I still want an e30, e36, e46 or 128! Will they break all the time? Sure! But man are they fun to drive.
Otoh I could just get a Miata.
I still want an e30, e36, e46 or 128! Will they break all the time? Sure! But man are they fun to drive.
Otoh I could just get a Miata.
maj75 said:BMW still recommending 15,000 mile oil changes?
Lord... I'd be out of oil. BMW says up to 1qt/500miles is acceptable on an S52. I've only got 9qts to last 15k? Ha
My E38 has been a good experience so far. In 9k miles, basically everything I've done to the car has been catch-up maintenance on worn suspension bits, etc. So far it's been almost perfectly reliable, save for one minor electrical quirk I'm chasing down (I'm pretty sure it's a relay sticking open) where it'll occasionally just crank and crank but not even try to fire. Flip the key off and back on and it'll start like nothing ever happened. So I might just shotgun the fuel pump, DME, etc. relays and that'll probably take care of it.
Electrically, save for that relay thing and some dead pixels in the cluster, everything works exactly as it should. I did have to fix some cracked wiring within the headlight assemblies, but that's not world ending to resolve.
Only big thing on the horizon is needing to eventually do the timing chain guides (and fix all of the spots where the engine weeps oil). But the engine runs beautifully and unlike a lot of the 6cyl BMWs, it doesn't burn oil. In fact, it's up there with a healthy Jeep 4.0 for not using oil. Current oil fill has about 3500 miles on it, the dipstick level has moved about 1/16" of an inch from just a hair over the full mark to right at the full mark.
It's not the cheapest car to maintain or keep happy, but provided you're not paying for labor on everything, it's not terrible. And it's easy enough to work on for the most part. And it's great to drive, plus it turns a lot of heads driving around here.
Tyler H said:My experience with BMWs, as an enthusiast, has been positive. They've all had their gremlins, but being able to diagnose and fix issues myself is why I get to drive them. As the resident car guy at work, people sometimes ask if I would recommend a BMW and my answer usually surprises them. Used BMW's don't make sense for most 'normal' people.
A BMW makes sense when you think about it like a track car: it shouldn't be the only way you have to get to work. It's can't have a payment. It needs to be a small enough investment for you that you can walk away if it all goes to E36 M3.
Not if you buy a new one, though.
The reality is that even my cheap economy car Focus was a LOT of money. For anyone who believes $22,000 dollars isn't, PM me and I'll give you my paypal....
There are no excuses when just the depreciation on your new BMW in 5 years will be 1.5x the new cost of my cheap car.
And you should at least be able to drive it long after my cheap car is in the boneyard.
Their reputation now is equivalent to 80s Hyundai.
The whole reason I could enjoy an e30 20 years after it was built is because they were so robust. That thing at 275k miles felt as tight and solid as any newer generation car I've been in in the last few years, and we put 50k on it.
I'd have considered a new stripper version of a 2 (are they even putting a six in those anymore?) when it's time to retire the Miata as daily, because I Jones for that six and BMW goodness, but no way these days.
I've owned a 98 323is, a 2003 M5, and a 1999 740i and they were all great cars. The 740i had basically every idiot light on the dash on, but I bought it for cheap and it lasted. I don't think I would own any BMW newer than an E46. If I was rich, maybe a new M4 with a warranty, just because it's such a sexy car. But BMW's reliability has gone straight downhill, beginning in 2002 with the E65 7 series. I remember when that came out, it was rated very low by Consumer Reports on reliability.
I guess I am a masochist 
^Yep. They have a turbo 4, and turbo 6..............and of course the turbo V8s when you get a little higher up the spending chain.
I still lust after the M2 and the Zupra, but buying new + what the extended warranty would cost just seems silly. And that's before you add in the massive depreciation you get buying new.
I still have to recover from this little ordeal, but next year maybe I'll try to find a low miles '19 Miata with the Recaros. Maybe a Mustang GT? From what I understand there is supposed to be a new gen STi for the 2021 MY, so that should be out in the fall/winter time hopefully.
Slippery said:I guess I am a masochist
That is an awesome stable of German automobiles!
I still love the way they look and drive, but I don't think I'll ever own again. And definitely never own one again without a warranty.
I avoided the E92 because of bearing issues, then got them anyway on the N55. Oh irony, you salty wench.
In reply to Slippery :
If the Internet is to be believed, you must have a box full of spent rod bearings lying around. But seriously, who hurt you?
MTechnically said:In reply to Slippery :
If the Internet is to be believed, you must have a box full of spent rod bearings lying around. But seriously, who hurt you?
In all fairness I did the rod bearings on the e46 myself at 99k miles. I do send the oil to Blackstone religiously and they alerted me to a problem.
I was lucky as they probably would have failed. They were excessively worn, but the car has been tracked on track tires.
I’ve been up and down on BMWs and yet I still own one and it happens to be an N55 335i xdrive for extra suffering. It’s my wife’s car. We are at around 85k miles on it after buying it with 62k or so.
Considering the amount of work I’ve put into it I should have just bought an M car. I did the oil pan gasket and to remove the thing you have to drop the front subframe and remove the front axle shafts and the driveshaft because they go through the oil pan.
I also swapped the oil filter housing gasket, which despite Internet advice to the contrary not only requires removing the intercooler, radiator fan and shroud, but also the intake manifold because it happens to curve over an inverted torx bolt that holds the filter housing on. Removing the intake manifold requires moving or removing a bunch of plastic covers and wiring harnesses and the air intake components sitting on top of the motor. All in all it took me about 10 hours start to finish.
Car drives nice enough, but I liked the E46 ZHP we had prior to it. It was simpler and it felt more connected to the road.
I also had an E39 540i sport manual that was kind of a nightmare and my wife had an e36 and so did I. Hers the auto trans crapped out around 60k miles. We had that fixed and then when the rusty rockers showed up we traded it for the ZHP.
I must have Stockholm Syndrome or something. I just keep buying them.
I’mma stop complaining about small problems on my twin...
Harvey said:I’ve been up and down on BMWs and yet I still own one and it happens to be an N55 335i xdrive for extra suffering. It’s my wife’s car. We are at around 85k miles on it after buying it with 62k or so.
Considering the amount of work I’ve put into it I should have just bought an M car. I did the oil pan gasket and to remove the thing you have to drop the front subframe and remove the front axle shafts and the driveshaft because they go through the oil pan.
I also swapped the oil filter housing gasket, which despite Internet advice to the contrary not only requires removing the intercooler, radiator fan and shroud, but also the intake manifold because it happens to curve over an inverted torx bolt that holds the filter housing on. Removing the intake manifold requires moving or removing a bunch of plastic covers and wiring harnesses and the air intake components sitting on top of the motor. All in all it took me about 10 hours start to finish.
Car drives nice enough, but I liked the E46 ZHP we had prior to it. It was simpler and it felt more connected to the road.
I also had an E39 540i sport manual that was kind of a nightmare and my wife had an e36 and so did I. Hers the auto trans crapped out around 60k miles. We had that fixed and then when the rusty rockers showed up we traded it for the ZHP.
I must have Stockholm Syndrome or something. I just keep buying them.
WOW
I’ve had pretty good luck with their bikes.
Now drive to your local Alfa Romeo dealership.and but a guilia, I have a 4 cly turbo. Great car.. drive with passion.dont drive a soulless machine
Cotton said:I’ve had pretty good luck with their bikes.
I think the bikes are a different division, but I still have unexplainable migraines and a limp from my sportbike wreck at the track about 12 years ago.
No desire for two wheels anymore, unfortunately.
It’s like a drug or that super hot lady - it pulls you in.....
nutherjrfan said:
The E53 X5 is pretty similar to an E39 5 series, so at it's mostly in the category of "not awful to maintain"
Bummer man. I bought my M3 at 2 yrs old, 15k miles, now up to 4 years and 30k miles. Year round daily, snow tires in winter, sticky street tires and track pads for track days in the warm seasons. Carries my kid no problem, ton of space, hauls ass especially with the flash tune. Zero problems so far, but I am certainly afraid of what will start to happen in the next few years as I move outside the typical lease/cpo period. I'll be pleased if it holds up long enough to get beyond rear facing seats for both kids. That's at least two more years. Then I can get something smaller and totally different like a Golf GTI/R, Veloster N, 911???
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