Is it really true about BMW reliability?

[aimare4losers]

they have break easily and parts are expensive..that is somewhat correct...BUT they have the best warrantees ever....i mean dood..i get my car repainted wen it gets bird shit stain..cant get any better then that

[metale]

i mean dood..i get my car repainted wen it gets bird shit stain..cant get any better then that

[nhobb328]

I figure keeping my new bimmer running can't be any worse than the saab I just sold. However, I figure the two have a similar problem, idiots that don't maintain their car. Then they pull into a dealer for a service and find that all kinds of things are wrong that would have been prevented with a little preventative maintenance. Really, your engine is blown, but you just had an oil change 30k miles ago, idiot. That was the case with a car at my mechanics shop, bimbo did not change the oil for 30k, this is in a saab that needs it every 5k.

[Ron97M3]

BMWs find lots of little reasons to need service and the service costs at least twice of an american car. So that is a really good reason to DIY if you can. Otherwise unless you are willing to lay out significant money for service I would say forget about it.

I have been servicing myself, but of course there are some things that
I will be forced to have the dealership do.

I have a brother in law that bought a very clean 1992 328is about 5 years ago. We got rid of it after about a year because the dealership $$'s got to him. He bought a new chevy instead. Then about 2 years ago he bought a new mini cooper. Guess the baby BMW lured him back? I will find it interesting to see if he keeps the mini when the FREE service ends.

[EastWind]

Everything about BMW is expensive. It is the price of luxury. Get use to it.

To register my mazda 323 cost like $30.
To register my BMW and get plate cost $302.

if I get a ticket in my mazda, it will probably be a $50 for doing 30 in 25mph, the day I am going to get a ticket in the 7, it's going to be for doing 140mph in a 70mph and you know that is ticket and possible jail.

My car is in the shop now just getting basic work done and I am looking at spending $1500, I just got the car, the last Fuqer that had it before me, neglected it really really bad...

[Vanos01]

I think part of it is that most BMW owners are somewhat perfectionist and driver ethuthist's (sp) Meaning, they want their car in to be in tip top 100% perfect running conditon so a lot of pre-maintance is required. Do you replace the water pump, thermostat and radiator when it breaks like most people or do you change if BEFORE it breaks because you know it's best to change it at a certain time before anything happens and want you car in perfection running condition and to reduce the chance of causing severe damage by not doing it. This is just an example but really, someone who has a ford Taurus with 130K or a someone with Chevy Camaro with 140K is probably not going to replace motor mounts, guibo's, lower control arm bushings, a fan clutch etc. is he? most likely not. I believe when you do some moderate maintance every 50-75K these cars will easily run 250K on the engine before a overhaul is maybe required.

My .02

[badboybill1968]

This all depends on what model and year you are buying. Some models had bad years where BMW added new options or features or transmission, etc. Once you do some research on the model you like you can then make your decision on what car to purchase. For example I purchased a 1994 bmw 530I and I was told by bmw that it was a bad year due to some parts not being as reliable as most bmw's. I replaced the water pump twice around 166,000 miles. Air condiioner went out, radiator needs to be fixed or replaced around 213,000 miles. But the car runs good and smooth. I have been american cars and japanese cars with much less miles and they do not even run as smooth as this car does. This car has been an accident and still runs better than my buddy's Nissan which has 70,000 miles on it. Do your research on the model and year and you will be better off with a good car. http://www.mobil1.com.sg/performance/miles.aspx

Most bmw's I know have over 400,000 miles and still running.

BMW's are reliable cars. You just need to take care of them like any other car. The thing is if you have an american car and german car and you take equal care of both. The german car will outlast an american car because it is better built and the germans take pride in their cars. I know many people who have over 400,000 miles on their bmw and no overhaul was done. Same engine and transmission. I found 19 bmw's with over one million miles. Some had an overhaul done on the engine and transmission and others are still running. I currently have a 1991 bmw 525i 202,000 miles and still running good. 1994 bmw 530I and still running good with 213,000 and I have a 1999 bmw 740Il this is my baby because it is the flagship of bmw. This is a car that runs soo smooth you can be going over 100 miles an hour and you will not even feel it. This baby has all the bell's and whistle's. Who ever thought about a steering wheel that has a heater so that when it is very cold outside your hands will not be cold touching the wheel. I have talked to different mechanic's who just work on german cars and they know people who have reached one million miles. What does that tell you. I have a video of mobil performing a test on a bmw with over one million miles and no overhaul. Let me know if you can find an american car that has one million miles that is documented like this one.

http://www.mobil1.com.sg/performance/miles.aspx

[AZ325i]

We've had our 06 325i for a couple of years now and just had the passenger rear window controls fixed for the second time(guts inside the door) have done the left rear as well x 1. Replaced pealing interior parts 3 times as well. Engine and tranny are a dream and we still love the car.

[BigblockA]

It depends on the care that has been taken by owners. The 6 cylinder cars will run as long as anything on the planet and are neither expensive nor difficult to maintain. If you get a V12 car that was completely neglected then you can run into some serious money to make them right. The bottom line is any properly maintained BMW is going to run hundreds of thousands of miles.

[mynameisBMW]

Im in the camp that calls "BS" on those claims. I have owned two BMW's which see daily driving. The E36 has never let me down despite going through two radiators (it has ~200,000 miles). Unlike everyone else I'll give you some facts. Hope you can read german. ADAC, the German equivalent to AAA in the states keeps stats on breakdowns of their members. BMW always rate very reliable. See the following link for the page that contains BMW 3 series.

http://www1.adac.de/Auto_Motorrad/pa...ePageID=288970

If you follow the breadcrumbs above the chart then you can see the other classes of cars. Hint, the link says "Pannenstatistik 2009" (breakdown statistics 2009).

[openminded]

The Shine has gone off my BMW experience. Maybe better in Europe but here in Australia stuff is hard to get and expensive. Sure there are benefits, intangible to owning a car you like. My love was always the line thougha corner. Now however, I have bought my first Japanese car in 25 years of motoring. Had it 3 years. Only scheduled services. It's a Lexus over 10 years old when I got it. It would behove the Germans to pull one apart and see how tis built. I checked the history when I bought it at the dealer that had serviced the car for it's whole life.
Latest trick my E36 is doing is getting a flat battery. After a new battery, a new alternator, another battery, we finally worked out that the interior light sometimes comes on when the doors are shut. The switch is in the handle. Yes, an integral part of the handle. Two new handles $500 EACH plus labour plus the time spend tracking the problem and random flat batteries. Trauma

[mbb]

The 25 or so Bimmers I've owned have ALL given me good service, even the ones I bought without checking them over carefully. In 2 cases we flew out to pick-up the car and got in and drove over 1000 miles, no problems. Even the two E36's I had, E36's get a lot of bad press, were strong cars, the M3 was driven very hard w/no problems, the 328 needed a lot of work due to neglectful owners but is still mechanically very strong (sensitive DME, though). My old E34 is tooling around out there with close to 400k miles and still strong. My E24 has 320k miles. My old 325es showed no cylinder wear at 240k miles when I pulled the head fro a gasket/valve job, orignal hone marks showed and no top wear ridge. BUT, a couple of tips/opinions when buying:
1) try to find a car that has been adult-owned (use your judgement on that)
2) avoid cars that have had modifications performed to the electrical system, no gee-whiz add-ons
3) buying a completely stock Bimmer is the best then you can customize to your heart's content and not worry about what mystery the PO's have left for you to discover
4) become an informed buyer on what model/chassis is right for you; MOST Bimmer problems are electrical/electronic gadgets or auto trannies, get what is right for your taste but avoid certain gadget-heavy models (i.e., no 7-series unless you're a darn savvy mechanic)
5) try to fins the car with the best paint & bodywork unless that's a talent for you; mechanically most of the models are super-strong and relatively easy to repair and get parts for, but bodywork is expensive
Just my opinion, but the wife and I have driven nothing but Bimmers (and a few trucks) in the last 20 years, lots of driving, some track time, and I still love 'em and enjoy working on them.