[RonD922]

Hello,

I am also younger (18) and I have only owned German vehicles so far. 1 good 914-1 Parts-1 911 for engine and parts-1 914 that I am rebuilding now-1 1987 BMW 325E-1 1992 VW Passat-1-92 BMW 325IS.

The maintanance on my first BMW was not to bad-I had to replace tires-The Clutch which I burned up-AC-which was expensive but natural for a car 13 yrs. old. Other than that it ran fine with little maintance. It was my first car and I drove it really hard and didn't even do scheduled maintance. I came back to the BMW's becuase I totaled my first BMW on the interstate after hitting a Semi-and I walked away without a scratch so I am very confident in the safety of BMW's.

I have only owned my 92 325IS for about 2 months now so I can not really tell you about the maintance. From what I understand if you just keep the oil changed and the scheduled maintance done the will run forever. The reason people think maintance is so high on German cars is the take them to the dealer. There is almost no difference in the prices on parts for Jap. compared to German cars, the difference is the Honda techs get paid $40 hour and the BMW techs get $70 an hour.

From what I understand the 318 is the easiest to keep on the road of the BMW family. 4 cyl. with the little maintance required.

Hope It Helps,
Ron