OT: Should I buy old BMW 528i?

[equalizer]

Looking at used cars around 100K miles, $6000.
Shortage of used cars causing prices of 4-cylinder civics, camrys to be not much less than some BMWs. Most cars way over KBB. Drove Lexus LS430, GS430 and didn’t like them – excellent freeway cruisers but not great for city.

So drove a 2000 BMW 528i with under 100K miles, GM-automatic transmission, good service, sport shocks, tires, etc.
2.8 engine is pretty quiet and fairly reliable. Potential big failure item is transmission. Any way to determine how long it would last? Is it all dependent on gentle/maniac driver and/or just bad luck?

[spdrun]

Hold out for a real transmission — less risk of failure than a GM slushpuppy. Or get a 3-series where real transmissions are more common.

[Coronita]

I would pass, unless you plan on working on the car yourself. It’s a BMW. Something is going to break. And your repair bill will not be small if you can’t turn your own wrench. Same could be said for VW, Audi, Mercedes. There’s a reason why they are cheap when they are this old.

[paramount]

[quote=flu]There’s a reason why they are cheap when they are this old.[/quote] ^^^^ What flu said. ^^^^

No matter how much I like the way they look and drive, I will never buy another used BMW again. Never.

[scaredyclassic]

I would not take it for free. Well maybe free.

[Coronita]

The transmission and engine itself probably will not be an issue. However, every electrical thing that breaks, every plastic panel that cracks, every seal that needs to be replaced, every hose that needs to be replaced, every coil pack that will need to be replaced, EGR valve, throttle body cleaning, etc will cost you a fortune wrto labor. (Parts will be reasonably priced from places like FCP Euro). The only way to keep a german car past 5 years is if you can turn a wrench or willing to pay a lot of money for it. My audi’s book value is around $2000-3000. I deferred any sort of major repairs. I could do it to save on labor costs, but parts itself would be significant, and my time. So I put up with a lot of leaks

German cars are not known for their serviceability. More recently, BMW actually tries to prevent serviceability from most garage mechanics by requiring custom tools and ECU programming, even for something as simple as changing a battery. Ask anyone who has an E90/E92 BMW 3 series, and ask them how much it costs to replace the battery. Dealer will be $800, independent shops will be like $400. Half the cost is labor, and that includes a required ECU reprogram.

[spdrun]

Depends on the age of the German car — 80s and 90s Mercs, BMWs, and VWs are highly user-serviceable. The BMW in question is probably on the border.

Looks like people have replaced E90/2 batteries on their own without the ECU programming horseshit. Successfully…
http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=471224

(Worst case, someone can bribe an independent shop $30 to “register” the damn thing.)

[The-Shoveler]

Come to think of it I never hear BMW commercials advertising them for sale, they always seem to talk about leasing them LOL.

[spdrun]

The kind of people who buy a car outright probably don’t listen to the yap-box a heck of a lot.

[outtamojo]

As Flu pointed out, learn to love the wrench if you decide to buy.I would spend a bit more and get a 2002 or 2003 530 as those are the last model years for e39 and most kinks, save for decent cupholders, have been worked out. There are tons of youtube videos on how to do maintenance – its actually not that hard on these models. I have owned one since new and my daily drives make all the maintenance work I put into it worthwhile, to me at least. I hate when I have to use the 2014 Accord.

[spdrun]

If you eat fast “food” in the car, you deserve to have a dirty interior 🙂

[temeculaguy]

As an owner of an out of warranty 5 series, my advice is stay the hell away. Mine is 10 years newer and is not my daily driver, plus I do most my own maintenance and my advice is the same. It’s similar to an aging 50 year old divorced and unemployed former trophy wife, high cost to maintain and unrealistic expectations of maintenance to value ratio.

At that price point, go American or Asian purely for the maintenance costs. If you dislike Lexus, look at Infiniti, costs less and performs better. In a totally different price range, the future Mrs. TG just got a 1 year old Cadillac ATS and I’m envious. While it’s 3 series in size and too small for my over sized body, I’m totally impressed and 5 years from now when I’m undoubtedly fixing something, I love the ease and cost of repairs. Now I’m not a fan of caddies pre-2012, their latest stuff feels underrated. A few years from now, when I finally get angry enough to part with the beemer, I’ll look at at a 1 to 2 year old caddy, but maybe that’s just because I’m getting old.

[temeculaguy]

And the battery references are just one example. BMW is notorious for “fixes” like this. In my car they decided the battery only lasts 3 years, so if you give them $800 they will install a replacement battery and reprogram the car so the battery lasts 4-5 years. I got a an OEM battery for 150 and didn’t reprogram. $800 for a battery, they can go EABOD. I gt a kid through4 years of college on less total maintenance costs for his infiniti than they wanted for a battery.

[scaredyclassic]

My 2012 Honda had the good manners to have my battery die in my driveway on a weekend so I could go get a new one easily.

I picture a BMW being more rude. Actually I think German cars actively want to get jews. .

[Coronita]

[quote=scaredyclassic]My 2012 Honda had the good manners to have my battery die in my driveway on a weekend so I could go get a new one easily.

I picture a BMW being more rude. Actually I think German cars actively want to get jews. .[/quote]

Well, with that logic, Asians shouldn’t be buying Japanese cars. At least the Germans apologized for their war crimes. Old Japan is still trying to deny and rewrite history as if the Nanjing massacre never happened.

[Author]

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