I never thought I'd listen to the old guys in the forum

[jwt27106]

who said that if you can't afford the upkeep of an M then you shouldn't have one. I never thought I'd believe that having a car that runs day in and day out is more rewarding than having a high performance one. I definitely never thought that I'd rather have something that runs consistently but doesn't look as sweet.
To anyone who is considering buying an M before you buy this car you need to fully respect it. You've taken the first step by coming on this board and researching but the most important thing is to really consider whether you can afford the day by day stuff that needs to be replaced. Before you buy it, think about if you can really give it what it needs day in and day out, and if you can do this without loosing your patience or your love for the car. If you can afford everything, have the time, and mechanical savoir faire then this car will be extremely rewarding to you.
To any 16, 17, 18, or anyone who is still financially dependent. As sweet as this car sounds, looks, and drives this is not the place for someone our age. I don't mean to be preachy but I just want you to learn the lesson that I have without having to spend the money that I did. I know I probably won't get through to you with this but all the advice you get about having something low maintenance that isn't going to be a financial or mental burden is true. I thought it was bull shit also but I made a mistake and had to find out the hard way. Today's role models are sports stars and rappers who spend more than they have, simply, this is not the way to live. As hard as it is to dream about something steady even if it isn't as cool just try, so you don't have to loose the money that I did.
To everyone that has helped me, or any new BMW owner out, thank you. This is one of the most helpful internet communities that I have ever seen. There is a suprising yet pleasant lack of immaturity, arguing, and most other bad things that plagues other internet boards. Thank you for your time answering my questions.
Hopefully my stint with a 96 cosmos M3 is over tommorow. I've learned alot about financial responsibility and car ownership and am going back to something reliable. I just hope someone else can learn what I did without having to loose anything.
To everyone here keep up the good work it feels like a family here,
John

[jmitro]

good for you for being responsible.

i am 33 and still paying off debt i accrued in my younger days from owning high-priced high-maintenance sports cars that i couldn't afford back then. i wished i had been more responsible, but you live and learn.......

[sirtiger]

how old are you?

[Effervescent]

Sounds like a smart move!

Now, think of the sick rides you'll have...later in your life. :alright

-Eff

[Mr.M]

Smart move. If you haven't decided on what cheaper-to-maintain/insure/drive car to go with, may I suggest an M42 powered BMW ;)

[jwt27106]

I'm 17.

And thanks for the advice, I'm goin back to my old car '99 discovery. Not too cheap but I've done the preventitive maintenance myself for dirt cheap and it has never thrown a CEL, never broken down, and is extremely nice for a 17 year old.

[Billy4774]

I was heavily thinking about the same things before I made my purchase. I make decent money however, and still live at home, and will have had 1/2 the car paid for in the first month. On top of my current job I also hope to pick up side jobs helping my mothers boyfriend restore mustangs. We already have the foundation for a 4 car garage built and hope to finish by Spring.

[EnzoXYZ]

Whats the problem owing a nice car your parents are paying for? Seem like you are. Some people just have diff level of maturity. Not all 16-17-18 will be responsible and that goes for 28-29-30 year olds.
The difference in a bmw/audi/mercedes ownership cost is so close. The difference for honda/toyota are close also. But the high end vs normal car can be a lot but again your parents are paying for much of everything.

[95MMM]

werd

my integra was ownage
turbocharged and perfect compression when i sold it

[Def]

Wait a sec... affording the maintenance that these cars generally require and putting a supercharger on a car and complaining about the reliability is ridiculous.

IMO E36 M3's are pretty reliable cars when you keep them fairly close to stock, especially compared to other German cars of the same years. Start really modding them and the reliability goes out the window just like any other car. Well, I should say with most mods that add much more "failure points" that the reliability naturally goes down, not even mentioning crappy companies like RMS...

[Zerrus]

I've had my M since I was 16 (now 18). I do live at home so that does cut the cost of my living expense by a lot. I took out a loan (more-so had my dad cosign one through USAA) and have been paying that off. I put more than half of what I got the car for down up front. I own a 95 Civic as well as my M, and being the primary on that helps with insurance, and as long as I maintain good grades (A's in all AP classes) my dad helps me out in that department anyways. I haven't had any reliabilty problems yet with my M, and I'm doing all of the preventitive mantiance now.

I don't think it is being young and trying to purchase something you can't afford, it's not doing your homework in depth to see all of the problems that are likely to pop up and the price you're going to have to pay to fix them. I spent about 6 months preparing to buy my car, that includes the homework, making sure I could secure the capital needed, and then the actual searching for it. To me that in it self was an eye opening experience.

Sorry the bad structure, but I'm tired...And off topic, EnzoXYZ..Your car looking AMAZING.

[shift.shape]

im 18 and dont have any problems. Sure if something comes up (which it has to the tune of 600 bucks for me) then that sucks, but I have money put away just for the occasion something like that does happen. I have a job that I work at near full-time (still in school) so that helps. I think if anyone can keep their stuff together they can afford it. It does take a job unless you live off mom and dad (which I still live at home so im a poster child for that) but I pay for my car.

Everyone says upkeep is hard on these cars, but its really not too bad. Just space out the maintenence stuff you need to do and you'll be ok.

Oh and learn how to do your own maintence and your golden

[themadhatter]

even with the simple skill needed for hand tools, it's not all freebie work and the parts can be very expensive.

a single control arm is $150-200 depending on where you source it. A single strut is $150-200 depending on what brand, etc. Try doing a set of rear bearings on your own. :eek:

I see way too many of these cars running around with thousands of dollars of upkeep that has been ignored because the buyer is too broke to get it taken care of.

what about the car poor kid on this forum with the red Mcoupe that can't afford to buy brake pads?

I think the OP has realized that there will be another opportunity for him to own a rewarding car like the e36 M3 at a later time. bravo to him.

[ChipM]

You make it sound like buying a Ferrari; I don't think its fair to call the M3 high maintenance. Mine has been, in the nine years that I've owned it, the most reliable car of any that we've had. More reliable than the Jeep, more reliable than the Taurus, and more reliable than the Mazda.

True, some maintenance parts are more expensive, but those are easier to plan for than an unexpected breakdown (for example, I just spent $115 on a tow, and another $200 on a fuel pump for the Jeep. If you're tight on cash, this probably hurts a lot worse than planning to spend $315 for a few months).

I do agree with the bigger issue that you must live within your means, and preferably well below them. But, in the car-specific portion of the discussion, my experience hasn't shown the M3 to be appreciably more expensive to maintain than most other maintstream cars (and yes, our M3 is mainstream. It is significantly similar to all E36 6-cyls, and there are millions of those on the road).

[themadhatter]

You make it sound like buying a Ferrari; I don't think its fair to call the M3 high maintenance. Mine has been, in the nine years that I've owned it, the most reliable car of any that we've had. More reliable than the Jeep, more reliable than the Taurus, and more reliable than the Mazda.

True, some maintenance parts are more expensive, but those are easier to plan for than an unexpected breakdown (for example, I just spent $115 on a tow, and another $200 on a fuel pump for the Jeep. If you're tight on cash, this probably hurts a lot worse than planning to spend $315 for a few months).

I do agree with the bigger issue that you must live within your means, and preferably well below them. But, in the car-specific portion of the discussion, my experience hasn't shown the M3 to be appreciably more expensive to maintain than most other maintstream cars (and yes, our M3 is mainstream. It is significantly similar to all E36 6-cyls, and there are millions of those on the road).
not a ferrari but not a ford mustang either. notice how I didn't mention parts breaking down, just parts that wear out. these cars don't really break down if you keep up with the standard service and maintain the simple parts like the water pump, radiator, shock mounts etc.

as for the towing etc, I have a AAA Plus membership that has saved my butt.

[xeler8]

a single control arm is $150-200 depending on where you source it. A single strut is $150-200 depending on what brand, etc. Try doing a set of rear bearings on your own.


150-200 for a control arm? 150-200 for a a strut? Yeah if you are buying top of the line racing parts!!!! A full set of replacement shocks and struts from Monroe is only around $300!!!

I just dont agree with this thread. I have owned my M for 4 yrs and I have had no problems....

Jason

[themadhatter]

150-200 for a control arm? 150-200 for a a strut? Yeah if you are buying top of the line racing parts!!!! A full set of replacement shocks and struts from Monroe is only around $300!!!

I just dont agree with this thread. I have owned my M for 4 yrs and I have had no problems....

Jason
and you can buy brake pads made out of wood chips; what's your point?

[jmitro]

i think the point is that a newer model BMW (or any high priced car) is going to cost a lot of money, whether it's in car payments, maintenance, or modifications, or all of the above. bravo to the guys that pay for their own car, but i ask......who is paying for the rest of your living expenses? who gives you the money to go out on friday night and buy your clothes and pay for meals and such? life requires other expenses as well, and when you have money to pay for all of these things, then you are responsible enough to own a car like a BMW.

and i'm not just talking to the teenagers here. i owned a 944 turbo while in medical school in my mid-twenties. that car was a maintenance pig. i had barely enough money to pay my apartment rent, but i spent $12K in maintenance in two years...even though i didn't have the money. i was too enthusiastic to step back and see the big picture that i was eating myself into a huge hole. i was just too immature.

the point is.....if you can cover your expenses and not depend on someone else to get you out of the hole, then great. if not, it's not the end of the world to step back and be more fiscally responsible until you can. you have the rest of your life. :)

[joenationwide]

Hopefully my stint with a 96 cosmos M3 is over tommorow. I've learned alot about financial responsibility and car ownership and am going back to something reliable. I just hope someone else can learn what I did without having to loose anything.
To everyone here keep up the good work it feels like a family here,
John

what happened to your car?

short of an engine or transmission failure, i dont see what makes these cars so expensive to maintain. (i hope this isn't "famous last words")

anyway, i figure if you can turn wrenches on most things, and not have to go to the stealer to buy parts, you should be ok. we can do most maintenance items ourselves (except maybe rear wheel bearings). of course its not a honda, i guess im just expecting worse cuz i had a twin turbo z. it was a great car for 5 years until i started having problems with the fuel injectors, then knock sensor, then boom...headgasket.

[xeler8]

and you can buy brake pads made out of wood chips; what's your point?

My point is that your arguement that BMW's are expensive to maintain because replacement struts cost between 150-200 makes no sense.....

If my strut broke I would buy a $50 replacment from Monroe or a $70 OE replacement from BMW... If I was feeling frisky I would buy a $120 replacement from Bilstein or koni but we are still not quite up to $150....

Further, a $50 replacement strut is about normal weather you own a BMW or a Civic which negates your arguement. Nuff said....

Jason

[ChipM]

and you can buy brake pads made out of wood chips; what's your point?

Wooden pads would not meet OE spec. Monroe shocks do. Upgrades do not count for the purposes of a maintenance discussion, as those are ALWAYS optional. We are also excluding high-performance parts because it stands to reason that if you can't afford to maintain the car, you probably can't afford to take it to the track either. And no, Dominic Toretto, you don't need anything other than OE-spec parts for the street.



not a ferrari but not a ford mustang either. notice how I didn't mention parts breaking down, just parts that wear out. .

Brake Pads - for parity, all parts from Rock Auto.com
M3 front: $16-64 Mustang front: $13-107

Radiator
M3: $162 Mustang: $90

Strut
M3: $95 Mustang: $46-145

So, what I see are a bunch of parts with 3 to 5 year replacement intervals that vary in price by a fairly small margin (say approx $0.50/yr for pads to $10/yr for radiator). Mustangs aren't THAT much cheaper.

What causes problems are car payments on top of repairs. All cars cost, and maintenance on these in my estimation is not that much more expensive compared to total cost of ownership.

[Mistermotorist]

Other that the fact that the OP apparently has a supercharged M3, which would likely be more costly to maintain (more expensive clutches, for one - fried tires for another) it can be hard to figure out how much a BMW costs to run, compared to a lesser car. Other than the usual things like water pumps and radiators, a BMW should easily last a couple hundred thousand miles with no problems.

Insurance for a 17 year old kid with a supercharged M3 has gotta be a killer. On the other hand, there should be less depreciation with an E36 M3 than most other cars costing in the low-mid teens.

My car eats tires, too,whereas on my Cherokee, the tires last for years and years - as a matter of fact, I've never bought tires for it. I think that if you don't abuse an M3 and keep up with maintenance, it will cost not much more than a Honda in the long term - and if it costs more, I don't care...life is too short.......

[themadhatter]

Jason,

you aren't taking into considering freight and tax, which many of us end up paying since the nearest bilstein, boge (BMW OE) or koni dealer is at least 100 miles away. I've yet to see a $50 oe replacement strut for a bmw or a honda (I own 2). I actually found it cheaper to drop a full koni kit into my civic since generics would have cost me more including the tired springs that I needed to replace.

do you consider the monroes to be an oe equivalent? or did you just buy them cause the price was very desirable?

---

Chip, I said not a ford mustang but if you must compare go the full gamut on common wear items:

clutch kit for the mustang vs bmw: 145-268 / 289

water pump: 29-38 / 45-57

Thermostat: 6-14 / 30

brake rotors front: 15-98 / 85-137

rear brake rotors: 12-84 / 41-66

it is far cheaper, I would also consider a mustang to be a poor choice for the budget as I'm guessing that fuel economy would be poor.

as for my brake pad comment, I was referring to the lack of standardization for parts. they could be made out of wood chips, the same as paper oil filters could be made out substandard parts. the only aftermarket products that I know of that carry a bmw seal of approval is motor oil.

-Ron

[UKRBMW]

So the guy starts a thread to tell younger people about the fact that these cars are expensive to own and it breaks into an argument.

I just got my M3, and I've owned cars nicer than it, but I'm going back to school so I got something fun to drive, pretty reliable and classy - My White M3. I know this car will be more expensive to maintain than my first Honda Civic, but that is expected. I know I'll go through my tires in 12-15 month (had other BMWs before, and they just don't last any longer than that with my driving). So that'll be 350-400 next year for a set of new rears, and yes some suspension parts will need to be replaced. But this is the price you pay. These cars aren't going to be Honda reliable (actually this is a cleshe in my opinion, I've had 2 Hondas and they were not nearly as reliable as some other cars I've had), but they shouldn't be breaking all the time.

FYI. I'm from Ukraine, and back home BMW and Mercedes are considered the 2 best cars you can get, as here they are considered most expensive and maintenance intense. Back home everybody says: "They are more expensive to fix, but once they are fixed they run longer than anything else".

[themadhatter]

not an argument, just a debate trying to bring all sides to light. :)

[leedawg]

Ive got to say the OP is probably right though, sombody in high school that has saved up for the last who knows how many years goes out buys the car. Now he has the thing and something breaks. Now what if he has no tools and no idea how to work on the thing its going to cost him min 4 to 5 hundred to just get it looked at. Im 25 and in grad school and dump a ton of money into my e36 every yeear. But yes its unfair to call the car unreliable, its not like a porcshe or something. My E36 has never stranded me anywhere and always starts in the morning. Id say its been very reliable and I love driving it. If you can afford 1500 bucks a year extra in maintance then you can handle owning the car fine. But at 17 in high school working for 10 bucks an hour its going to be hard to pay all the bills.

[UKRBMW]

If you can afford 1500 bucks a year extra in maintance then you can handle owning the car fine.


$1500 when your car is paid for is OK, when you're making $4000 in payments (or more) and having to spend $1500 in maitenance - it becomes a bit too much.

[leedawg]

exactly what I was saying. I have a real job thankfully and its not to bad, but im still in school and feel the sting every time i drop 500 on the car. BUt in highschool htose kind of numbers would have killed me. I would have been hard pressed to just make my monthly payment every month plus insurance and gas. Let alone servicing the thing. Just buying the parts is pricey. So hes probably making the right decision granted im not so sure a land rover is any better as far as maintance and reliability and cost to operate. Id say they are just as pricey. What he needs is a newer honda or something that just runs and runs and runs with almost zero maintance costs.

[apollo322]

Excellent thread, and full of very valid points.

[macavant]

good stuff. the initial cost of buying the car is usually easy to handle, but the long term maintenance of the thing (specially if a Euro) can be tricky. there will always be another cool car :)

[joenationwide]

yeah i thought the comment about getting the Land Rover was funny...

i thought i read that Land Rovers had huge maintenance issues, and were going to stopped being produced. If thats true i can imagine how much and how hard it will be to get replacement parts. I think an M3 is a tank compared to a Rover, but I could be wrong.

[xeler8]

you aren't taking into considering freight and tax, which many of us end up paying since the nearest bilstein, boge (BMW OE) or koni dealer is at least 100 miles away. I've yet to see a $50 oe replacement strut for a bmw or a honda (I own 2). I actually found it cheaper to drop a full koni kit into my civic since generics would have cost me more including the tired springs that I needed to replace.

do you consider the monroes to be an oe equivalent? or did you just buy them cause the price was very desirable?


I still dont believe that a ONE new strut is going to cost me $150... I am confident that I can get a new OE strut from the dealership for less than $100.

As for Monroe. From what I have read, I believe these are as good or better than the somewhat short lived OE boge shocks/struts... However, I do not own them and I assume you dont either so neither of us can really comment on there quality and endurence. However, I can say that a $50-$70 Monroe strut is an option to a 17yr old M3 owner that is tight for cash. The said 17yr old can even walk into Sears and order a replacement if need be.

Jason

[themadhatter]

I still dont believe that a ONE new strut is going to cost me $150... I am confident that I can get a new OE strut from the dealership for less than $100.

As for Monroe. From what I have read, I believe these are as good or better than the somewhat short lived OE boge shocks/struts... However, I do not own them and I assume you dont either so neither of us can really comment on there quality and endurence. However, I can say that a $50-$70 Monroe strut is an option to a 17yr old M3 owner that is tight for cash. The said 17yr old can even walk into Sears and order a replacement if need be.

Jason
actually, I've had Boge on my car, lasted me as long as I kept them...about 2 years. their quality is excellent for an OE application.

you forgot to mention the regular buy 3 get one free deal that monroe has on a regular basis. :)

I just looked up retail for OE BMW struts.....$301.32 (http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=BG93&mospid=47488&btnr=31_0420&hg=31&fg=10) :eek:
yeah, those koni double adjustables are looking mighty cheap right now. :D

[themadhatter]

Ive got to say the OP is probably right though, sombody in high school that has saved up for the last who knows how many years goes out buys the car. Now he has the thing and something breaks. Now what if he has no tools and no idea how to work on the thing its going to cost him min 4 to 5 hundred to just get it looked at. Im 25 and in grad school and dump a ton of money into my e36 every yeear. But yes its unfair to call the car unreliable, its not like a porcshe or something. My E36 has never stranded me anywhere and always starts in the morning. Id say its been very reliable and I love driving it. If you can afford 1500 bucks a year extra in maintance then you can handle owning the car fine. But at 17 in high school working for 10 bucks an hour its going to be hard to pay all the bills.
you nailed it perfectly.

if you're paying for the car yourself, without the help of The bank of mommy and daddy, then you've got insurance, payments and upkeep all on your shoulders.

I don't see why everyone is getting all excited about this.

[xeler8]

Arent Boge and BMW OE the same thing? Isnt it true that they are pretty much at the end of there life after about 40K miles? Just curious because my M feels like sloppy boat at 90K on stock shocks/struts.

$301 ? I promise that I will never get OE replacements then from the stealer.....

Jason

[themadhatter]

Arent Boge and BMW OE the same thing? Isnt it true that they are pretty much at the end of there life after about 40K miles? Just curious because my M feels like sloppy boat at 90K on stock shocks/struts.

$301 ? I promise that I will never get OE replacements then from the stealer.....

Jason
boge makes the OE dampeners, I've never cut the two open to compare the valving and amount of gas/oil in each one. it's very possible that the OE application is valved differently then the boge turbogas product they sell for the aftermarket.

the factory units are good for around 40k, the boge labeled ones are warrantied for life.

your sloppy boat is in serious need of attention and probably wouldn't pass inspection in some states. perhaps you should get your set of monroes already.

[xeler8]

Nah... Bilstien PSS9's for me....

Jason

[themadhatter]

Nah... Bilstien PSS9's for me....

Jason
nice choice. :D

[Roadwarrior1956]

Your wisdom is refreshing and worthy of praise, (Yup I'm an old guy:)

One thing no one ever talks about and I think is as important as maintence is how you interface with your machine! SMOOTH!!! is the rule, remember cars are just that, a machine and how you use it has a lot to do with how long it last.

I am not talking about babying it, I drive the shit out of mine! I am talking about how you shift it, clutch it, gas it, drive it, SMOOTH but fast will win everytime and your car/machine WILL last longer too.

Just $.02 born from experance.

[mobil1]

Being young and owning an M3, I think I can bring something to the table.

I was 18 when I bought the car, and being 20 now, I've had time to reflect upon my decisions.

My thought process was, "Im young, and if I wait until im almost 30 to buy a nice car, I probably wont appreciate it as much for what it is. Im responsible, so screw it, you only live once."

At the time, I had already had some friends pass away over stupid circumstances, and it had a profound effect on my life. If I were to die tomorrow, what would I do today? Buy one of the sports cars of my dreams.

However, as much as I love this car (who wouldnt?), it has become somewhat of a financial burden on my life. Mainly because I have to work a minimum of 30 hours a week in order to pay off my living expenses AND go to college at the same time. Call me spoiled, but 2 of my brothers didnt go to college, so my parents had enough to send me on a full ride. As long as I dont fail, they pay.

But Im finding it harder and harder to go to school all day, and work all night, and somehow find time for homework, studying, and a diminishing social life. I've contemplated selling my car many times, but havent gone through with it. It would make my life so much easier, but a little challenge never hurt anyone, right?

[GatorMech]

While I think the OP has the right idea by getting rid of his M3 until he's in a better situation financially,
I think its stupid to complain about reliability on M3s when he has a supercharged car.
Like somebody posted above, you don't have to be an brain scientist to know that putting a supercharger on an E36 M3 is gonna adversly effect reliability. Just spend 5 minutes in the Forced Induction section to figure that out.
I daily drive my M3 20k/year and with routine maintenance, the car is very reliable.
I guess it begs the question - if you were so worried about reliability, why did you supercharge the car in the first place?

later,
Robert

[jwt27106]

I'm sorry if I came off as saying they are unreliable, this is untrue. What is simply a fact, is that if you can't afford the prevantative maintenance that's crucial to the car's durability then its not going to be reliable. I don't have the maturity yet to make myself do all the maintenance on a consistent basis so I'm going to go with something cheap that is still under warranty.

[jwt27106]

I'm sorry if I came off as saying they are unreliable, this is untrue. What is simply a fact, is that if you can't afford the prevantative maintenance that's crucial to the car's durability then its not going to be reliable. I don't have the maturity yet to make myself do all the maintenance on a consistent basis so I'm going to go with something cheap that is still under warranty.
As for

[jwt27106]

I'm sorry if I came off as saying they are unreliable, this is untrue. What is simply a fact, is that if you can't afford the prevantative maintenance that's crucial to the car's durability then its not going to be reliable. I don't have the maturity yet to make myself do all the maintenance on a consistent basis so I'm going to go with something cheap that is still under warranty.
As for the

[jwt27106]

I'm sorry if I came off as saying they are unreliable, this is untrue. What is simply a fact, is that if you can't afford the prevantative maintenance that's crucial to the car's durability then its not going to be reliable. I don't have the maturity yet to make myself do all the maintenance on a consistent basis so I'm going to go with something cheap that is still under warranty.
As for the Land

[jwt27106]

I'm sorry if I came off as saying they are unreliable, this is untrue. What is simply a fact, is that if you can't afford the prevantative maintenance that's crucial to the car's durability then its not going to be reliable. I don't have the maturity yet to make myself do all the maintenance on a consistent basis so I'm going to go with something cheap that is still under warranty.
As for the Land Rover.

[jwt27106]

I'm sorry if I came off as saying they are unreliable, this is untrue. What is simply a fact, is that if you can't afford the prevantative maintenance that's crucial to the car's durability then its not going to be reliable. I don't have the maturity yet to make myself do all the maintenance on a consistent basis so I'm going to go with something cheap that is still under warranty.
As for the Land Rover. They h

[jwt27106]

I'm sorry if I came off as saying they are unreliable, this is untrue. What is simply a fact, is that if you can't afford the prevantative maintenance that's crucial to the car's durability then its not going to be reliable. I don't have the maturity yet to make myself do all the maintenance on a consistent basis so I'm going to go with something cheap that is still under warranty.
As for the Land Rover. They have

[jwt27106]

I'm sorry if I came off as saying they are unreliable, this is untrue. What is simply a fact, is that if you can't afford the prevantative maintenance that's crucial to the car's durability then its not going to be reliable. I don't have the maturity yet to make myself do all the maintenance on a consistent basis so I'm going to go with something cheap that is still under warranty.
As for the Land Rover. They have a reputation for being high maintenance but I got a hand me down (series II mind you) discovery that never threw one CEL or broke down once during the six years of which my family had posession of it. However, I am going to go with a cheaper car that is rock solid and under warranty still. God willing I have alot of time ahead of me to own a higher performance car.

[Def]

That's got to be some sort of record...


...and these cars aren't that expensive to maintain. My 13 year old Nissan costs more to maintain than this(basic parts are more expensive on the whole). Mods are cheaper for the Nissan usually, but that's about it.

[black_box]

That's got to be some sort of record...
:lol I was thinking the same. if you scroll real fast the 2nd paragraph is like one of those animated flipbooks.

[Billy4774]

Alot of you said its hard to juggle school and work, but I've worked full time since highschool. I don't see why its that serious?

[mobil1]

Alot of you said its hard to juggle school and work, but I've worked full time since highschool. I don't see why its that serious?


Are you still in highschool? Things changed when I got into college.

[bejita]

Well, while everyone's at it I might as well throw in my experience.

I had just turned 20 when I applied for my car loan (on my own no co-signers, lucky for me my credit was already awesome by 20). I was also one to come from a Honda Civic ('95 Si). I'm 23 now and I would have to say I've learned a lot in the 3 years I've owned the car. First off, I do have a lot of respect for young people who pay for and work for their own stuff (as I have always been like that). In most cases though, (and I understand there are always exceptions) that in these cases where people pay for their own stuff, their parents do help them out to some degree whether it's shelter or paying for school (which is even still the case with me). I just so happened to take care of anything else.

Instead of moving out I decided to buy this car. Being able to handle a lot of the maintanence myself and having lots of mechanic friends I thought it would be okay to get this car. For the people who think these cars are a breeze to maintain I'd like to say a few things about that. Now I wouldn't say these cars are unreliable by a long shot, but I will say they have a lot of stupid shit go wrong with them which over time which gets very annoying and adds up in parts & labor. Especially as our cars approach the 100K mark or go past (All the different suspension parts and bushings or electrical parts). Even if you are mechanically savvy there are a lot of jobs where you need specialized BMW tools to do the damn job (so you have to locate someone with it or just buckle down and pay a shop to do it). Hondas are by far much easier to maintain/work on.

Aside from all of that the car has been a pleasure to own but it has put a strain on me at the same time. Even now I'd be better off if I sold it, but I'm being too stubborn since it's almost paid off.