[S Clark]

What about some of the Nissan line?  Good cars, not great, but the 370 line might be just what you're looking for. 

[zybar]

I've come to the general conclusion that if you truly want a fun car, don't use it as your daily driver. Get an old, cheap, beater Subaru to get you thru winter and eaten by road salt. For summer, get a RWD fun car.

 

Fun Car- 2009 BMW M3
Winter/Family Hauler - 2012 Mazda CX-9

George

[stlrman]

Took my 2010 BMW to one of the preferred BMW shops recommended by a fellow member here.
 Guy tell me $2700 . WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! to pass inspection. LOl!!  I just spent $1400 on spark plugs just a few months ago. That's $4100 in 1 year on a car with 65,000 miles on it. What a fucking joke!!!!!!!!!!! I bought this car with only 29,000 miles on it. and new brake pads for $900 . That's $5,000 of repairs in one year.
I had a Lexus SUV, 2003 with 130,000 miles on it and didn't spend this type of repairs in 8 years owning it.
I don't want to take a huge hit on a trade in on the BMW. Last guy offered me 4k when it was not running good. I owed 9 grand on it.  MAYBE I should have just taken the 5 thousand dollar hit and rolled it over into a HONDA suv.
I am beyond disgusted !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I owe 8 grand on this thing. I will finish up going through a financial situation, and see if I can dump this piece of shit. 
Fuck ME!!!!!!!!! Probably dropped 8-9 grand in three years on repairs.
I'm not in the BMW bracket to begin with. But I never anticipated this kind of financial fall out. 
This is why you shouldn't buy a car impulsively , against your wife's wishes. I have been paying the price since I drove away from the lot with a smile on my face , for 10 miles, when I tested the brakes and there was a horrid shuttering.
Lesson learned. The hard way. Right in the wallet!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[zybar]

What did he say is wrong?

George

[S Clark]

Seriously?? $1400 for spark plugs?    Now another $2700 to pass inspection? 
Get rid of it.  If it runs sell it as is, take your loss, and move on. 

Long time ago Jaquars were the cool car.  Finnicky, expensive, hard to work on.  I had a cousin that had a model E in pieces in his garage for over 30 years.  His widow still has it in pieces. 

[Cheeseboy]

The best car I ever owned was a 97 M3. I bought her with 32k on her and sold her at 216k. I still regret that day. She pulled like the day I bought her. The radiato,r I replaced cost me $128 plus the clips. I broke the fog lights twice. A dear friend damaged the sun roof with her legs in the air pushing upwards.  $268.00. I did the brakes myself and the oil changes. I did 3 inspections. $1k for two of them and $1.5k for one of them.

My 2006 330 was another great car. I hated the run flats. Everything else was awesome.

I would buy another 3 series anytime.

Cheese

[stlrman]

Hey Cheese,!




Yours for $7500 !!

[gbaby]

Took my 2010 BMW to one of the preferred BMW shops recommended by a fellow member here.
 Guy tell me $2700 . WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! to pass inspection. LOl!!  I just spent $1400 on spark plugs just a few months ago. That's $4100 in 1 year on a car with 65,000 miles on it. What a fucking joke!!!!!!!!!!! I bought this car with only 29,000 miles on it. and new brake pads for $900 . That's $5,000 of repairs in one year.
I had a Lexus SUV, 2003 with 130,000 miles on it and didn't spend this type of repairs in 8 years owning it.
I don't want to take a huge hit on a trade in on the BMW. Last guy offered me 4k when it was not running good. I owed 9 grand on it.  MAYBE I should have just taken the 5 thousand dollar hit and rolled it over into a HONDA suv.
I am beyond disgusted !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I owe 8 grand on this thing. I will finish up going through a financial situation, and see if I can dump this piece of shit. 
Fuck ME!!!!!!!!! Probably dropped 8-9 grand in three years on repairs.
I'm not in the BMW bracket to begin with. But I never anticipated this kind of financial fall out. 
This is why you shouldn't buy a car impulsively , against your wife's wishes. I have been paying the price since I drove away from the lot with a smile on my face , for 10 miles, when I tested the brakes and there was a horrid shuttering.
Lesson learned. The hard way. Right in the wallet!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've own a quarter of a million dollars worth of BMWs, and I lived to see them all depreciate to zero. I have spent tons of money in repairs and I have concluded BMWs are not reliable cars and maybe the worst cars on the road as they are problem prone. BMW does not mean Bob Marley and the Wailers, but rather, Bring your Money With you. 

[lokie]

I had an '02 535IS for about 5 years and loved it.

I've been thinking about another BMW for years and asked my import mechanic what he thought about a used BMW vs Mercedes.And he was emphatic that the BMW's (after '05 or so) were nothing but trouble. He said without question the Mercedes would be a much better car. He said the Mercedes weren't perfect but there was about three or four things you fix once and forget about it. For example- my wife's Mercedes station wagon has air suspension. The airbags will eventually leak and cause the compressors to go bad. Replace w springs and never deal with it again (around $600).

I wish Mercedes would make a bare bones car w no bells and whistles. I'm talking roll up windows, manual seats good old fashion keys, etc.. That would be the best car in the world.

On the other hand, bite the big bullet and get a used Land Cruiser. I've had mine for 15 years and 280,000 miles and it's still going strong. The only thing I've done to it, besides brakes etc... , and that I can remember is replace the radiator.  I took it to Colorado (from GA) and back last summer w my family and not a single problem.

[Folsom]

I wish Mercedes would make a bare bones car w no bells and whistles. I'm talking roll up windows, manual seats good old fashion keys, etc.. That would be the best car in the world.

On the other hand, bite the big bullet and get a used Land Cruiser. I've had mine for 15 years and 280,000 miles and it's still going strong. The only thing I've done to it, besides brakes etc... , and that I can remember is replace the radiator.  I took it to Colorado (from GA) and back last summer w my family and not a single problem.

Buy one from Mercedes Motoring, restored to factory+ condition, years from 60's to 80's. The W123 and relatives... They last for forever and have craftsmanship not seen since. Hell you can even find a good one used that is close to the condition sometimes that you'd get from MM. They are not perfect, and sometimes needs some repairs, but as they go they're relatively inexpensive and dependable in the right ways. The number one thing is that vacuum systems for door locks sometimes needs fixed.

But yes, Toyotas... hard to go wrong with. New however Honda is destroying them with better options, and high quality. The CR-V is like a space ship compared to this years Rav4 stuck in the past with bad MPG, bad power, bad infotainment, less room, etc. I have an 09 Rav4 with under 100K on it, minimal maintenance. The most expensive thing has been tires but I buy good ones rated for another 60k, and the front struts were leaking. Brakes both done once I think and not expensive. Oil change is cheap through dealer with a package.

[thunderbrick]

The best car I ever owned was a 97 M3. I bought her with 32k on her and sold her at 216k. I still regret that day. She pulled like the day I bought her. The radiato,r I replaced cost me $128 plus the clips. I broke the fog lights twice. A dear friend damaged the sun roof with her legs in the air pushing upwards.  $268.00. I did the brakes myself and the oil changes. I did 3 inspections. $1k for two of them and $1.5k for one of them.

My 2006 330 was another great car. I hated the run flats. Everything else was awesome.

I would buy another 3 series anytime.

Cheese

I have an '03 525i that I bought used in 2007.   110K miles, and only one repair of consequence; the alternator, and it wasn't expensive.  EDIT:  It's our family's 4th (5th?) used BMW and several have gone over 200K.   Maintenance has been surprisingly cheap since our first our 320e with 112K on it, and we ran it until it was all rusted out.

[S Clark]

I have an '03 525i that I bought used in 2007.   110K miles, and only one repair of consequence; the alternator, and it wasn't expensive.  EDIT:  It's our family's 4th (5th?) used BMW and several have gone over 200K.   Maintenance has been surprisingly cheap since our first our 320e with 112K on it, and we ran it until it was all rusted out.

T.B.
Are you doing work on it yourself?  If spark plugs were $1400, I can't imagine an alternator being inexpensive.  I mean, good grief, I had a valve job done on a Honda for just over $800.  But spark plugs???  Stlrman is talking about over $4K spent.  I could replace an engine for that kind of money. 

[zybar]

T.B.
Are you doing work on it yourself?  If spark plugs were $1400, I can't imagine an alternator being inexpensive.  I mean, good grief, I had a valve job done on a Honda for just over $800.  But spark plugs???  Stlrman is talking about over $4K spent.  I could replace an engine for that kind of money.

Something is way wrong here...I had my local dealer (BMW specialist shop - not dealer) replace my spark plugs (2009 M3 with an 8 cylinder engine) last fall and it was under $400 in total.  How can it possibly cost $1400 for a regular 3 series???

George

[Folsom]

Something is way wrong here...I had my local dealer (BMW specialist shop - not dealer) replace my spark plugs (2009 M3 with an 8 cylinder engine) last fall and it was under $400 in total.  How can it possibly cost $1400 for a regular 3 series???

George

Makes zero sense. $400 is a lot, but who cares compared to $1400????

[Letitroll98]

BMW's are wonderful cars with insanely high repair costs, my mechanic advises against any used BMW purchases.  I understand they have thrown in a bunch of free service with new ones in the past, not up on what is offered today.  Not to be a jerk, but just changed plugs and a high beam on my 3.5L Honda and it couldn't have been easier.  To get at the plugs you have to take off a small cover with two clearly marked latches, that's it, and for the bulb you lift off the radiator overflow tank, no tools, it slides up off of a bracket.  Why aren't all cars this easy to work on?  I view it as outright negligence to sell a car that you have to spend $1400, or even $400, on spark plugs.  It's a shame, I love the way BMW's drive, but I won't ever own one.

[mcgsxr]

I am still wondering if the "spark plug" change actually included all new coils and wires.  That could hit $1400 from a dealer.

Back when I owned my 1995 318Ti it lunched its CPU one morning and took out 2 coils with it.  $3000 to fix it - in 2003!

[zybar]

To make us all feel a little better...

You could be spending $21,000 to change the oil on your Bugatti Veyron

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/bugatti-veyron-oil-change/

George

[pehare]

owned a '84 325i, '88 535is and '95 R100RT Classic Edition.   All great machines - put over 200K each on the cars and over 70K on the bike before I totaled it into an errant pack of crossing wild hogs.  These were pretty simple machines to maintain back before the technology got so complicated.   My BMW mechanics - who I still see occasionally say stay away from the newer stuff, cars and some of the bikes.  I'm over the performance car/bike thing and prefer the utility, simplicity and reliability of my '05 4-cylinder Toyota Highlander.  If I wanted a road burner again I'd go Japanese.

 

[S Clark]

Is this going to be a nightmare with expensive repair costs?
...

Well, Stlrman, it looks like you have your answer from 7 pages back.  I suspect that keeping an old BMW hinges on how much work you can do yourself.  If you've got to hire out spark plugs, fluid changes, alternators, etc,  it's probably a bad deal. 
I've got a '93 Dodge Cummins diesel as a third vehicle for hauling and for trips to far West TX.  The engine has 250K and is good for another 500-800K. In other words, it will last another 60 years at the 5-6K/year I use it.  But if I couldn't do simple things, and some not quite so simple, it would be a money pit.

One last bit of advice.  Once the shine is gone from a toy like your BMW, you seldom get it back.  You're likely to get rid of it, you just may not know it yet.

[Philistine]

If it's the guy I recommended to Stirman I would trust the quote he's given to pass inspection.  He's always gone through the work line by line and explained everything, and kept the parts he replaced if I needed to see for myself. 

If you could share what work needs doing it might help some of the guys have an opinion on whether it's worth doing or not?.  Each model has it's own weaknesses and, if these are for a known issue, it might be cheaper in the long run to take the hit and have a reliable car.  For example: the electric water pump is a weakness in the E90, so I knew it would need replacing but would be good to go once I'd taken care of it.  I had a Ford Escape years ago, it spent half of its life at the stealership having warranty work done, I couldn't get rid of it fast enough even though the new owner may have bought a reliable ride with all the issues resolved?

The recommendation the local guy's given to me is to 'stop buying and start leasing', since the E90 was introduced in 2006 they've just become more complex and expensive to repair.  In addition most of the major parts are coded in to the ECU, ruling out DIY repairs and forcing owners to use stealerships.  My youngest son rear ended someone in the E90 I handed down to him, the adaptive xenon headlights needed replacing - $750 each and the adaptive feature didn't work until the bodyshop took it to the stealership for the replacement lights to be coded in.