BMW Repair Horror Stories, True?

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Jeff Ballard
OK, not a Bimmer fanatic but I do acknowledge BMW makes some great cars. I have been looking over ads for an affordable car for my son. (No, Fiat is not a go-to choice in this case, for now). Anyway, I have seen some nice mid to late 90s 3-series cars and even a couple of Z cars that look fantastic. How do these cars hold up?

And a friend of mine bought a late model, 2006-ish 7-series that looked good, but he told absolute horror storie$$$ about repair work. Granted, he was having work done at a BMW dealership, and I'm sure economy was not one of their guiding principles.

Are parts that expensive, hard to self maintain?

Jeff
 
Parts are not too bad (bavauto.com), but my experience is with a certain Dr. Wifey's '83 320i. Later models have so much electronic crap it's silly.

As for a car for your son an X would be safer than a sedan statistically. 2 seater means less distraction from passengers. Statistically.
 
Passengers

In Alabama, a 16 year old driver can only have one passenger in the car (outside of parents/legal guardians or family members). So that take care of that multi-teen joyride scenario.

Jeff

And, yes, I'd look at a good X anyway ...
 
I have owned a few...

...but mostly older models. I had a 1988 325ic. This boxy convertible was one of my favorite cars. A 5 speed is a necessity, as they had issues with many of the automatics of that period. I also owned a few of the mid 1980's 5 series sedans. These cars were all very reliable and got great gas mileage. My latest was a 1998 528i sedan. Again, excellent fuel economy and performance. Never left me stranded, nor did any repair cost big money. Using a dealership service dept outside of the warranty parameters would have been foolhardy and cost prohibitive. There are plenty of import shops out there that can handle these cars. I feel these 5 series cars are a great value, stylish and safe.
 
I heard similar horror stories from a neighbor with a BMW... the type who wouldn't even have a clue how to change his oil... $2300 trips to 'reset the computer and clean the throttle body'... etc. He finally traded it in because he knew a $1800 brake job was coming up...

I was drooling over a 635 a while back and did a little research. I was on a enthusiast site and saw one someone had been working on very similar to the car I was looking at. They mentioned that they had 'changed all 9 radiator hoses!'.

I'm sure stuff like that has to really hurt if you have it done at a dealership.
 
They are German so things break more than usual. Generally speaking they aren't too bad. In my opinion the 3 series is probably the best German car sold in North America. At least up to the E46. The magnesium alloy engines in the newer cars have some rather bizarre and unfortunate problems. If you do most of the work yourself parts are generally reasonably priced (compared to Japanese cars) and they are fairly easy to work on. I'd stick with a in-line 6 and stay away from anything with a V8. Keep in mind that if you ever have to get into the engine very deep there is a lot of expensive special tools involved.

As far as radiator hoses, I don't think there is a car made that goes through radiators and hoses like late model BMW.
 
Mine's a '98 318ti

185k, original clutch. Just replaced radiator, water pump (which was a bit of a pain, had to get a made-for-the-job puller), hoses are still good but will replace soon. Radiator was $100, pump $40 (puller - $90). Saved many hundreds, as per usual, by not having a shop do it.

In looking forward to replacing the clutch, I've picked up a 6spd to put in. Have also just picked up a Downing Atlanta supercharger; so when adding these things will have the block somewhat bare, and will replace the hoses and other small maintenance items, like the crank seals which are leaking.

When done, I should have M3 performance (at least the US spec E36 M3) and 40mpg on the highway.

It's been my experience that my BMW has been very durable and reliable - and if can do most of your own work, what challenges that do present themselves can be handled very reasonably.
 
a little late replying, but...

I've owned two e36's; a 92 318i and a 96 M3. Both were higher mileage cars and very reliable. Had no previous service records for either so don't know how well they were maintained before I got them. Some normal maintenance stuff but I was only left set once when the water pump went on the 318, I doubt the regular service/replacement was ever done and they're somewhat notorious for original water pump failures. I think some power window switches were replaced over the years and minor things like that. Biggest repairs I remember were, on the 318: water pump, and on the M3: a power window motor dying, a wheel bearing wearing out (only repair I had done by someone else), replacing an emissions air pump, and replacing some leaky power steering components (not the rack, but pump and reservoir, I think) all at about 150 - 160k mi, and they really weren't that bad repairs. Parts can be found online for very reasonable prices and working on them wasn't bad at all. Gas mileage, even in the M3, wasn't bad (depending on driving habits). Require premium gas though. From my experience they were fun reliable cars, made me a bmw fan.
 
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