OT: BMW the cars

mamav

mamav

Joined
Apr 23, 2003
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Does anyone here drive a Beemer? Does anyone have any opinions on how good they really are? My friend is trying to get me to get one because they are so good.......probably has something to do with the fact that he also works for BMW as a test driver :rolleyes: , but he does have a point. He has 500,000 on his and it's still running great. I figure I'll never even drive another 500,000 miles so it could just possibly the last car I'd ever have to own and I could get one for just a little more than my chevy is worth now. But being the skeptic that I am I was just wanting some other possibly unbiased opinions. I've read alot about them and it's all rave reviews, but then people get paid to make those reviews, too. So anyone have an opinion.?
 
I think I would love a BMW. That being said, the only experiences that I've had with BMWs are

1 partner had a 740 (I think) wagon. Liked it a lot. Blew a transmission, blew a radiator, hit a deer, got rid of it.

1 partner had a 533 (10 years ago). I jump started it for him once a week. :confused:

1 partner had a little convertible Z3?. This was when they first came out and only had the 4 cylinder. Not much slower than a Miata, but better looking.
 
From my experience of owning a 740IL, they are very fun to drive. I don't think they are cheap to own. They require more maintenance and have more problems than, say, Japanese cars.

Also, the dealers aren't friendly. I've been to several and none was easy or friendly to deal with. That's one reason I've stuck with Acuras ever since. They hold up better and the dealers are very nice.

The best thing about Bimmers is they are indeed fun to drive. But so is my 3.2TL-S and it is about half the price and a heck of a lot more reliable.

I will buy another Bimmer when I can pay cash and not even think about the money, but not until then, because I would rather own a car that is more economical in every way.
 
Are you getting one for free? If so, get me one too. :D

Dunno, I've never driven one.

me gots Toyota.

I should go look for gas on ebay. :rolleyes:
 
Yeah, I was told to stay away from the 700 series, and my dealer is wonderful to work with.....well at least he understands my warped sense of humor so we get along just fine. It's actually a parts shop more than a dealer. I think I'll think a lot harder.
 
I have to wonder what year and model does your buddy drive. I worked for a local BMW dealer for a couple of years and if anything over about 5 years old came in or if it was in excess of around 100K nobody wanted to touch the darn thing. It has been my experience that they do not hold up like some of the other European cars do. They are way too high tech for that. They had nothing but problems with their M62 V8's like you would see in a 540 or 740, the M52 6 cylinder has been a good little motor for them. You'll find that engine in the 325 and 525 models. It used to be and still kind of is that you can decipher which engine is in the vehicle by the model number. 325= 3 series car with a 2.5L motor in it, 740= 7 series car with a 4.0L motor in it. Some of the actual displacements aren't exactly 2.5 or 4.0 but you can still figure out if the car you are looking at is a 6 cylinder or an 8. Their transmissions are pretty decent anymore. They had problems with the ZF transmissions back in the mid to late 80's and then with the GM transmissions in the mid to late 90's. Their standard transmissions (usually made by a German firm called Getrag) are good boxes but if you have to replace the flywheel in one while doing a clutch you will not think so. A "dual mass" flyhweel will set you back $1200.00 :eek:

If you want a car that will rack up the miles so long as you do your part and service it and maintain it properly then I would advise you to look into a '94-'95 year model Volvo 940. A high percentage of the late model 940's were turbo charged (which is not a bad thing) but if you look you can find a non-turbo as well. Aside from wrenching for BMW I also spent 12+ years wrenching in a Volvo dealership and now own my own Volvo/BMW independent repair shop. The later model Volvos are nice cars and will do 300K with proper servicing and the like but I do not feel that they are up to the same longevity that the older 4 cylinders are capable of providing. Also understand that regardless of what you buy, even if it does rack up 500K on the engine and trans the interior and other plastic components are going to take a beating along the way as well. Electric seats, plastic dash boards, all of the rubber components and the like will all wear out in their time too and you can bet that it will be a heck of a lot sooner than 500K. I have 5 Volvos in the clan right now between 180-320K, three 4 cylinders, one late model 6 cylinder, and an older 6 cylinder diesel and they all work great and would take me anywhere I need to go .
 
BMW = Break My Wallet...or Bring More Wampum

I had a BMW 320i about 20 years ago. It was a very nice car. Didn't really have any problems until rust began to consume it.

Oh, do you know the difference between a porcupine and a BMW? With a porcupine, the pricks are on the outside...LOL.

I ride a BMW motorcycle now, so I can tell corny jokes like that one. Dealer performed maintenance is very expensive on BMW bikes. Much more so than Japanese motorcycles in my opinion. I'd imagine the same for their cars. FWIW.

Jeff
 
devo55 said:
Oh, do you know the difference between a porcupine and a BMW? With a porcupine, the pricks are on the outside...LOL.Jeff
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I'll tell you what, that was the very first thing I noticed when I made the transition from Swedish cars to BMWs. It is an absolute written in stone pre-requisite that if you are going to drive a BMW, especially a new one, then you must be an absolute grade A prick. There are exceptions to the rule but buddy they are few and far between. Volvos owners are for the most part nice folks, some conservative and some bleeding heart liberals, lots of school teachers, and a fair amount of fire men's wifes. Oh, and the occassional prick, but I think those guys are just closet BMW owners :D :D
 
mamav said:
Does anyone here drive a Beemer? Does anyone have any opinions on how good they really are?
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Gin, one of the members of our Sweatlodge family Danny is a mechanic that works on Mercedes Benz and BMW's exclusively.
When I started looking for a new car Danny told me to stick with Toyota, Nissan, and/or Honda.
Danny also said the reason he worked on MB's and BMW's was because of the job security. He said that their shop is always full and the Japanese car mechanic's deal mostly with oil changes and little things.
Take it for what it's worth and YMMV.;)

We decided on the Toyota Camry SE for several reasons but not based on the exterior looks. Personally I like the new 2005 Nissan Altima's exterior looks one helluva lot better, although after having our Camry for a while it's growing on me. :cool: ;)
But not their interior.:barf: :grumpy: The Toyota suited us better seating wise and the quality and placement of switches and such.
I especially like Nissan's new hot rod this year, the Altima SE-R with the 260 horse V-6 but the 21 mpg city/ 27 mpg hwy but it just wasn't practical for us and I knew that gas was gonna go outta sight in price sooner or later.
The 2.5 S would maybe have been alright with the 4 cyl and comparable milage to the Camry SE and I could've probably got one for a couple three thousand dollars less too.
That I could get a 5 speed automatic with the Toyota, instead of the 4 speed the Nissan has, helped to cinch the deal for me.
What really impressed me with the Toyota over the others is their reputation for longevity. 300,000 miles are common with the 4 cyl!!! :cool:
I think really that it's just personal preference between the three Japanese makers and that they are all high quality cars.:D
 
devo55 said:
I had a BMW 320i about 20 years ago. It was a very nice car. Didn't really have any problems until rust began to consume it.
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Note that corrosion resistance [of German cars] improved drastically over the last 20 years. 10-12 years of guarantee against rust is the norm today, regardless of conditions where you keep it (just about all of continental Europe has real winters, with snow and salt for months). I can only assume that with decent care or in drier climate (AZ, hint hint :rolleyes: ) it would last considerably longer thanthe guaranteed factory minimum before starting to rust. Other parts (such as engine and transmission) are likely to need major overhaul before ever getting to 500k kilometers, let alone 500k miles.
 
I have had my daily driver 01' M Coupe for little over 3 years now...FAST and fun to drive, not to practical but I did not buy it for that...with the minor quirks that have happened in my car, my dearler called MY BMW in Seaside has always been outstanding in the way they have treated me and taking care of what needs to be done, heck I got a brand new Chevy Tahoe 4x4 as a loaner, I would be a repeat customer in a heartbeat because of the treatment they give me! My warrenty is up in 50,000 miles (might be 100,000 miles now gotta go check with them) in which everything is paid for by them, so I dont worry...Hey Svashtar let me know when ya wana go for a ride :D

41199919.jpg
 
Sweet, that is very sweet. :D Something tells me if I get one I'm going to owe my soul to the Highway Patrol :eek: :rolleyes: :footinmou
 
They are very nice cars. You could do a lot worse. If they meet what you want in a car, and you can afford it, then go for it. The covered scheduled maintenance is a very good thing, just be prepared to sell it or deal with the possibility of expensive parts once that coverage ends.

The (potential) catch is your relationship with your local dealer. If you have a good dealer with a good service department, everything should be fine. A bad service department is enough to put anyone off of any car brand.

FWIW, we don't have a BMW but we do have a MINI Cooper S (which is made by BMW, and serviced through BMW dealerships), and are fortunate to have a good service department nearby. OTOH, the same dealer's sales force is the worst kind of price-gouging trash, so we'd never buy a car from them. In our case we bought ours from out of state and had it shipped to us.
 
You can buy a mid-90's Lincoln Town Car with 100K miles on it for a couple of thousand dollars and drive it for a couple of hundred thousand more miles before putting any real money into it.

Big & safe
Uber comfortable
Parts are cheap
Gas hogs compared to tinny little death boxes (I get 26 or so MPG with mine)

LTC-C.JPG
 
might i suggest an alternative?

Lexus.

if you want a fun car, can't beat an BMW M3. torque like that would suck the fillin's outta your mouth.
 
I had a 318i some time ago. It was tired and needed maintenance often. It wasn't really a problem but the parts were expensive. The dealership wanted $60 bucks for the hood emblem. New rims were $300 a pop (expensive today, ridiculous in the early nineties), and hitting a speed bump at any speed over idle inevitably bent at least one. (I eventually scrounged some steel ones from a junkyard; my car looked like crap after that but it probably saved me several thousand dollars.) I sold it for just this reason...I couldn't afford to keep it running properly. It was extremely fun to drive, even with the little four-banger.

I currently drive a VW. It's going in for its 10,000 maintenance tomorrow, which consists of a brief inspection, an oil change, and draining the water out of the fuel filter. The stealership is charging me $125 plus tax for this. The oil is $8 a quart when it can be found. Using anything else voids the warranty. When I needed a new oilpan, it was $400. When I needed a new tire the second day I owned it, it was $140. In retrospect, my last car - a 1990 Toyota Cressida with 150,000 on it when I got it - ran me around $200 for three years of use, not including gasoline. Why did I stop driving it? It handled like a slug. A powerful slug with leather seats, but a slug nonetheless.

That being said, I'd sell a kidney (and possibly some other parts) for a new M3.

I love German cars. I will continue to own German cars. They're built to be driven and it shows. They seem to be quirkier mechanically and (especially) electrically than most others; when it's time to fix one, the parts get pricy fast. If you can live with this and you enjoy driving for driving's sake, get one.

And drive fast. Nothing bothers me more than tailgating an M5 for twenty minutes because the driver won't even do the speed limit. If you own a bimmer, drive like it. :)
 
I drive a Honda Element. Not much to look at, but absolutely functional, safe, reliable, affordable, and fun. Plus, good for the environment. I'd recommend it to anybody. Great car. Somehow, however, I think you're thinking about a slightly higher echelon...

Both my folks drive Mercedes. C240 and an E320, both new. Very nice! I especially like the E320. They have an incredibly solid feel and the attention to detail is evident. God Bless German Engineering!

But from the reviews I've read, I'd have to recommend Lexus as well. They are now easily outpacing Bmers, Benzes, and everybody else's cars in road tests (in almost every category). They're pretty sweet. Plus, they tend to be less espensive than their competitors.

It's good when you see a car that easily beats the competition and costs over 10k less. Very nice!


But, when you're talking about these kinds of cars, I don't think that you can really go wrong. All are so good. Good luck finding a car, and have fun!

Nam
 
Rule .308 said:
It is an absolute written in stone pre-requisite that if you are going to drive a BMW, especially a new one, then you must be an absolute grade A prick.
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I see pricks driving all kinds of cars and trucks around here, so your statement is just a broad generalization. However, I'll admit that I stopped visiting BWM forums because of immaturity, name calling, trolling, and everything else going on there. It seemed like most of the members there were juveniles, morons, and/or elitist snobs, so I can see where these "all BMW drives are pricks" generalizations might be coming from. :footinmou

Anyhow, I drive a new BMW (and if that makes me a prick - so be it), and I enjoy every minute of it. I actually own two BMWs - a '02 X5 4.4i Sport (E53) and a '00 328Ci Sport (E46). Both are absolutely awesome cars, handle great, and have not given me any problems at all. I've had the X5 for 2.5 years, and the Ci for 4 years; both have only been to a dealership for scheduled maintenance; that's it. I also had an E30 and E34 in the past and loved those cars as well. There is simply nothing else out there that handles as well on the road, so if you enjoy driving and are looking for a driver's car - BMW is it. If you just need a reliable means of getting from point A to point B regularly and do not enjoy doing so - then BMW is not for you. Yes, BMW $tealers, especially their sales departments, are the most arrogant аsshоlеs I've ever seen (at least in my area), but I just suck it up and prepare myself for the worse every time I need to go there. Driving a BMW makes it worth it (to me anyways). My wife, on the other hand, drives a Lexus - great cruiser/grocery getter, very luxury, soft, quiet, reliable, with the best service department you're ever going to find. But it's so boring to drive. This car isolates you, the driver, as much from driving as possible. Not that there's anything wrong with it – some people actually like it, it's just not for me. Same as knives I guess – some people will settle for a reliable production knife, while others won’t have anything but the best custom piece. Why? Both will cut stuff the same way…. almost.

Too bad BWN let this joke of a designer Chris Bangle run their classic styles into the ground and release these monsters – E65, E60, E85, E83, etc. If that continues, I won’t be buying a new BMW any time soon… I hear Infiniti makes decent cars these days…
 
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