BMW question

vmaxer

Wow, can’t say I expected them to have no support, I know a few guys that had BMW’s and haven’t heard anything like this.

Now I don’t know what I’ll do. I do appreciate the advice though.

Joey_V

My best friend drives an M4, my other friend drives a 650i, my brother drives a 235 Msport.

But they both bought brand new. My brother's car has been to the dealer maybe 5x in the 2 years he's owned it.

I owned an MB E550, it was in the shop zero times.

I would get an MB over a BMW any day. Especially if used.

Legender

My buddy has an X5 and just had to have about $3500 of 'normal maintenance' and fix a couple of small oil drips at the 30k mile mark. He is sorry he bought it. I'm a Lexus/Toyota owner. +1 on the 4runner or the older Lexus vehicles. Would never touch a BMW. I buy mine to drive, not for them to spend time in the shop.

charley95

Have you thought about a Lexus RX 350? Had one since 14 and it's never in the shop. It looks similar to the BMW you have pictured. Wife drives it and loves it.

charley95

One thing I've noticed when visiting my local Lexus dealer is that their service area is the smallest I've ever seen. That tells me something!

Jstas

Two things I have found about used BMWs from my years as a mechanic and/or parts counter monkey.

1.) BMWs only last between 3 to 5 years before the long, expensive, laborious process of completely rebuilding them one failed part at time begins.

2.) Anyone who says their BMW has been "trouble free" is either lying/kidding themselves or has a different definition of "trouble free" than most people.

Nobody buys a BMW new. They lease them and in 3 years, they go lease a new one and unload the old one. They lease because the payments are about half of what a financing payment would be. So nobody really maintains them or takes care of them well either. So they hit the used market likely with more small issues than they should have. But people want to have that "lifestyle" and don't buy a used BMW because they want a reliable, comfortable car. They want a status symbol and continue to neglect it so all those little problems become bigger problems.

You want a used luxury car? Get a Cadillac or a Lincoln or a Lexus or an Acura. Buicks are pretty snazzy anymore too and NOBODY will pay any attention to you because they think you are an old man. A Cadillac is just a bedazzled Chevy so it's going to be cheap and easy to fix. A Lincoln is a Ford that took off the blue jeans and put on a rented tux. A Lexus is an over-priced Toyota with the "gold package". An Acura is a Honda with different badges.

Emlyn

vmaxer wrote: »

Wow, can’t say I expected them to have no support, I know a few guys that had BMW’s and haven’t heard anything like this.

Now I don’t know what I’ll do. I do appreciate the advice though.

Some alternative thinking. There are plenty of older BMWs on the road in my area. The one up for sale has low mileage. If you can pick it up for $12K and it has no oil leaks and everything in working order it could be a decent hauler. Ask to see maintenance records if they are available. Was it run on synthetic oil with regular changes? Does it have relatively new tires? Tires can be expensive! Test all windows and other motors to see if they sound and work right. If not, walk away. I would not trust it as a daily driver for a loved one or want to take it on long trips but the X5 can be useful. Just not for a teenager who is still learning how to drive in busy traffic.

German lixury cars are expensive because they use expensive parts. Expect that anything that goes wrong will be expensive to remedy and budget for it. Typically that would be anything electronic in a 9 year old vehicle. Wiper motor goes out, plan on double the cost of a typical car. Although the inline 6 is relatively reliable, it has been pushing around a heavy vehicle. I would be more inclined to get a used 3 series than one of BMW’s SUVs. An SUV is also not inherently safer than a sedan for a novice driver because they don’t handle as well. My recommendation would be to lease a new Camry LE.

Clipdat

This x1000! Larger, heavier, and higher off the road doesn't automatically mean safer in an accident.

The safest vehicle is one that can potentially avoid an accident in the first place thanks to it's nimble handling. (Ask me how I know...)

Emlyn wrote: »

An SUV is also not inherently safer than a sedan for a novice driver because they don’t handle as well.

billbillw

nbrowser wrote: »

FestYboy wrote: »

Looking for an SUV? See if you can find a land cruiser... Hard to beat Toyota reliability...

Hell even a 4Runner is a rock solid choice...I'd even take a goofy lookin FJ Cruiser over a Beemer any day.

All three of those choices tend to have very inflated values on the used market. Yes they are reliable, but they don't drive on the road worth a crap.

charley95

Can't go wrong with a Camry. Not the most exciting car in the world but, I've never spoken anyone through the years that's owned them that have gripes. The new one is not a bad looking car. I guess you have to decide what you want out of a car. Do your research.

mhardy6647

charley95 wrote: »

Can't go wrong with a Camry. Not the most exciting car in the world but, I've never spoken anyone through the years that's owned them that have gripes. The new one is not a bad looking car. I guess you have to decide what you want out of a car. Do your research.

First time I rented a Camry (early 1990s in Orlando ) my comment after driving it for 10 minutes -
"This is the ultimate American car". Absolutely boring, absolutely predictable,absolutely fit-for-purpose.

The ultimate incarnation of the 1963 Chevy Impala (or insert your favorite big bland American sedan of yesteryear) of the modern era.

(Full disclosure, the RAV4 I drive now is even more boring and utilitarian!)

Jstas

Life's too short to drive boring cars.

afterburnt

Life is too boring to drive short cars.

vmaxer

Emlyn wrote: »

vmaxer wrote: »

Wow, can’t say I expected them to have no support, I know a few guys that had BMW’s and haven’t heard anything like this.

Now I don’t know what I’ll do. I do appreciate the advice though.

Some alternative thinking. There are plenty of older BMWs on the road in my area. The one up for sale has low mileage. If you can pick it up for $12K and it has no oil leaks and everything in working order it could be a decent hauler. Ask to see maintenance records if they are available. Was it run on synthetic oil with regular changes? Does it have relatively new tires? Tires can be expensive! Test all windows and other motors to see if they sound and work right. If not, walk away. I would not trust it as a daily driver for a loved one or want to take it on long trips but the X5 can be useful. Just not for a teenager who is still learning how to drive in busy traffic.

German lixury cars are expensive because they use expensive parts. Expect that anything that goes wrong will be expensive to remedy and budget for it. Typically that would be anything electronic in a 9 year old vehicle. Wiper motor goes out, plan on double the cost of a typical car. Although the inline 6 is relatively reliable, it has been pushing around a heavy vehicle. I would be more inclined to get a used 3 series than one of BMW’s SUVs. An SUV is also not inherently safer than a sedan for a novice driver because they don’t handle as well. My recommendation would be to lease a new Camry LE.

I can get it for 12K- CARFAX has several service records. Been garage kept, one owner. I have been watching these vehicles and when this one came up I contacted the seller. Going to look at it tomorrow.

I was excited to get it, but now not so sure.

Jstas

I think that what you should take from this is not that BMWs are bad cars just that one should do their due diligence when shopping for a used one.

You seem to be doing that so keep going and if you are happy with it, go for it. Just beware that they can have some expensive problems surface. They aren't any harder to care for than your run of the mill Chevy or something but parts are sometimes significantly more expensive.

I know a few people with used BMWs. Two have 7 series. All of them have told stories of repairs that were either a nightmare or significantly more expensive than they were expecting or parts availability was poor. One guy had his 7 series disassembled in his garage for 9 months waiting on various parts from Germany.

Granted, an 3.0 X5 is not a B7 Alpina but do some research on Google for 2009 BMW X5 3.0 problems and consider what comes up.

This site is actually a good site because it lists reported complaints and the average cost of repair: https://www.carcomplaints.com/BMW/X5/2009/

I will say, too, that after about 7 years, the BMWs that have been neglected/beat-on get weeded out of the used market and you get left with the few that were owned, not leased and the ones that were cared for. They tend to be more reliable.

Like every old mechanic or carpenter ever told me, take care of your stuff and it will take care of you.

afterburnt

Well if I had the choice between getting married again and a getting a BMW give the the BMW on fire going off a cliff. I hope this helps.

mhardy6647

afterburnt wrote: »

Life is too boring to drive short cars.

Signature line material right there.



(borrowed photo -- needless to say)

mhardy6647

Jstas wrote: »

I think that what you should take from this is not that BMWs are bad cars just that one should do their due diligence when shopping for a used one.

You seem to be doing that so keep going and if you are happy with it, go for it. Just beware that they can have some expensive problems surface. They aren't any harder to care for than your run of the mill Chevy or something but parts are sometimes significantly more expensive.

I know a few people with used BMWs. Two have 7 series. All of them have told stories of repairs that were either a nightmare or significantly more expensive than they were expecting or parts availability was poor. One guy had his 7 series disassembled in his garage for 9 months waiting on various parts from Germany.

Granted, an 3.0 X5 is not a B7 Alpina but do some research on Google for 2009 BMW X5 3.0 problems and consider what comes up.

This site is actually a good site because it lists reported complaints and the average cost of repair: https://www.carcomplaints.com/BMW/X5/2009/

I will say, too, that after about 7 years, the BMWs that have been neglected/beat-on get weeded out of the used market and you get left with the few that were owned, not leased and the ones that were cared for. They tend to be more reliable.

Like every old mechanic or carpenter ever told me, take care of your stuff and it will take care of you.

I have often heard this put into context along these lines:

These automobiles are expensive to purchase, so no one should be surprised that they are also expensive to maintain.

It certainly appears that their manufacturers look at things that way.
Kind of makes sense, actually.

FestYboy

afterburnt wrote: »

Life is too boring to drive short cars.

Hey, I drive short cars and they are far from boring.

mhardy6647

I once had a co-worker who drove a Scion xB.
He had a bumper sticker on it that read

Hummer Escape Pod

mikeyb128

Clipdat

Is that @nooshinjohn in his red Jag?

mikeyb128 wrote: »

vmaxer

Touch crowd.

So, someone want to karma me some repairs??

nooshinjohn

We are trying to Karma you some common sense...

AsSiMiLaTeD

I agree with Skip on taking a look at the Infiniti models. In terms of comfort and performance they split the difference between Lexus and BMW. You get some of the performance of a BMW and some of the comfort of a Lexus, it’s a good middle ground that works for some people. We are on our second FX model (FX50 now) and have had zero issues with either one...my only complaint is that the 360 degree camera system that lets you see all the way around your vehicle on the outside could use some HD lenses on the cameras

GlennDog

Jstas wrote: »

You want a used luxury car? Get a Cadillac or a Lincoln or a Lexus or an Acura. Buicks are pretty snazzy anymore too and NOBODY will pay any attention to you because they think you are an old man. A Cadillac is just a bedazzled Chevy so it's going to be cheap and easy to fix. A Lincoln is a Ford that took off the blue jeans and put on a rented tux. A Lexus is an over-priced Toyota with the "gold package". An Acura is a Honda with different badges.

Back in the day, when I was a technical editor writing repair manuals for the Hearst Corp., that's exactly what we thought, too

GlennDog

I had a 69 Mercury Park Lane convertible that (I think) was longer than that. It was limo-length!

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Nightfall

vmaxer wrote: »

Tough crowd.

So, someone want to karma me some repairs??

I'd look at Japanese luxury brands (Acura, Lexus, Infinity) waaay before any of the German brands. Sure they don't have the same image, "prestige", whatever you want to call it as a Mercedes or BMW but they'll cost you way less money in the long run and in a lot of cases be just as or nearly as nice to drive.

Nightfall

Acura MDX, almost 300hp, 27mpg highway

BlueFox

Joey_V wrote: »

I would not buy a used Beemer. But that's me.

Probably less than used Pass amps.