It's disappointing to hear so many negative things about the new Bimmers.
You know, a couple of years ago I was considering a newer used BMW. We had friends who had an E36 (late '90's 3-series) who said it was a great car, but every time they took it to the dealership for routine repairs they spent at least $1000. So I looked for something a little less high maintenance.
Eventually it led me to my '76 2002. I've been using it as a daily driver since '09 and it's been as reliable as my wife's Toyota. It's a shame newer BMW's seem to be over-engineered. The old ones are beautifully designed and absolutely bulletproof. If only they had done something about the rust ...

If your friend owned an E36 and took it to the dealer for service - nothing against them - but they are fools. Don't buy a 90's BMW (or any car that's older for that matter) and think its not going to require maintenance more than a newer car. That said, aside from regular maintenance, I never had any major issues with my old E36 and it was very high mileage.

I owned an E36 M3 for 6 years (2003 through 2009) and my father owned one for ~5 years. I bought mine with 120k miles and took it all the way to ~200k miles. My dad and I both daily drove our cars with very little issues. Forum support for that car is great - and along with that, the car is super easy to work on - lightyears easier than 911s. The biggest fault of the E36 is the cooling system - its the weak link - but even that can be preventatively replaced (every 60k miles) in an afternoon for under 400 bucks by a simple weekend warrior type DIYer. 1) If you wait till things break to fix things you're always going to run into more issues and break downs, and 2) if you take an older car to a dealer you're going nailed on the price. your friend should have just found a good european indy shop to work on the car, if they can't turn a wrench.

I'm not going to argue any points as it seems most people in this thread have already made up their minds. It is a little funny to hear complaints of cost and maintenance on a porsche 911 forum though... ;) I do find humor in complaints of friends/people online that have no idea about cars and just take it to the dealer and get charged out the ying-yang for simple maintenance items. I have a buddy like that, and when I heard what he paid for new brakes on one of their cars at the dealer - I almost passed out. Anyway... to each their own - take what you hear on forums with a grain of salt. I've driven, owned, and extensively worked on several E36s with varying degrees of mileage and use over the years. My dad has a 2005 BMW M3 (E46) and I have a 2007 BMW Z4M Coupe (E86) - both of which are daily driver and very reliable. My dad recently bought a used 997 and he is much more worried about the maintenance costs on that vs. the BMW M3 - that's for sure.


Here's my old E36 at almost 200k miles with the original paint

http://i430.photobucket.com/albums/q...sbass/spr6.jpg
http://i430.photobucket.com/albums/q...bass/pick2.jpg

Do much work on your Z4M?

I just started doing a lot of my own maintenance since my warranty and maintenance programs ended last year (it's a 2007 and BMW has a 4 year or 50k miles service plan... at least in the US)

So far it's been just the basic maintenance items. Most recently did it's 6-month oil change - so nothing mind blowing.

http://i430.photobucket.com/albums/q...2BE114A487.jpg

Anyway - sorry not trying to detract from the original thread here.

I'm sure there are BMW cars that are outliers (like with any brand) and require lots of attention - but my general personal experience with BMWs from at least 1996 through 2007 is very positive.

I'd still really be interested in how the OP spent $10k on the car when at least most of any issues/maintenance should have been covered. Seems like BMW owes the OP. I pushed my dealership hard to cover all service bulletins on the car before it went off their maintenance/warranty programs.

Not true, perhaps you should read up about it on e90post.com. In short the ECU changes the charging profile of the battery based on it's age. You can a) just replace it and it's overall life might be shorter due to the charging system not being reset, b) buy a diagnostic tool which will allow you to do many things including the reset, c) change the battery yourself and then just go the dealer for just the charging system reset portion.

This does not just happen, something caused it. There has to be more to it.
And besides there are other non OEM parts available to fix or alter alignment that could have been used for much less money. If my dealer told me they wanted me to spend $5k to fix alignment, I'll tell them to pound sand. I would also question the honesty of a dealer that wanted to replace the kitchen sink.

You should look at Cayenne intake valve deposits and 996/997 IMS issues before you consider those cars out of warranty.

My best suggestion to you would be to not own a car out of warranty as you do not seem to be the type to be able to handle owning a car that needs out of warranty care or one to do maintenance yourself. No offense intended, just stating what I see. That does not mean you have to buy new, as there area certified preowned programs or aftermarket warranties available.

If you want the best in reliability, stick with Honda/Acura or Toyota/Lexus. I have more experience with Honda/Acura as I've owned seven, twelve if you include motorcycles. I've also owned 2 Porsches and 6 BMWs among other cars. The Honda/Acuras have needed virtually nothing out of warranty but that is not all their is to car ownership as you can see by my signature line with our current vehicles.

This is correct, there's really just not any other car out there right now worth buying.

That's the car I have and love it. Great gas mileage and with snow tires it goes through snow like a tank.

Dude, you know NOTHING about me, yet you make a statement like that? Kiss my ass.

I work 60 hours a week, I commute another 10 hours a week. Every spare hour I have I spend wrenching on my track car and working on my house, not working on the cars I drive to work. I don't have the time so spend hours researching car problems on cars I need to run.

I cut my teeth working on my cars, from my 65 Pontiac, up until cars became so electronic a mechanic needed a computer as much as a torque wrench. I replaced my 1st motor by myself when I was 18 y.o.: a 455 CID transplant into my LeMans.

Damn, you people like to feel superior don't you?

BTW, I test drove the Cayenne S, it was great, but probably not worth the extra 12 grand over what I owe on the BMW, so for right now I'm keeping the BMW and buying a Bentley manual. If there are some reasonably priced diagnostic tools I can buy, maybe I can have a better experience with it.

Meanwhile, I'm out of here.

Seriously? :rolleyes:

Well, here's one of the "you people" still trying to help you out.
This is the diagnostic tool you need: BT tool
You can get it direct from them or several of the BMW vendors carry it as well. I checked and I don't see it listed on PelicanParts.