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looking for a commuter car bmw?

copasspupil

copasspupil

Member
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I'm toying with buying a bmw for a commuter car. Anyone have any thoughts on a 530i or 740i used 50-70k miles...
 
Don't. The cost of maintenance and parts will kill you!

Sincerely,
Achmed.
 
Look for a pre-2010 Volvo s60 turbo. These are great cars and the bottom dropped out of the s60 market when the new body style started in 2011. Read about these cars and the tuning options on swedespeed.com.
 
I loved my old 3 series BMW, but as the guys have said, the mantience cost is horrible. Great cars though.
Bill
 
I agree with the general comments by others about the cost of ownership of a BMW with that mileage. The principal problem is that luxury imports are complicated and not often amenable to simple repairs by the average home mechanic. My ex wife had one in that mileage range and every time she took it in, she ended up spending $2000.00 to "buy it back". Things like radiators, driveshafts, brake jobs, etc just seemed to be short lived and all too frequent. She dumped it and got a Lexus. With that said, I can tell you that many years ago I drove a 2002 that was an absolute blast to drive, was my daily driver, and I ended up putting an additional 75000 miles on it before I moved on. I did all the maintenance and repairs on it and the parts were pricey but the car, like out vintage Mustangs, was easy to work on and allowed me to drive a much nicer car than I could afford to drive if I was writing checks for all the repairs. Today I drive an older Infiniti Q45 to and from the train station every day as my commuter car. It is unnecessarily complex and is getting to the age where some of the parts needed to keep it in good running condition are no longer available. Eventually, it will spit up a part that renders the car undriveable. I only hope that I am not the owner when that happens. When you make your decision, remember that a commuter is not a beater, especially if you require that it be reliable and get you to and from work every day. Good luck with your search.

 
I also did all my own repairs. Took me 6 hours to change a thermostat that cost 130 bux :nut
Bill
 
I guess my brother was lucky. He's had 2 740i and the first ran for 150k with just oil changes and fluids. He's at 90k with his second and still no problems.
 
I have a 01 525. I bought it used with low miles some years back. It was a lease turn in. Repairs can be very expensive, but the nice thing is in a city as big as Chicago, there are alternatives for repair work. The vehicle itself is a fantastic car. I have only had minor issues so far and it's been 7 years. Some rumors of electronic bugs in the 5 series exist and I've had 1 problem with it. Besides the repair prices is the requirement for higher octane gas. It calls for 91. We get 87,89 and 93 :nut I run 89 and am fine with that.
Even my wife can tell the quality difference in the car when she is her friends car.

That being said I'm not sure I would do it again for a daily driver. If I was younger (and smaller) maybe a series.
 
"Fast68back" said:
You could get a BMW motorcycle....... I have 2...
Click to expand...

Well I only have one (POS K1200GT) but it still works with 40k miles. But as said all BMW really means is expensive.
 
Well, I'll provide a counterpoint. I'm on my third used BMW:

'91 525 purchased 110k, wrecked 205k - only an alternator
'91 M5, purchased 43k, turning 180k now - only a water pump
'02 X5, purchased 37k, turning 88k now - one CV joint I need to change

I've never found them to be expensive to maintain. Very few repairs, just normal maintenance, and I buy my parts from bmaparts.com - typically 40-60% of dealer for OEM or OEM supplier parts. I also do not find them hard to work on - buy the Bentley manual, and a set of the cheap factory CDs off e-bay.

By contrast, my last volvo (940) broke constantly (although the 240 was a gem), leaked no matter what you did (oil, trans, coolant), and the plastics started breaking after 7-8 years. My mothers current S40 is eating her out of house and home.
 
I sell parts for a living. Every 5-series and 7-series owner I get in the store (and even the shop owners that work on them) gawks at me when I quote out parts. Even brake jobs are expensive, because when you put cheap parts on these cars, they don't work right. They're awesome vehicles, but they're extremely expensive to repair.
 
Serparate friends of mine owned a 535i and a first generation X5. Both absolutely liked the car when they worked but the one who owned the 535i got rid of it as maintenance costs were getting excessive. IIRC, steering problems (power, rack, not sure). They bought a VW CC and love it.

Second acquaintance has an X5 and is very frustrated with the parts costs. He had to replace a tail light and it was over 500.00 - unbelievable!

I also have a co-worker who has two M3s, one early model and a newer one and he likes both of them but spends a lot of money on parts as well...
 
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