1998 328is maintenance cost?

Question

I have read lots about this on the internet, and it seems that mostly everyone is warning about extremely high maintenance costs. Some people say they are averaging $2000USD a year if not more. Is this true? Does a 98 328is truly require you to spend so much on routine maintenance? All help appreciated.

Answer 1

If this is a low mileage car, and has been properly maintained all its life, then you shouldn't have to fork out a lot of money to maintain it.

That being said, BMW dealers charge one of the highest hourly labor rate among car dealers. Many owners of older BMWs prefer to either perform their own maintenance, or use a trusted garage or specialized BMW shops.

The combination of having a well maintained car and to use alternative maintenance options will most definitely not cause you too much pain in your wallet.... and vice-versa of course.

Another fact, many car manufacturers, including BMW specify less than satisfactory maintenance intervals to make their vehicles appear to have "low cost of ownership" while the cars are in the warranty period. They also do this to reduce their cost since BMW has to do all maintenance for the first 50,000 miles. Things like "lifetime" fluids, 100,000 mile spark plugs, 15,000 oil change made many BMW experts very uncomfortable. To them, these were like "24-hour diapers". The result is many of these cars have all sorts of problems soon after their warranty expire.

Bavarian Autosport published a very easy-to-follow preventive maintenance chart in their Fast-Times newsletter in Spring 2006. Here's what they recommended:

3000 miles - oil & filter change (for conventional oil)
5000 - 7000 miles - oil & filter change (for synthetic oil)
15,000 - 20,000 miles (or annually) - air filter, microfilter, fuel filter, brake fluid.
30,000 miles - spark plugs (old style)
30,000 - 50,000 miles (or semi annually) - spark plugs (new style, cap & rotor, tranny fluid & filter, diff fluid)
50,000 mile - power steering fluid
50,000 mile - 100,000 mile - ignition wires & spark plug boots
2-3 years - coolant flush
4 years - belts & hoses

With whatever the mileage you have on your car, you should look at the list above and figure out how much each service cost, if you have a trusted mechanic or BMW specialized shop, talk it over with them.

For a 9 year old BMW will have some major parts close to its end of life unless they already have been changed out; such as ball joints, thermostat, waterpump, belts and hoses... if these were not taken care of by its previous owner, then the replacement costs will most likely be on you.

Following the "15,000 mile oil change" comments above, see the link below for comments from Mobil.

Answer 2

1998 328is

Answer 3

this i completely untrue. an oil change will cost between $40-$60, however bmw's have 15000mile oil change intervals, so you may only need 1 a year. these cars have an exact 50/50 weight distribution so unless you like to spin your tires alot you never need to rotate them. the car should be aligned once a year, but so should all cars.

expect to pay $400, or less a year on maintanance.