[JingChai]

I've had my 2011 328i for almost 3 years now and just hit 60k miles. Overall it has been a great car.

I recently had a thought of getting it to 150k miles before replacing it. My first car was a 97 Toyota Corolla and it had 178k before I got rid of it and thought it would be nice to get as much as possible out of the 328i.

Does that sound like a good goal to have? Would you run your car to the ground before replacing it?

[ny325]

I took delivery of my E90 back in 2008. It has 70,000 miles plus, drives like day one, looks new, and I enjoy it every time I drive it. I take really good care of it mechanically, and gets a lot of TLC. Therefore, I'll be keeping my E90 for a long time OP.

[Texus]

Until my tax refund comes in. Get your dibs in now for a well maintained e90 n54!

[unrulyteach]

Originally Posted by Texus

Until my tax refund comes in. Get your dibs in now for a well maintained e90 n54!

as for your question op i hav an 2011 n55 with 68k miles an i plan to run it until the wheels fall off

[Frost17]

Owned my 11' for almost 4 years - 83k miles. Plan on getting an M3 once it hits 100k or around there.

[Efthreeoh]

OP, 150,000 miles for a BMW is a very shallow target IMO. 200,000 - 250,000 miles is a more realistic target (up to the E90 chassis at least - I can't speak for the turbo'd F3X's). Being your car is in Cali, the lack of the ill effects of corrosion will probably even extend that target if you want. It all depends on your tolerance for repair and maintenance costs. The good thing about owning a BMW is they are built well and out of good materials. BMW as I still believe also keep parts in production of models well past the last build year of the chassis series. My Wife's 20-year old Z3 is still completely supported by BMW as far as availability of original equipment parts. This was the same as I experienced with our, at the time, 256,000- mile 18-year old E30.

At 150,000 miles and 10 years beyond its build date, I assure you will be astonished at the excellent condition your car will be in. I have 30 years experience with BMWs and over 850,000 total combined miles on 4 cars, 3 of which I bought new. My current fleet is an '08 Z4 Coupe (75,000 miles), '06 E90 325i (338,000 miles), and the 1997 Z3 (184,000 miles). We just took the Z3 on a two week 5,800-mile road trip out West from Virginia and the car performed fantastically even at elevations of over 10,000 feet.

My best advice is to either learn how to DIY a lot of the standard maintenance items, and educate yourself on the few issues the E90 and N52 engine have (all well documented on E90 Post and vetted for repair solutions). If DIY is not your thing, then find a good BMW Indy repair shop and build a relationship with them. The best way to handle a repair shop in servicing your BMW is to tell them your goal of keeping the car long term and to an extended mile level; go in educated and conscious of what service or repair you want completed. Aside from what you read here on E90 Post, you do not need to over-maintain the E90 to get a long, high mileage service life out of it.

BMW are long-lasting great cars. If you don't expect a Japanse-level non-issues ownership experience then you will do well as a BMW owner. Things break on BMWs, but the engines and driveline are very robust and don't break - leak maybe but not break, so most anything is worth the investment of a repair because the rest of the car is in such good shape.

Good luck with it.

[BravoJohny33]

I hope to get rid of mine early 2019. My car has multiple oil leaks at 120k and the quotes I get to fix it from multiple shops cost more than the value of the care. The leaks are slow so I just add a quart of oil between oil changes.

I am just waiting to see where electric cars are going. I imagine if Tesla delivers then in 2020 things will be changing. I don't want to get stuck with an ice for the next 8 years.

[spencers]

I'm itching to get an F30 M-sport 335i or 435i, but my E90 drives well and I DIY all maintenance, so cost of ownership has been cheap. I've owned it for 3 years now and have put on 40k miles (currently at 110k miles). Fixed the major N52 issues myself: water pump/thermostat, starter, valve cover gasket, and oil pan gasket.

Really has been a nice car to own. I just want feature parity with my wife's 2018 Subaru Crosstrek: heated seats, comfort key access, backup camera, built-in bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and all wheel drive.

I anticipate keeping it for another 1-2 years. With a baby on the way, I guess anything could happen.

[triax37]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

My best advice is to either learn how to DIY a lot of the standard maintenance items, and educate yourself on the few issues the E90 and N52 engine have (all well documented on E90 Post and vetted for repair solutions). If DIY is not your thing, then find a good BMW Indy repair shop and build a relationship with them. The best way to handle a repair shop in servicing your BMW is to tell them your goal of keeping the car long term and to an extended mile level; go in educated and conscious of what service or repair you want completed. Aside from what you read here on E90 Post, you do not need to over-maintain the E90 to get a long, high mileage service life out of it.

Thank you for a very thoughtful post. Quick question - I'm just an amateur working on cars, but recently changed the automatic transmission fluid+filter+gasket, coolant, and the oil filter housing gasket. This was about the level of DIY that I was comfortable with doing in my garage. E91 with 95k miles, RWD. I would like to keep the car another 4 years, likely 30k miles.

My oil pan gasket is leaking slightly, but no other fluids are leaking. For this level of repair, would you keep adding oil as needed, or take it to an Indy? Thanks!!!

[tcphoto]

I bought my E46 with 108k on it and drove it for nearly seven years. It had 136k on it when I replaced it with a one owner E92 with 106k. The E46 was well maintained but too many big projects were coming up, so it was time to move on. I’ll drive the E92 till it makes economic sense which should be another 6-8 years.

[Denny347]

I've had my '06 330i since 2010, it had 70k mi on it when I bought it. It now has 109k miles on it. It's paid for and not my daily driver, sitting in my garage at the moment while it is snowing outside. No reason to get rid of it. I fix most stuff on it myself but it will need a oil pan gasket in the future. Even with paying for that, it is still cheaper to keep it than buy something else and have a car payment.

[JingChai]

Awesome, thank you for your insight and wisdom!

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

OP, 150,000 miles for a BMW is a very shallow target IMO. 200,000 - 250,000 miles is a more realistic target (up to the E90 chassis at least - I can't speak for the turbo'd F3X's). Being your car is in Cali, the lack of the ill effects of corrosion will probably even extend that target if you want. It all depends on your tolerance for repair and maintenance costs. The good thing about owning a BMW is they are built well and out of good materials. BMW as I still believe also keep parts in production of models well past the last build year of the chassis series. My Wife's 20-year old Z3 is still completely supported by BMW as far as availability of original equipment parts. This was the same as I experienced with our, at the time, 256,000- mile 18-year old E30.

At 150,000 miles and 10 years beyond its build date, I assure you will be astonished at the excellent condition your car will be in. I have 30 years experience with BMWs and over 850,000 total combined miles on 4 cars, 3 of which I bought new. My current fleet is an '08 Z4 Coupe (75,000 miles), '06 E90 325i (338,000 miles), and the 1997 Z3 (184,000 miles). We just took the Z3 on a two week 5,800-mile road trip out West from Virginia and the car performed fantastically even at elevations of over 10,000 feet.

My best advice is to either learn how to DIY a lot of the standard maintenance items, and educate yourself on the few issues the E90 and N52 engine have (all well documented on E90 Post and vetted for repair solutions). If DIY is not your thing, then find a good BMW Indy repair shop and build a relationship with them. The best way to handle a repair shop in servicing your BMW is to tell them your goal of keeping the car long term and to an extended mile level; go in educated and conscious of what service or repair you want completed. Aside from what you read here on E90 Post, you do not need to over-maintain the E90 to get a long, high mileage service life out of it.

BMW are long-lasting great cars. If you don't expect a Japanse-level non-issues ownership experience then you will do well as a BMW owner. Things break on BMWs, but the engines and driveline are very robust and don't break - leak maybe but not break, so most anything is worth the investment of a repair because the rest of the car is in such good shape.

Good luck with it.

[CTinline-six]

Probably until someone hits and totals it, which has been the death of my last two vehicles, or when it burns down due to dealers having no idea when the recalled parts will be fixed.

[Bob Shiftright]

Originally Posted by BravoJohny33

My car has multiple oil leaks at 120k and the quotes I get to fix it from multiple shops cost more than the value of the care. The leaks are slow so I just add a quart of oil between oil changes.

Not sure that isn't a false equivalence.

According to KBB, my old Volvo is worth as little as $43 as a trade-in. A full tank of gas would be more than the value of the car.

[BravoJohny33]

Originally Posted by Bob Shiftright

Not sure that isn't a false equivalence.

According to KBB, my old Volvo is worth as little as $43 as a trade-in. A full tank of gas would be more than the value of the car.

How old was your volvo and how many miles.. I thought KBB bottoms out around 1k

[mweisdorfer]

I have 147,000 miles on my 07, 335i. I drive about 13-15k a year. I am thinking of keeping the car up to 225-250k. After that, I want to move into an M3, but it won't be an e90 m3. IMO the e90 M3 has far too many maintenance risks for my budget.

I am monitoring the new M3 (2015 to present) and seeing how the longevity might be. So far, I think the 3.0L straight 6, in the new M3's, are holding up well from what I can read. It's too early to really tell, but so far the literature is promising. You can also get a 15' for about $45,000, but it will have over 45,000 miles on it too.... it's an $80,000 car. I don't think the residual is as high as the e90 m3. The e90 m3 was around a $70-74,000 car and up until recently you can't touch them under 45k with better than average mileage on them.

The prices of the e90 M3's are coming down, but I don't think I'd touch one unless it was at like at an estate sale and had like less than 20k on it. Also, the estate would have to verify it was never tracked. The rod bearings would be a constant source of anxiety for me. I think I might be able to DIY it, but IDK. The throttle body actuators don't bug me. You can rebuild them with better than OEM parts for about $250.00, which is better than paying $1,000.00 for new ones.

[BimmerNugget]

Originally Posted by Texus

Until my tax refund comes in. Get your dibs in now for a well maintained e90 n54!

Off topic, but you never want a tax refund. You always want to owe taxes! Trust me! (Soon to be CPA).

[BimmerNugget]

I'm keeping mine for another 1.5-2 years then getting into an E90 M3 or F80 M3.

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by triax37

Thank you for a very thoughtful post. Quick question - I'm just an amateur working on cars, but recently changed the automatic transmission fluid+filter+gasket, coolant, and the oil filter housing gasket. This was about the level of DIY that I was comfortable with doing in my garage. E91 with 95k miles, RWD. I would like to keep the car another 4 years, likely 30k miles.

My oil pan gasket is leaking slightly, but no other fluids are leaking. For this level of repair, would you keep adding oil as needed, or take it to an Indy? Thanks!!!

Meh, I’d let it be as-is unless it’s an eyesore leaking all over some concrete you don’t want it to. The leak will more than likely stay steady-state, plus it’s not a cheap repair.

[Texus]

Originally Posted by BimmerNugget

Off topic, but you never want a tax refund. You always want to owe taxes! Trust me! (Soon to be CPA).

Yep, I moved up some expenses this year due to tax changes next year so I ended up getting money back.

[Welcome to NBA Jam]

Til a catastrophic engine failure, or it gets wrecked.

I'll replace suspension components, steering components, interior parts, the transmission, even the turbo; but if the engine ever irreparably fails, I'll sell it to someone who has plans on replacing it.

[Bob Shiftright]

Originally Posted by BravoJohny33

How old was your volvo and how many miles.. I thought KBB bottoms out around 1k

20 years and 215K. (I used to do a lot of driving.)

The car is a stick shift, and I think the KBB calculator must subtract some minimum amount for a stick shift.

But yes, the calculator says as little as $43!

Volvo only imported a few hundred V70 T5 manual turbo wagons over 2 years and they are kind of a Holy Grail for Volvo nuts. (Volvo nuts on a budget.) There probably aren't too many price points.