Are there high maintenance costs for a BMW?

Question

I plan on buying a used BMW 325 so it won't have a warranty.

Answer 1

If you buy one with a warranty , they pay for maintenance (brakes, oil changes, etc)

Answer 2

Peter...
80% of the answers I've read here clearly come from people that believe what they hear and have not actually owned a BMW. I own 2 of them.. A 1995 that has 212,000 miles and a 1998 convertible with 122,000 miles.
Here's the deal with a BMW with some miles on it...
Your main points of concern are going to be the Clutch (IF you're looking at a stick), the Radiator (which notoriously breaks at the neck because it's plastic - about a $600 cost), Pumps (fuel, oil and water) and finally the coils.
These are the main areas that you will ultimately find yourself replacing on a BMW that has some years on it and some mileage. Not that they will happen all at once, but eventually you'll want to consider these as preventive maintenance.
Each incident is about $400 to $600 as they occur.
If you think about it, that's like 2 months of a car payment for a brand new car of lesser quality and performance capbility.
Everyone has their own criteria, but to me that's worth driving "The Ultimate Driving Machine".
Also consider that a timing belt for a car like a Honda, Toyota or Lexus costs about $1600. You'll never have to replace that on a BMW because they don't use timing belts.
So when someone says a BMW costs so much more they haven't compared the facts.
Even if they did/do one has to decide how important the difference is EVERY DAY, EVERY SECOND of their daily driving experience and what that's worth.
I'd much rather drive a car that OUT performs almost anything on the road, makes me feel safe and know that I'm in control of the car - not some computer.
Hope this helps.

Answer 3

3 Series, in general, are dependable cars. It depends on how old and how many miles the vehicle has on it. Also, how well it was taken care of. When I bought a 12 year old 3 series, last year, I was surprised by how many there were out there that were beaten on and neglected. If you're talking about one that is 3 or 4 years old, maybe just out of warranty, you can be pretty sure it was taken care of. (I think some of the older ones were owned by kids and abused).
Taken care of, they last as long as any car. And you can also compare different mechanics and prices. There are quite a few reasonably priced good mechanics out there. Ask your friends for advice or join angieslist.com for good references about that.
Now, it is true that if there are real problems with the vehicle, it may be costly to repair, but I have seen repairs for GM products, as well as VWs that were higher than BMW, for the same issues.
I say that the enjoyment and pride in owning these machines far far outweighs any increased maintenance costs. But remember, BMWs hold their value quite well, so you recoup some of the money there where if it were a Ford or Mitsubishi, you'd have a relatively lower price to sell it for.

Answer 4

High Maintenance Cars

Answer 5

They have higher maintenance cost than an everyday car but are on par with other cars in their class, Audi BMW MB and Lexus are pretty equivalent for repair costs (the lexus models that are re badged Toyota's are not that bad though like the es330) So yea the maintenance cost is high but they are nice cars and worth the investment. they are not however the safest cars Audi got top pick for safety with both the A4 and A6 not BMW.

Answer 6

yes mantenance is very high on bmw's. I own a 2002 bmw 325i sedan with auto transmission, when i purchased the car it had 60,000 miles, now the car has 88,500 miles and I have put about 2,000 into maintenance for the 1 year and 3 months (or 28,500 miles) i have owned the car

Answer 7

if you take the car to the BMW dealership you can expect higher costs for most everything...tune ups, brakes, oil changes...etc.

There are shops that specialize in BMW and/or German cars..these are generally a little more than your domestic car repair shop.

If you take you BMW to the standard JiffyLube, Firestone...etc..the prices are the same and the techs can easily perform standard maintenance items.

Answer 8

They do last very long and will have some problems like any other cars. It has had better quality ratings than its common competitors. Parts to fix are expensive though. It really shows how much quality are put into these cars made by BMW.

Answer 9

The Chevy guy is probably just going off of speculation.

But this question, like most on this site, is too general to get a proper answer. What year 325? how many miles? what kind of condition is it in? did the previous owner get it serviced? if the engines are maintaned well (i.e. oil every 3k miles, etc) then you can expect upwards of 200k miles out of them without much problem. You'll have to be more specific and get more info from the seller if you want an accurate answer.

Answer 10

With this type of car the answer is yes.Not everyone can work on them.The labor cost is higher and the part prices are much higher than other cars on the road.