MB user considering 730i, right decision? please comments

[7er2B]

I live in Bangkok and am now an Mercedes Benz user but on the market for 730i Y96-98. Bimmer is notorious for its demanding services on so many issues and, of course, high maintenance costs.

Given that the caris pre-owned, not sure this will be a good decision to be 7er. Would like to hear from real-life user here. Please help.

[7er2B]

So strange, no one can comment... does it mean 7series is not reliable and excessive maintenance costs?

[blw]

We've owned a 93 740i for five years, and the only maintainance required has been a fuel pump and standard servicing. Ours is out of warantee, so we've been having the work done by independent shops. The 740i has almost literally cost as little to maintain as a Honda Accord - the big difference is that the 740's tires are a lot more expensive than the Honda's.

In general I've found BMWs to be VERY reliable and surprisingly inexpensive to own and operate, and the 740i has been very much the same. (In addition to the four current ones, we've also have had a '90 325i, a '98 Z3-2.8, an '01 330iC and a '02 M3C.) The only big repair bill I've hit in 16 years of BMW ownership was rebuilding the front suspension of the 528e - but that was at 185,000 miles, and it still came to under $3500. I've had to put $4K into the '89 325ic, but that's different - I was making up for the previous owner's lack of maintainance, and of course it's a relatively old car too.

I keep up with the maintainance - if you do that, they run nearly forever. My 528 has 260k miles, and I sold the 90 325i with 195k. The 740 presently has around 140k and looks and drives like new except that the brake pedal travel is a bit longer than when new.

[segal3]

If you get a 730i...try to get manual (if that's what you like)?

My 1994 740i has 186,8xx mi on it...and it runs perfectly. So, I guess it's just a tribute..these cars are crazy beasts lol

~Matt Segal