[Mosaud1998]

I've owned mine since 2019. Brought it from the original owner for $8,000 when it had 67k miles. Since then I have spent $2,701.86 on repairs. My car is still roughly worth around $10k. Sitting at almost 72k miles. The previous owner spent $3,500

1. Oil pan gasket ($1,158 (AWD) parts + labor.)
2. Valve cover gasket ($420 parts + labor. Could've done it myself for $26
3. Front brake job ($382 parts + labor. Could've done myself for $226)
4. Front control arm bushings ( $344 parts + labor. Could've done it myself for $160)
5. Eccentric shaft sensor was internally covered in oil paid my indy $185 just for the part they didn't charge labor for that.
6. $75 for an alignment since they did suspension work.
7. Spark Plugs DIY $68
Majority of the things listed I could've done myself if I had the tools. I got all that stuff done 4 months into owning the car. I didn't have enough time to do the things because of college and work so I had my Indy do them. Kinda regret it now because if I had noticed that stuff going bad now, the only thing I would've gotten done would be the Oil Pan Gasket. But hey, the car is good as new now so I can't complain.

[relative4]

Ugh. Don't get me started.

[Mosaud1998]

Originally Posted by relative4

Ugh. Don't get me started.

[3PedalJake]

I have over $5k into a $4k Craigslist car lol. But it will be a brand new '06 330i when I'm done

[krhodes1]

I bought my '11 328i wagon new. Did Euro Delivery, and broke it in properly on the Autobahn. A bit over 50K miles on it currently.

Out of warranty repairs, as opposed to maintenance? Either $0 or $115 depending on how you want to categorize a new battery earlier this year, plus $15 for a lower front grill after I hit a bird last summer. It will probably need rear brakes next year, that will cost me a couple hundred to DIY with OEM parts. Oh, and one of my dumbass housemates paid to have the hatch spoiler repainted after he dragged a box over the top of it.

Under warranty, one seat relay, one headlight washer, and two door seals. Front brakes too. And of course oil changes, wiper blades, a brake fluid change, the usual maintenance for 35K miles or so that I did in the first four years. The brakes were odd though - I left the car parked next to the ocean at a conference for a week. The salt air rusted the rotors, which caused a high speed vibration. BMW replaced them. I am sure if that had not happened, they would still be original. 6spd car driven mostly on the highway.

Maintenance since has been an annual oil change, and I did an all fluids/all filters (PS, trans, diff, etc) service DIY and changed the serp belt and tensioner/idler at 44K a couple years ago (idler had a slight chirp). Coolant changed twice, brake fluid every 3yrs or so. One set of winter tires, one set of summer tires. Plan to proactively do the OFHG and spark plugs next summer too, it will be 10 in July. Call it about $1000 all together (I got a GREAT deal on those summer tires).

It's a one-owner, low miles, 6spd RWD station wagon - it's still worth a LOT of money. But I plan to be buried in it.

[lowrydr310]

Where are you buying your parts? I've done all of those repairs you listed, minus the labor since I did it myself, and paid much less than half of what you are listing just for parts alone. EDIT: nevermind, I see you included labor prices.

This was all on a 2006 325i that I purchased with 218k miles for an excellent price, and the car now has 250K miles on it. In addition to what you listed above I also had to install a water pump and alternator. DIY saves a ton on labor. While I did invest a bit of parts in this car, it runs and rides amazingly well, even more so for a 14 year old car and should be good for another 100K and was justified by the $2000 purchase price.

[Mosaud1998]

Originally Posted by lowrydr310

Where are you buying your parts? I've done all of those repairs you listed, minus the labor since I did it myself, and paid much less than half of what you are listing just for parts alone. EDIT: nevermind, I see you included labor prices.

This was all on a 2006 325i that I purchased with 218k miles for an excellent price, and the car now has 250K miles on it. In addition to what you listed above I also had to install a water pump and alternator. DIY saves a ton on labor. While I did invest a bit of parts in this car, it runs and rides amazingly well, even more so for a 14 year old car and should be good for another 100K and was justified by the $2000 purchase price.

My indy gave me a quote of $625 to do the water pump using OE parts ofc (I thought it was on its way out but it was just the coolant temp sensor). The sensor I replaced myself. I just hope nothing more than what the car is worth breaks down (Ex engine, transmission, or some other drivetrain reality issue). I got all the common BMW oil leak issues fixed. The previous owner had the coolant flushed 3 years ago. I'll probably flush it out sometime in the summer. He also had the transmission fluid, transfer case fluid, and both diffs done at 61k miles. So, that I don't have to worry about it until 110k. The only thing that I am worried about is the water pump. Which I've heard if it's on it's way out, there's usually a fault code. Oil changes are done every 5k/6 months. Hopefully, I can get at least 150k out of mines. I get majority of my maintenance items off FCPEURO.com

[Mosaud1998]

Originally Posted by krhodes1

I bought my '11 328i wagon new. Did Euro Delivery, and broke it in properly on the Autobahn. A bit over 50K miles on it currently.

Out of warranty repairs, as opposed to maintenance? Either $0 or $115 depending on how you want to categorize a new battery earlier this year, plus $15 for a lower front grill after I hit a bird last summer. It will probably need rear brakes next year, that will cost me a couple hundred to DIY with OEM parts. Oh, and one of my dumbass housemates paid to have the hatch spoiler repainted after he dragged a box over the top of it.

Under warranty, one seat relay, one headlight washer, and two door seals. Front brakes too. And of course oil changes, wiper blades, a brake fluid change, the usual maintenance for 35K miles or so that I did in the first four years. The brakes were odd though - I left the car parked next to the ocean at a conference for a week. The salt air rusted the rotors, which caused a high speed vibration. BMW replaced them. I am sure if that had not happened, they would still be original. 6spd car driven mostly on the highway.

Maintenance since has been an annual oil change, and I did an all fluids/all filters (PS, trans, diff, etc) service DIY and changed the serp belt and tensioner/idler at 44K a couple years ago (idler had a slight chirp). Coolant changed twice, brake fluid every 3yrs or so. One set of winter tires, one set of summer tires. Plan to proactively do the OFHG and spark plugs next summer too, it will be 10 in July. Call it about $1000 all together (I got a GREAT deal on those summer tires).

It's a one-owner, low miles, 6spd RWD station wagon - it's still worth a LOT of money. But I plan to be buried in it.

I'm still bumbed out about how I could've saved almost $1,400 doing majority of the things myself (except for the oil pan gasket, maybe VCG, and ofc the alignment). I had two decisions at the time of finding out those issues. It was either spend that $2,600 to fix the BMW or sell the car for like idk $7k. Then add another $10k-$12k to that $7k to get a 2-3-year-old Toyota Logically, it made sense to spend the $2,600 to fix mines and be assure it'll run fine instead of selling it for less than I paid and buying a good ole Toyota. Plus, I didn't have any tools or time because of work to fix it myself. Oh well, I doubt anything else is going to go out. Only other thing I might get done by my indy is the water pump whenever it goes out. They gave me a quote of $625 to do it a while back when I thought the pump was on its way out. Other than that, everything else I will be doing myself.

[longm1985]

Between tires, tie rods, and alignment, about $1100.

[krhodes1]

Originally Posted by Mosaud1998

I'm still bumbed out about how I could've saved almost $1,400 doing majority of the things myself (except for the oil pan gasket, maybe VCG, and ofc the alignment). I had two decisions at the time of finding out those issues. It was either spend that $2,600 to fix the BMW or sell the car for like idk $7k. Then add another $10k-$12k to that $7k to get a 2-3-year-old Toyota Logically, it made sense to spend the $2,600 to fix mines and be assure it'll run fine instead of selling it for less than I paid and buying a good ole Toyota. Plus, I didn't have any tools or time because of work to fix it myself. Oh well, I doubt anything else is going to go out. Only other thing I might get done by my indy is the water pump whenever it goes out. They gave me a quote of $625 to do it a while back when I thought the pump was on its way out. Other than that, everything else I will be doing myself.

Has always seemed to me that a car's "worth" is not what you can sell it for. It's what it would cost to replace it. And a dull as dishwater Toyota simply is not a replacement for one of these cars, no matter how little they cost to run. And until you get into the hundreds of thousands of miles arena, the biggest cost of one of these cars is depreciation. Buying used gets you a huge discount on that one. I have spent very little on repairs and maintenance, but even with owning one of the slowest depreciating versions of these cars, I have still "spent" $15-20K on depreciation, even if I have not written a check out to that. The checks were all made out to BMW Financial Services. You pay one way or another - TANSTAAFL.

But for sure, the sweat equity of DIY pays off directly in your wallet. And if I do it myself, I know it is done *correctly*. Few things tick me off more than paying for half-assed work. As noted in another thread here - I recently did a tire rotation myself on my GTI after thee years of the VW dealer doing it annually. And the wankers had the lug bolts on so tight that I needed a breaker bar with a 4' pipe over it to get the damned things loose. Typical.

[tlow98]

$1500-ish in repairs, not maintenance over 5 years/55k miles.

[John 070]

I've been fortunate, and I was stupid as well. Since I bought my car new, I paid $2800 for a 7/100 extended warranty. At the 11th hour, it went into limp mode and it was VANOS. That was all I got out of it--bad decision.

The only "catastrophic" type of failure I had was ABS/DSC, and you know how that goes, no way I'd even consider $4,200 at the dealer. YouTube and DIY to the rescue.

Everything else was maintenance. The biggest ticket item were tires, 2nd was a battery at $280. next was an alignment at $150. From there coolant exchange 2X at $140. Literally I don't think there was anything else, original water pump. Did plugs myself. Air filters cabin filters oil and brake flushes myself, as well as brake rotors and pads.

The next big item would likely be shocks and struts, my cousin said from what he read xxx B14 is too low for our purposes, that's what I had wanted based on price....

edit to clarify it's B14 PSS, not PSS14. I guess PSS10 is B16. I kind of wonder, if my wife's GM SUV has Bilstein B6's, why would anyone use B4's on a BMW...just curious although it's not dramatically different (it's not like suddenly her GM SUV is a X5M lol)

[John 070]

Originally Posted by krhodes1

And a dull as dishwater Toyota simply is not a replacement for one of these cars, no matter how little they cost to run.

Back in 2016, I went shopping for a used daily driver--this was the first time in my life I would spend more than $10k on a used car, and pay in cash. I'm glad I did it. I bought the 8 cyl 2006 Toyota flagship. It's an impressive car, overbuilt, has some cool touches, like this thing that flips down to cover the gap between top of windshield, and rearview, or similar things around the seats to prevent anything from dropping under the front seats. And it was my first 8 cyl car. As expected? Nothing ever breaks hahahahahahahaha AND? Boring to drive. Stuck in traffic where it takes 90 minutes to go 24 miles? It's a great car. Imagine being able to drive your mattress right out of your bedroom to your work place.

I'm willing to have one of these in the stable--I like to have diversity. But no it's not an enjoyable car to drive. It's an enjoyable car to own i.e. set it and forget it like a Ron popeil showtime bbq oven

[rick100]

2011 328 xi purchased in 2014 so i have owned the car for 6 years. Currently at 100 000 miles

The car never left me stranded out of warranty so to me that would be considered a repair.. in that sense 0 $. The first year i had it , it had an issue with the vabos solenoid which did caused my car to leave me somewhat stranded, it was cover under warranty.

Now i have done tons of maintenance including oil changes, tune up , water pump ( preventive), one control arm, brakes, tires. That alone may be close to 3000-4000$ over the last 6 years

I spent more on mods the last 6 years. I m actually embarrassed to say the number when people ask so i tend to lower it. But to tell you the truth on mods alone i m very close to 5000$

[Herakles]

I found my 2011 335xdrive msport in 2015 with 9k miles. No major repairs to date the warranty covered oil filter gasket. I did plugs and coils myself at 40k miles

I had to replace radiator $600 last year now looks like

Have to fix now at 65k miles:
-I have another bad coolant leak somewhere trying to find where
-valve cover gasket leak, fcp has valve cover kit for $500 might attempt myself
-looks like one TPM is bad have a dash light on

Other than. That no issues but suspension tired so I’m going to get bilsteins and either eibach or dinan springs not sure yet, to freshen it up

Still love the car. I do have. Mhd s1 but haven’t run it a while been stock, would love to get a fmic and put s2 on.

[Mosaud1998]

Well, from the looks of it it seems like people that brought their cars brand new have spent around the same amount of money on repairs (not normal maintenance items) as I have and the previous owner have together (Total in repairs by me and the Pervoiuws owner $6,201.86 in 11 years). Not bad at all in my opinion.


I get all my maintenance items from FCPEURO which in the long run saves me hella money. I don't pay for oil changes, brakes, wipers, filters, plug/coils, power steering fluid/reservoir, or any other fluid that needs to be changed like transmission, transfer case, and diff. FCP saves people a crapload of money imo.

[Mosaud1998]

Originally Posted by Herakles

I found my 2011 335xdrive msport in 2015 with 9k miles. No major repairs to date the warranty covered oil filter gasket. I did plugs and coils myself at 40k miles

I had to replace radiator $600 last year now looks like

Have to fix now at 65k miles:
-I have another bad coolant leak somewhere trying to find where
-valve cover gasket leak, fcp has valve cover kit for $500 might attempt myself
-looks like one TPM is bad have a dash light on

Other than. That no issues but suspension tired so I’m going to get bilsteins and either eibach or dinan springs not sure yet, to freshen it up

Still love the car. I do have. Mhd s1 but haven’t run it a while been stock, would love to get a fmic and put s2 on.

My indy only did the VCG. They said there's no need of doing the whole valve cover assembly along with the gasket. I still have a year left of warranty on the work they did so if something starts leaking I can go back to them.

[Welcome to NBA Jam]

Over 6.5 years, I'd say around $3000 in necessary repairs, $800 in "whoops" repairs, and maybe another $1200 in mods. The most expensive was the clutch at about $2000. Everything else was basically brakes, oil, fluids, and other random interior parts.

I haven't kept track of the actual costs of all this stuff but I'd imagine it's somewhere in that ballpark +/- $1000. The overall expenses have been so relatively inexpensive that I haven't found it necessary to track the costs. That's basically my measure. If the car is stopping me from taking vacation or paying for a meal out, then I'm re-evaluating my car expenses.

[Mosaud1998]

Originally Posted by Welcome to NBA Jam

Over 6.5 years, I'd say around $3000 in necessary repairs, $800 in "whoops" repairs, and maybe another $1200 in mods. The most expensive was the clutch at about $2000. Everything else was basically brakes, oil, fluids, and other random interior parts.

I haven't kept track of the actual costs of all this stuff but I'd imagine it's somewhere in that ballpark +/- $1000. The overall expenses have been so relatively inexpensive that I haven't found it necessary to track the costs. That's basically my measure. If the car is stopping me from taking vacation or paying for a meal out, then I'm re-evaluating my car expenses.

What would you consider "necessary" repairs? Would tires and rear shocks be considered necessary? If so, looks like the previous owner spent more than me so far.

[deropke]

I made detailed review of E92 330i N52 1 year cost ownership.

if you want to read it : https://www.e90post.com/forums/showt...nership+1+year

In short it was £2.3k/$3.1k

[Welcome to NBA Jam]

Originally Posted by Mosaud1998

What would you consider "necessary" repairs? Would tires and rear shocks be considered necessary? If so, looks like the previous owner spent more than me so far.

Necessary I consider something that would keep me from driving the car from A to B, or if it makes driving feel dangerous. Unnecessary would be something that I wanted to do to improve the feel or handling of the car.

[Mosaud1998]

Originally Posted by Welcome to NBA Jam

Necessary I consider something that would keep me from driving the car from A to B, or if it makes driving feel dangerous. Unnecessary would be something that I wanted to do to improve the feel or handling of the car.

Alright, so tires and rear shocks would keep me from driving the car.