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Thread: New guy, looking for advice

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    Tay, Ontario, Canada
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    112
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    '98 328is, '04 330xi

    New guy, looking for advice

    Hi everyone, I'm planning on buying a used 3 series in the near future. My current car (2011 Ford fiesta) is becoming a headache, and with 2 years of payments left on it I'm seriously considering selling it to settle the loan and start fresh.

    Here's the deal, my fiesta has 74K mi/120K kms on the odometer. It has major electrical issues (fuse box rotted out, fried ECU, corrosion everywhere), the frame is rusting like mad despite getting rust protection when i bought it new in 2010, and recall notices are starting to show up for more transmission issues linked to quality of the build...wonderful. Sadly I really liked the car when i bought it. Up to 45K mi it had some minor issues but nothing was too costly. When the fuse box rotted out (water and salt was getting into the fuse box via a terribly designed vent tube that ford refuses to take any responsibility for, go figure) it caused a serious of electrical issues that have been plaguing me for a year and a half until the car finally wouldn't run anymore. Ford wanted $2000 to replace the dumb box with another equally dumb fuse box that would land me in the service bay once again in 4 years, and now im learning my ECU might also be toast from the same electrical issue because of the shorts that occurred when water got into the box. The love for this car, and Ford Canada has reached a new low...

    In contrast my 2003 Dodge ram 2500 RWD with 285K mi/460K Kms on it runs like a top, and has only a fraction of the maintenance costs. I put in 2K of work on it to get it safetied and it has cost me less than $500 over 2 years in basic repairs.

    My big question for any of you BMW owners is what do consider to be a reasonable estimate of maintenance costs on a E46 with about 125K-175Kmi on the odometer? I see plenty of them offered safetied and e-tested for $3500-$7000 and considering the recent repair bills for my econo car I'd rather spend that money on a car I really wanted in the first place.

    Secondly, how difficult is the normal maintenance work on these cars? I'm talking brakes, suspension, clutch, bushings etc. I live about 40mi from the nearest BMW service garage.

    Thanks guys!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    453
    My Cars
    97 Estoril M3/4/5
    I would be prepared to spend $1,000 a year in maintenance and repairs on any E36/E46. More than likely it will be closer to somewhere between $300-$500 but with a BMW you should have cash set aside because repairs can add up quickly.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Arida Zona
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    30,108
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    z3
    Your monthly payment should easily pay for keeping an E46 up. Set a little aside, that couple thousand would be a nice buffer in case something major goes wrong.

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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    Tay, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    112
    My Cars
    '98 328is, '04 330xi
    Almost have enough saved up to start making offers. I'm seeing a lot of 330i,xi,ci manual trans, with 200K-300K km's on them selling for $2500-$4500.

    I have my heart set on a 330xi manual with black exterior and the natural brown/black interior, not seeing a lot of that combination in my area, is that a rarer color combination?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    USA
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    2001 530i (E39) 128k
    Quote Originally Posted by tice23 View Post
    considering the recent repair bills for my econo car I'd rather spend that money on a car I really wanted in the first place.
    That is the key statement in taking the leap to the other side.

    Quote Originally Posted by tice23 View Post
    Secondly, how difficult is the normal maintenance work on these cars? I'm talking brakes, suspension, clutch, bushings etc. I live about 40mi from the nearest BMW service garage.
    Same as any other car.

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