Buying a used BMW - potential cost involved.

JustTheGent

Well-known member
Just a follow on from the post regarding a huge repair bill for a Land Rover Discovery. It seems unfathomable at first to think a repair bill could be so much. But the video underneath explains how costs can soon mount up. The engine on premium brand vehicles is often made with cheap materials that cost a fortune and both the engine and transmissions are littered with unnecessary technology that will always end up going wrong.

 
are BMW still insisting on 10000 mile service intervals? Its the exact reason I wont buy one as they are just taking the pi ss
 
are BMW still insisting on 10000 mile service intervals? Its the exact reason I wont buy one as they are just taking the pi ss
Depends on the vehicle. I have a 2010 F10 535i and it runs 20000 mile service intervals. BMW do some stupid stuff with their cars, but the higher end models do tend to be better engineered in most cases. Its like anything, if you look after them, they are wonderful cars to drive.

As you can tell, I am a Bee-Em fan.
 
I've had about 7 BMW's of varying ages, this video makes a valid point about maintenance, but it's still a small piece of the puzzle.

The golden age to buy a BMW is 2-5 years old, main depreciation kick has already happened and there's unlikely to be anything catastrophic/ costly go wrong, providing it's been looked after. A new one can also be ok if you can get 0% finance or a heavily reduced price. Anything over 5 years old or 60,000 miles is asking for trouble, eventually, you will get burned on maintenance and for what you spend you could have just driven a newer car.

Purchase price - sale price + finance charges + typical maintenance + risk of major maintenance + servicing + fuel cost/ efficiency + tax + insurance + benefit in kind/ company car tax, all need to be factored in, and then divided over the months you have the car, this is the only way to get the actual cost.

The monthly payment is irrelevant, and a dealer altering a monthly payment to meet anyone's "monthly budget" is the biggest trick in the book, don't fall for it.
 
Anything over 5 years old or 60,000 miles is asking for trouble, eventually, you will get burned on maintenance and for what you spend you could have just driven a newer car.
Anything older than 2015 then is just a bag of trouble? I respectfully disagree. My 2006 Volvo at 198,000 miles is maintained properly and is a cracking car. My 90k 2010 F10 is bang on and I'm replacing some worn trim pieces, but mechanically its a sound car. Maintenance is what keeps the cars running, if you buy it, drive it and don't look after it, then after 5 years, it will be a wreck, but saying all cars will be like that is wrong.
 
Anything older than 2015 then is just a bag of trouble? I respectfully disagree. My 2006 Volvo at 198,000 miles is maintained properly and is a cracking car. My 90k 2010 F10 is bang on and I'm replacing some worn trim pieces, but mechanically its a sound car. Maintenance is what keeps the cars running, if you buy it, drive it and don't look after it, then after 5 years, it will be a wreck, but saying all cars will be like that is wrong.
No, I said it's asking for trouble, but I mean there's more chance of trouble. Some you win with (like yours) and some you lose with, like has happened to me and many others, and I've maintained everything at a level above and beyond what typical good ownership would be. Sometimes bad things happen outside of warranty, and the likelihood is the chance of this probably doubles each year.

I've never driven car with more than 70k on it, or more than 7 years old which has felt "cracking" mind, but it's all horses for courses I suppose.
 
I've never driven car with more than 70k on it, or more than 7 years old which has felt "cracking" mind, but it's all horses for courses I suppose.
I think I could change your mind with a drive in a 2012 Ferrari F12 I once had the pleasure of access to :)
 
You seem to have it in for high-end cars Expo

Out of interest, what do you drive?
Despite his posts I can only see the Gent driving a Range Rover Sport, a black one obviously. He is of course astute enough to have it on a 2 year lease to dodge some of the pitfalls of longer term ownership.
 
I drive a 17 year old car and it is an absoloute joy to drive, mechanically sound, and it's a rotary. Most cars are made to ridiculous tolerances these days if you look after them they will run for a half million miles. Yes things will break the older the car is, metal fatigue can't be avoided, but get them serviced by a good garage that will look for signs of W&T on all components during the service.

I have a vectra for 10 years and spent not a penny on repairs other than bulbs and tyres during its entire ownership until the suspension ent in year 10 of ownership. £300 to get a new spring fitted. The Vectra was 5 years old when I bought it, best value for money I have ever had on a car, **** car to drive though.
 
I had a 63 plate BMW 520D Touring as a company car. In three years it die over 60,000 miles and had 2 services I think. That car never missed a beat.

If I was going to buy a car with my own money, I would seriously consider a 1-2 years old 530D.
 
Despite his posts I can only see the Gent driving a Range Rover Sport, a black one obviously. He is of course astute enough to have it on a 2 year lease to dodge some of the pitfalls of longer term ownership.

I think that comes under his banner of 'premium brand vehicles' though with him you never know.

In reality, it's more likely to be something like this:

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are BMW still insisting on 10000 mile service intervals? Its the exact reason I wont buy one as they are just taking the pi ss
I'm not sure what the service interval is on my BMW. I think it's about 20k miles. I don't do anywhere near that. The car is serviced and MOTed simultaneously, and the bill is £100 to £400. There isn't an oil change every year. It's totally reliable.
 
Yup I hated driving it. On motorways it was comfy...... No that's all I can think of as a plus.

I wouldn't mind I went from a mondeo which are a great drive.
Yeah you sold a pair of brogues and started travelling in knackered flip flops.
 
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