000 BMW M5
2002 BMW Z8 (current) - close to 93,000 miles and solid as a rock.


My wife Tracy

1999 BMW 525
2005 BMW X3 (first)
2008 BMW X3 (second)
2013 BMW X3 (current)

Need I say more?

 

As was said a couple of posts up, by the time you figure your initial purchase price ,repairs and maintenance costs, and later resale value, it doesn't add up. Lease a new 3 series for her for peice of mind and the added perk measured financial expense month after month. It will likely cost you the same in the end.

I've played this game before like your doing and always thought I was staying ahead of the depreciation curve and repair curve- after having leased a 2013 S4 for the last couple of years, I'm convinced that leasing and paying for your depreciation or use (grants there's interest built into all leases) is far more advantageous than risking purchasing already mostly depreciated cars and hoping for the best.

Besides, you have 2 really nice cars now... Your wife is ok with you having a 100k plus in cars and her driving an 80k mile, 7 year old Bimmer? Hmmm....lol.

 

Hard to believe that anything could be worse than the culture and attitude at PCNA but if you say so....

 

I've had an E30 E34 E90 etc and I've always wrenched on them myself (all work except one time I sent a head out for planing). I usually buy the cars at ~20k and drive them to ~200k. I did recently buy an E90 with 65k which was a bit out of my usual range but it was a really good price and newer than some of the other models i was looking at.

My advice here is that:

If you wrench yourself, a 100k plus car can easily make it to 200k in a financially sensible way (but only if you wrench yourself). If you plan to take it in for most services you should probably looking for lower miles.

All modern BMWs (and most modern cars for that matter) have built in issues that need to be chased. They can be weak points (like the electric water pump on an E90 where it WILL fail) or just items that wear more prematurely than expected (like control arm bushings on just about all BMW). So expect to address these if not already addressed or face a time period where those items will present themselves

If you address the weak points and keep up with maintenance I think you'll find most of the BMW sedans quite reliable and they tend to last 200k-300k miles. Yes the later cars are more complex but not much worse than other cars with similar performance.

This also assumes you'll keep the car for a long period. If you're just going to keep the car for 2 years, you'll spend the first 8 months catching up with all the weak points.

That said, I think I'd probably buy my wife a lower mile car because it doesn't bother me that much to deal with sorting these cars out but that's not really her thing.

Good Luck

 

I usually enjoy 3-5 year old cars the most. They have suffered most of their depreciation (1/2). There maybe some Warranty left. There are some used parts kicking around, fairer OEM are available. And some of the bugs have been worked out. A little bit of previous owners patina, does not hurt my carfeelings as much. We are all car crazy and we have an affliction.
AcurahondalotusladanissanFordBMWporschejeepchevysubaru, I have owned so many brands, they are stating to blend into each other. It all about expectations and your community. We are our village.

 

Well the $14,500 5 series looked like it came off the showroom floor. Navy Pilot owned and clearly as OCD as any enthusiast can get - he needed space for the Jet Skis - that's the kind of car i'm after. He would not even sell to me because he already shook hands that morning with another buyer. Took him 48 hours to sell on craigslist.

Checked out the higher mileage version yesterday. The owner pressed a button to show off how the key fob can open all the windows from outside the vehicle - (how cheesy). Then I approached the vehicle took a look inside and saw black grime all over the place. "Good condition" He said over the phone. How much you want to be he's opened those windows during a few storms. Took me 5 seconds to walk.

I'm going to look into leasing, I agree that it's probably a more cost effective way of short term ownership, but you have to qualify to get the best deals, suppose it doesn't hurt to check.