Sorry man…I’ve been telling folks all along, when it comes to these things. You got to pay to play or be willing to turn the wrench yourself. It’s why I run a Miata on the track instead…I joke with my buddy, because he goes through tires like there’s no tomorrow. And he laughs that because the cost of his tires+ brakes each time he needs to get them done is probably the cost of me switching out my engine.
If it makes you feel better, the f10 550 I gave to my dad have a battery drain such that if you don’t drive it at least 1 time each week, the battery will reach a level that it will throw up a warning that it’s almost dead…It’s a known issue on the cars with a lot of options, particularly the keyless entry…Because when the car goes into a sleep mode, it’s still drawing from the battery a bit… The battery on the 5 costs 800 to replace BTW…. To be fair, my friend who has a two year old Lexus LS also has the same problem… It seems like the problem is that there’s way too much electronics in cars these days. The solution I have is I just stuck a battery tender trickle charger on it with a quick disconnect plug…My X5, which is one year older is flawless… But I got bought it stripped, because I didn’t want to deal with electrical gremlins… No navigation, no remote key, no active suspension, etc.. Nothing… ended up being cheaper than a Ford Explorer too.
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For starters..Did you buy this CPO or just used? If you bought it CPO, then you should still be under warranty. If you didn’t, do you know the history of it? Do you have the entire service history of the vehicle since new? If the car was properly maintained, you should be able to have a complete history by just going to any stealer and having them pull the service history on it….Start there. That should tell you if the car had problems since day one that was never addressed..
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What is your car’s year and packages. I’m assuming it’s with the 6 cylinder, not the new N20 4 cyc.
What exactly is wrong with the car? Provide the list of issues.
1. Is it failing smog. What sort of codes are you getting?
2. Mechanical. What is wrong? You need brakes and rotors? If so, unfortunately, these are consumables and I don’t consider these defects…They shouldn’t be *that* outrageous… $100 for a decent set of pads, and probably about $100 each rotor if you need them. Very DIY….If your rotors aren’t warped, you can take them to most auto shops to have them resurfaced for like $10 each. I have two seats of rotors, so that when I change brakes, I swap out the rotors with a fresh set…Then I have the old rotors I just took out resurfaced for the next ones.
3. Tires are expensive (again consumable) because BMW’s run runflat tires and don’t have spare tire in the trunk. Unless you go long distances, you can opt to just not get runflats. It will be cheaper and the tire quality will be better. Worse comes to worse, if you get a flat, you end up just calling AAA anyway to have the car towed.
4. If you need a second shop opinion instead of the stealership, let me know.
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Or you can just keep it and ignore the smog issue and just run it on the track and ignore everything that breaks, until physically the car doesn’t move anymore. That’s what I do with the miata. I have a break-and-toss policy. If something breaks, i toss it… Radio doesn’t work, perfect. Toss, and less weight… A/C broken.. Great, toss that too… Power steering leaks? Power stearing is for wussies…Toss that too. Speakers starting to hiss? Gone.. Glove box latch broken? What glove box…. Center console has a crack in it…Perfect, crowbar is your friend to remove it.. Trunk release doesn’t work…..Duct tape is my friend… Check engine light? No problem… Disconnect the bulb to the check engine light…If it’s not tires, not brakes, suspension, and not preventing the engine/tranny from running, I ain’t fixing it…
Actually, the funny thing about smog inspections. There are some zip codes in San Diego county that don’t require a bi-annual smog inspection if you live there but only required at ownership transfers
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As far as trade in. You probably will get dinged a bit with the trade in because the F30 3 series is out…But it is what it is….As far as alternatives, you might want to consider the Infiniti G37…Err I mean Q50.. AN has an infiniti G and he swears by it….I’m not a fan of the Lexus IS…. People have also been pretty happy with the FR-S..It’s going to be one of those cult-type cars…
I would stay away from Audi and Mercedes, again unless you plan on turning your own wrench….
Porsche is pretty reliable. BUT obviously more expensive… And service cost is expensive, and that’s one car you probably don’t want to dick around with yourself…
