328is cost?

[Scope951]

Yes ive read and heard about those horrific maintenance costs, but I would like a non biased, truthful answer please!!

How much maintenance (excluding regular oil changes, filter, or anything that needs regular replacement) can I expect from a 98 328is that has just around 50k miles. Yeah i know those miles are nice and low, but I still want a car that is realiable for a daily drive. However, as a daily drive my commute to work is short, only around 6 miles round trip. If this car had a great previous owner and was well taken car of, can I expect no major repairs (except maybe that water pump !!) till quite a very long time in the future?

Also I would really appreciate it if maybe some of you guys told me about your own maintenance costs, and how much you have ended up spending? Please persuade me to buy it or not to buy it, seeing as how I do not have much free money to maintain a high cost car.

All Help Appreciated!

[catch22]

yea, go ahead and buy it, unless it's AT. how much?

[JW63]

The parts dont really cost to much, and are a breeze to work on IMO. A water pump will run $50-90 depends on where you buy it. Just be ready to put some money into as your car is almost 10 years old. Struts, shocks, cooling system, spark plugs, and oh yea premium fuel as these cars dont like 87octane and will throw your CEL:(. a car with that low of miles is a real find Congrats.

[TheJakeR]

I have been using my 328i as my DD for the past 10 months, and it hasn't hiccupped a bit! Just little things here and there.... like 10-15 dollar parts off bavauto like once every two months, but larger things do roll around.

Your clutch you will prob want to replace come 80k-90k miles, I am just about to do mine (300 parts, 400 labor)

Shocks (500 parts, 300 labor)

little suspension parts here and there are the most prominent things, but for the money, the 328 is prob the BEST car you can buy for your money. I have not looked back since I purchased my baby in spetember of 2006 <3

[Riken]

All depends on if you do the work yourself or take it to the dealer. If you choose the dealer, get ready to pay through the nose as parts are more expensive and the labour to put them in can be really expensive. What normally takes a half hour to do, you will get charged double at the dealer and at over 100 bucks/hr, it can really add up. I do most of the work myself and save a bundle and get most of my parts from online distributors. With the low km on the car, it shouldn't need much for now but it can add up later when you have to replace oxygen sensors (which you will have 4 of them to replace on the 328) at over 100 bucks each but that's not for a long time from now. These cars have some electrical issues that are quite costly but the engines last a long time unless you race around a lot. If the car has been well taken care of, it doesn't cost that much more than any other car of the same caliber to maintain. All cars are costly nowadays with all their fancy computer controlled goodies unless you get a plain Jane car with no electrical options. If you don't want to spend much money, get a car that has no frills at all on it and it will be a lot cheaper to maintain. Just my 2 cents worth.

[MrBigZN323i]

My Baby is a 98 E36 323i and i gotta tell you , i couldnt spend enough on her..... she is worth every cent i ever spent and more .... dont get me wrong, i have had a couple probs 1 of which was an expensive incident but i gotta say its worth every cent...... i do give you 2 warnings in advance, 1 is prepare to fall in love, and 2..... your wife will not be happy having to now fight for your attention;)

[beamah332is]

I take mine to a certified BMW repair which cost less and they get parts from the dealer at a discounted rate which they pass onto me.
My car (125k miles) doesn't require much maintenance, but if it does... I usually pay around $800 - $1200 for something, which only will happen once every 2 years so far.
There are many things that you can do yourself. This forum is great in helping with that.

[Scope951]

Am I looking at spending around 1000 every year? Cus right now.. i dont really have the spare $$!!!! :(

[jhstealth]

yea these arent that expensive to maintain especially if you can do work yourself. Even if you cant if you have a good mecanic things will be good.

[328flyer]

http://www.dvatp.com/bmw/maintenance/e36/

If you want to truly maintain the car per BMW specs it's not cheap. If you bandaid failures as they come, yourself, it's not bad, but remember you have a 30+ thousand dollar car to service and it is 10 years old. I have two. Suspension is going to be the most expensive short of a major failure on the transmission or engine.

[sKunkman]

All the money for maintenance on my car has been minimal. It's nice because I can do my own work. I've taken it to the shop twice in the past 18 months for stuff I couldn't figure out.

Lemme see what I can remember, bought the car in nov. '05:

Suspension $630 diy
tires (came with wheels, but had to buy rears) $350 + m&b
entire cooling system $350 diy
misc oil, spark plugs, filters, and fluids MAYBE $800 total, and thats a high estimate.

This is not to include all the mods that I've done....this is strictly maintenance. I could have kept drivign on the blown shocks, tires were mandatory, and the radiator started leaking on me so I replaced everything.

[TCarlisle]

This question comes up a lot. My response, and others, can be found in this thread:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=763957

[Scope951]

thanks all, i'd like to hear more

however, you guys have convinced me to snap up a 328is :) cus its really does not seem like it needs much Extra maintenance when compared to a simpler little car

[tsweers89]

Its a BMW what would you expect.You pay for " the ultimate driving machine"
But it is definetly worth it.