Bimmer owners - Any decent used model?

I've owned 12 BMWs since 1983 (and a BMW CCA member since1982); highlights have been a 2002, a Bavaria, an E28 535is, an E24 M6, an F22 M235i and my Club Sport- which I've owned since new.
You have to decide what driving experience you prefer and balance that against the maintenance/upkeep requirements of a particular vehicle.
That said, when I decided to replace the 2er there were no BMWs in my price range that really excited me- so I ended up with a Mercedes-AMG C43...
 
jeepman3071 said:
100% this.

I maintain my own E90, and a few E46s, E9Xs, and an F25 X3 for family/friends. It's quite clear when these cars are brought somewhere else first, and the person working on them has no idea what they are doing. It isn't hard to work on them, in fact many of them have a logical design for replacing things, but if you don't follow the procedure to a T like replacing aluminum one-time use bolts, you can cost yourself big money. This is where Bob's garage where they run everything down with an impact can cause big money repairs.

In addition to the E90 N52 powered cars (325, 328, 330) I would say the N52 powered 128i is a great beginner car enthusiast BMW. They share the same drivetrain and many other components as the E90, but are a bit smaller and lighter. The E39 5-series is also a great beginner car that is easy to fix and maintain DIY, but being that the last year for them was 2003, they will need more care as a daily driver.
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The e39 5 series aren't that fast by modern standards and the v8 is a little harder to work on. They're still nice spacious cars without too many problems and the v8 hums along nicely at 70-80 mph.
Oh and the 5speed auto is not very tight on the 98 540i I've driven.

Oh and the engines are designed to run at like 230f (coolant temp) for some reason. If you step on it the electronic thermostat will open up and it'll cool down a few degrees, but idling and cruising around town 225 is it's happy spot. The high coolant temp scared me a bit the first time I drove it with the scanner set to live data. The temp gauge on the dash is buffered and doesn't move unless the engine is way hot or cold, unlike most old cars where if you coast down a hill and then accelerate up the next hill you can see the gauge move a little bit
 
Bailes1992 said:
I've said this numerous times on this forum. In Europe, German cars are seen to be the most reliable about, and usually they are. US sold German cars must be built very different to the ones we have over here. That, or you guys really do struggle with looking after them correctly.

My Father had a brand new F30 320d Sport (M-Sport hadn't been released yet) in 2012 with the ZF 8HP. It was one of the very first F30's in the country at the time. It was in jet black with red leather, optional 18" wheels, folding mirrors and rear privacy glass. It started life as my Fathers company car, we both worked for the same company quite closely so often commuted together. I was 19 when he first got it and used to drive it like my hair was on fire and my Father wasn't easy on it either. It got OCI's every 20,000miles and full filter/fluid changes every 40k as specified by BMW. It also got the cheapest fuels we could find and never used any additives. When my Father left the company in 2015 he bought it and took it with him and kept it until late 2017. Over the 5 years he had that car we put nearly 170,000miles on it and it NEVER went wrong. Other than brakes, tyres and basic servicing it wanted for absolutely nothing. Fantastic car!
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BMW’s Timing Chain Problem Comes Back to Catch Car Maker

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BMW Timing Chain Lawsuit Settlement Reached

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BMW Recalls 155K Vehicles Equipped With N52 Engine Over Loose VANOS Housing Bolts

If you're driving an inline-six BMW from the early 2010s, chances are your Bavarian pride and joy is included in this recall
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Some owners get lucky. I haven't had any breakdowns (knock on wood) but I did have my chronic "no heat" issue and I may have to spend $3,000 on new bearings (N55) and $4,000 on eccentric shaft replacement (VVT system develops problems so shops suggest you replace all the potentially impacted parts due to the high labor to reach them.
 
Side note: I love E39s and believe them to be one of BMW's best-built cars ever and one of the best-built sedans in the history of cars. Many manufacturers have and still use it as a comparison for the balance of comfort and handling. If I were looking for a daily sedan and could find a clean E39, I would take that over all the 3-series generations.

This is the one I sold a while ago; it had not a rattle, the engine was butter smooth, and just one amazingly put-together vehicle:

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No Reserve: 2001 BMW 525i 5-Speed

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I put on brand-new factory shocks and springs; the car rode so nicely after that but, at the same time, could be hustled quite well on a back road. 18.5-gallon tank gave it huge freeway range. I remember driving across rural Utah with the cruise set at 120 mph, and since it was only a 5-speed manual, it was sitting at 5k rpms the whole time, but the M54s are so smooth, and the E39s so well insulated, you could never tell.

The 6-cylinder models are best as they get the rack and pinion and aluminum front subframe- not to mention all the suspension, including the rear subframe, control arms, and shocks, are aluminum. So a lighter front end and a more reliable engine versus the V8. Thinking that the car was being developed from the late 80s into the early 90s shows how far ahead BMW was at one point in time. Once I put in Apple Carplay, I didn't need anything more from modern vehicles.

If BMW made a new E39 today, I would buy one in a second.
 
Spedestrian said:
I wish I could find a nice 128i since I live near a race track. An e36/e46 would be fine but all of them get picked up quickly for drift cars.
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I had one slip away. Was a unicorn as well, 128i, M sport package, six-speed manual, but grey/black. Exactly how I would have ordered one, except for the sunroof.

Always intended to stop and knock on the owner's door, and ask them to let me know if they were ever to part with the car.

Never got around to doing so, and one day, the car was gone; looked like it was traded for an additional i3 to join the one they already had.

Then there was the silver Z3 coupe across the street from my office…I think it was the 2.8, and not the 3.0, but it still would have had loads more personality than anything made more recently.
 
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MCompact said:
That said, when I decided to replace the 2er there were no BMWs in my price range that really excited me- so I ended up with a Mercedes-AMG C43...
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The W205 is a beautiful car, shame about the W206. Did you cross shop it against an M340i?
 
Kantaro said:
The W205 is a beautiful car, shame about the W206. Did you cross shop it against an M340i?
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Yes I did; the M340i is a nice sport sedan but the C43 just felt like a more exciting drive to me. I also liked the interior ergonomics much better. I agree about the W206, it's a step back in my opinion.
 
My brother has a 2015 X5 that's been a solid vehicle, especially considering it gets parked on the street in Chicago. It looks terrible due to being a city car but hasn't given him any issues other than the backup camera breaking. 85k on it and he bought it CPO when it was a year old.
 
drtyler said:
I can speak from experience with the E30.

Even when newer, the driveshaft guibo, ujoints, control arm bushings, & ball joints had to be replaced more regularly than we typically see now. The M20 has a fairly short interval on the timing belt also. Looking through receipts on my E30, there were window switches, idle control valve, and a couple of coolant temp sensors that were replaced early in its life.
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Ya, these cars are overrated.
People need to stop paying a premium for them, they are simply not worth the asking price!
 
edyvw said:
Get F87 M2 and call it a day.
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I have had three of them; one was for a small Turo fleet I ran back in the day. It's a 2018 6-speed with 75k miles, 45k of which were rental miles. My friend owns it now, and surprisingly, it has been solid even though it spent the first few years of its life in the canyons and doing questionable things (based on the GPS tracker I had on it).

My buddy, who has a vast Turo fleet, has run 3 M2s (OG, Comp, and CS) and a F82 M4. Other than most of them eventually being totaled, the OG he ran up to something like 80-90k miles- hard rental miles with no issues! I presume the bushings and cooling system will eventually be necessary somewhere around 7-10 years, but otherwise, I would say the last-gen M2/M3/M4 were quite solid.
 
tvaughn said:
I have had three of them; one was for a small Turo fleet I ran back in the day. It's a 2018 6-speed with 75k miles, 45k of which were rental miles. My friend owns it now, and surprisingly, it has been solid even though it spent the first few years of its life in the canyons and doing questionable things (based on the GPS tracker I had on it).
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I will get that when kids grow up to the point where they are not abusing my car like scratching with bikes etc.
 
BMWs seem to be made to run at high power, unlike most cars that just are loud and rattly when you drive fast
 
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