value for money of 5 series

Hi Folks,

Having been stung badly from a private purchase of 535 which has costed me (within a week of purchase) £2200 above the purchase price to fix catalytic converter, tyres, break pads/disc all around, wheel bearing, cam gasket covers, rear wheel ball joints, handbrake and display cluster, it has got me thinking on various fronts:

1. If it costs £2000  a year for maintenance (assuming some other parts keep falling apart in equal measure!) then in 5 years maintenance cost alone  will be nearly 1/3 the cost of a new car and  the same cost as a 3 to 4 year old one (and perhaps half of all the parts in the car replaced!). What is an acceptable/reasonable maintenance cost per year ?
2. Is there even a single BMW dealer who sells 7 yr old car with 140000 miles  and if not then what is the cut-off point (age/mileage) at which BMW dealer "disowns" a BMW i.e. is not interested in dealing with one ? That should give some indication about the "official" (undeclared) durability of a model.
3. Is there some statistics on how much money gets spent on fixing BMW cars every year (for each model or all put together).  That should give some indication/pointers to many aspects : maintenance, durability of models and value for money. Car valuations use vauge descriptions like  "costly" and "cheap" (for e.g. "which cars" uses phrases like "V8 may need costly work" ...eh?, how costly ? be specific "which" !)
4. Is there some statistics on common faults for each model and its frequency of occurence (reading the  posts in technical forum it gives the impression that everything from drinks holder to the engine seems to fall apart at some point in time!)

regards,

Automatix

p.s. for all those kind folks who responded to my other post thank you . I didnt want to muddle this up with the other thread.



Edited by Automatix

Ouch. That seems like a whole shedload of money but it can creep up on you. Owning a slightly older car is great if you can manage to do the vast majority of the servicing work yourself, such as change the engine oil, brakes, suspension, coolant or at least take it to a reputable garage who won't charge the earth. My E28 has a stack of bills you could choke a horse with from the first owner who maintained it with a specialist regardless of cost. It seems every six months he would send it in for work to be done, coming away with bills of 300-400 quid and up to 600 when MoT was required. This does seem expensive at first glance, but then BMW engineering is of such high standard that specialist repairers really are the only way to go. It's unlikely a back street garage that services a mk3 Fiesta will have the knowledge to service a BM competently - that isn't to say they do a bad job, just that they won't have the marque knowlegde a specialist has.

These days it is easy to spend 300 quid servicing a Vectra or Mondeo, I know because I've been there. Appreciate the fact that crawling around under your car on a saturday might not be your idea of fun, so if you do a little hunting around your area and find a good specialist there is no reason why you couldn't run your car on a reasonable budget. 2000 quid a year does seem a little pricey to me, I would probably spend at most 500 for service parts and MoT, but then I do all the work myself and that does save a load in labour rates. Hopefully this addresses question one!

My 535i (1990) which I had for about 18 months cost me 4 tyres, an MOT (£100), an oil service and 2 years road tax. I did make it go bang but that was my fault and I don't recommend it!

Yes, I was lucky but they really are made of granite.

However a lot that I looked at really had been driven hard. Nature of the beast unfortunately.

I hope you get her sorted because they really are good, and like a heroin habit- life feels like somethings constantly missing when they're gone!

whereabouts in the UK (if you are!) are you automatix?

To be honest the biggest stumbling block to repairing a car like a BMW is not the technical complexity, but the personal confidence of the owner! I saved the car from a scrapyard, so any work I do on it is with the view that if I seriously screw it up, it can go back to the scrapyard. Of course I would never send her back, but it's developed a worst case mentality that allows me the confidence to do most jobs. You describe a timing belt change, that is one job I could not attempt myself for fear of doing it wrong, so things like that have to be left to a specialist who will have done it hundreds of times.

Routine maintenance is not beyond the abilities of even the most ham-fisted mechanic. I would not describe myself as having above average abilities, but I feel there is nothing in a service schedule that I could not at least attempt. This probably comes from having the chevette in component parts, a fairly simple learning curve as everything was straight forward. The beauty of BMW engineering is that everything comes apart easily. Things like a disc and pad change is fairly simple, if you can change a wheel then you can probably change a brake disc! I would suggest buying an older car if funds allow, something simple and cheap that if anything goes seriously wrong you can just punt off to the scrapyard - try a mk2 fiesta. I wouldn't suggest a chevette as I don't want another of those scrapped! Then just systematically take things apart and put them back together, it's a fun way of learning.

Doive wrote: To be honest the biggest stumbling block to repairing a car like a BMW is not the technical complexity, but the personal confidence of the owner! I saved the car from a scrapyard, so any work I do on it is with the view that if I seriously screw it up, it can go back to the scrapyard. Of course I would never send her back, but it's developed a worst case mentality that allows me the confidence to do most jobs. You describe a timing belt change, that is one job I could not attempt myself for fear of doing it wrong, so things like that have to be left to a specialist who will have done it hundreds of times. Routine maintenance is not beyond the abilities of even the most ham-fisted mechanic. I would not describe myself as having above average abilities, but I feel there is nothing in a service schedule that I could not at least attempt. This probably comes from having the chevette in component parts, a fairly simple learning curve as everything was straight forward. The beauty of BMW engineering is that everything comes apart easily. Things like a disc and pad change is fairly simple, if you can change a wheel then you can probably change a brake disc! I would suggest buying an older car if funds allow, something simple and cheap that if anything goes seriously wrong you can just punt off to the scrapyard - try a mk2 fiesta. I wouldn't suggest a chevette as I don't want another of those scrapped! Then just systematically take things apart and put them back together, it's a fun way of learning.

spot on old chap!

it really is down to confidence. don't start a job that you are afraid of and always have a backup.

You may have experienced this; I have with my father and brother; it is so easy (not 100%) to walk into a job that someone else has got into difficulty with and pull it off without a hitch. maybe I am just lucky!

Start with motorbike engines, they are dead simple....

Have a look at the Good Garage Guide here;

   http://www.unixnerd.demon.co.uk/bmw.html

and select "Southern England". Seems Scotthall in Eastleigh and
Southampton get reasonable write-ups.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. I would suggest that now you've spent all that money on the car it will probably run like a dream and other than the usual service bills, tyres and tax wont cost you a great deal more.

I can sympathise with you. I had a similar experience myself with an E39 540i (repairing - mega bucks), and as I said, once the issues where all sorted it was a beatiful car and ran perfectly. Bitter pill to swollow knowing you spent all that dosh though I know.

Hope it all turns out ok for you!

Jamie:

Sorry to hear about your ordeal. It sounds horrible to have paid these "used car check experts" only to find later it is pointless after all. I am not sure if they are able to spot faults that are picked up during service in which case half my faults wouldnt have been noticed and had I paid them  I would have been "doubly" annoyed too !

I liked your gear shifting blob at the end --- very creative indeed !

regards,
Automatix



Edited by Automatix

Zeemax

Nice to know some folks are lucky and enjoying a good motor at reasonable maintenance.

Hope mine gives me the same peace of mind once the fixes are through !

regards
Automatix