[Roberto Cervezas]

Originally Posted by upstatedoc

Bad financial advice for people who live in the real world.

Extra miles only cost 16 cents per mile when you buy them while your lease is active. That's pretty cheap, and on a purchased car you would see that money disappear from your pocket in the form of depreciation. In the "real world", a large percentage of people that say they would never lease will instead purchase their cars, have a loan on them, and trade in before the loan is paid off. They're still always making payments, except you need to worry about depreciation with the loan, loss of value if the car is hit, etc. To each their own, but for you to say it is bad financial advice is off-base and inaccurate.

[vanondemand]

07 e92 with 65,000 KM on it I'll consider buying 3rd party after 70K

[hunt55]

Originally Posted by Bobble

Basically what I have done with my last 3 BMW's is I structure the payments to end when the warranty ends or really near there. Then I take 50% of the payment and drop it into a savings fund for repairs, when a repair is needed I draw from the fund, if there's money left when I sell I use the fund for the down payment on the next one. I do however do my own maintenance whenever possible, IE do not need a lift, but have help as my son is a master tech for Hyundai and is very well acquainted with motor vehicles.
I good example of it works is I'm almost at 100K, cars been paid off for a little over a year, I have @3300 in the fund. Car needed front brakes real soon, plugs, new front tires, alignment and the driver side door actuator is binding. I did all those for $835 in parts or fees(tires and alignment) and did it all on one Sunday. I'm going to do a brake fluid flush and coolant flush and should be good for another 50K after which I'll sell the car and have @$8K in the fund barring any unforeseen repairs. It just takes some discipline to always make that deposit.

Great plan. Thanks for sharing!

[billbot]

These cars are expensive to fix, even if you DIY. For that reason alone, I would recommend a warranty. Ours paid for itself quickly with the blower motor going out, windows falling into the doors 3 times, cup holders getting stuck, valve cover oil leak, oxygen sensors going bad, and a few others I know I am forgetting about.

Just recently the warranty expired, and then the eccentric shaft sensor went out. I fixed it myself ($2k repair at the dealer) for around $500 and 6 hrs of my time.

Other things some warranties offer is rental reimbursement. Get a good one "platinum" or "premium" or you are wasting your money.

The car mentioned above is an 06 325i purchased at ~48k miles 5 years ago, now has 83k miles only used for daily driving too and from work.

[goofyboots81]

Ive got a 2010 335xi that I bought about 7 months ago with 27,500 miles (at ~35,500 now). Its under manufacturer warranty still (til January) and so far it has paid for:

1.) High Pressure Fuel Pump
2.) All Fuel Injectors Replaced
3.) Oil Change
4.) Other various fluids
5.) Broken Cup Holder
6.) Two headlights
7.) Two rental cars & a home delivery (im not 25 and cant get a loaner)

My extended warranty ends January 2016, so I've got some time to figure out what my next move will be. Best case scenario - salary increase.

[ad500]

2007 335i

No warranty since my extended finished 6 months ago.

Waterpump failure just happened, 60.5k miles.

[GoRomeo]

Originally Posted by Richwm

No warranty since 50k miles currently at 165k miles. I do my own maintenance. My 2001 E-46 is at 200k miles 150K of that without a warranty.

glad to hear this...

Any major repairs you have done to your 06 330i? I am at 110k and rolling the dice too...

[goofyboots81]

Originally Posted by ad500

2007 335i

No warranty since my extended finished 6 months ago.

Waterpump failure just happened, 60.5k miles.

how much did that cost?

[Frankb_8]

I recently purchased an e92 with 50,200 miles. Everyone told me I should consider a warranty. I bought the car from a Lexus dealership however. I hear that if I'm not the original owner though that I cannot purchase extended warranty? Are third party warranties that bad as I've been reading? Thanks. Any helpful information is appreciated.

[Casca]

2006 325i 6MT purchased with 57k miles on it and a 1 year warranty that I never used. Now have over 115k miles on it and the only "breakdown" I have had was 3 random coilpacks going bad 15K to 20K miles after I should have already replaced them After the 3rd one, I just replaced the rest as well and carry 1 in the trunk. Other than that (which I don't count because they far outlast their life), fluid changes, wear part changes and elective work for mods. This has actually been a very reliable car and I hammer the shit out of it. Still running strong and feels good driving. Issue that is coming up is the steering wheel lock, but I think it's been figured out and I'll be able to handle it for very little $$. Also found good deals to do the flywheel and clutch, so doing that as well as all the wheel bearings and seals (I don't have any leak....maybe small seeps..but no leaks that requires attention. All the bearings are fine, but are well over their expected life). Can probably keep going with the original clutch, but it's slipping and weak on getting up to speed. Parts for it is not much worse for $$ than other cars, maybe even less expensive. Also replaced the waterpump and thermostat at 112k miles, which is also over it's expected life. When I changed it out, only the thermostat was bad. Who knows, maybe the waterpump could have gone to 200k+.

[ad500]

Originally Posted by goofyboots81

how much did that cost?

$1169 plus tax at the dealer.

I didn't want to do the replacement myself because I'm going to be listing the car for sale shortly and wanted to continue the full BMW service history for the next owners piece of mind.

[bob.g]

Originally Posted by Casca

2006 325i 6MT purchased with 57k miles on it and a 1 year warranty that I never used. Now have over 115k miles on it and the only "breakdown" I have had was 3 random coilpacks going bad 15K to 20K miles after I should have already replaced them After the 3rd one, I just replaced the rest as well and carry 1 in the trunk. Other than that (which I don't count because they far outlast their life), fluid changes, wear part changes and elective work for mods. This has actually been a very reliable car and I hammer the shit out of it. Still running strong and feels good driving. Issue that is coming up is the steering wheel lock, but I think it's been figured out and I'll be able to handle it for very little $$. Also found good deals to do the flywheel and clutch, so doing that as well as all the wheel bearings and seals (I don't have any leak....maybe small seeps..but no leaks that requires attention. All the bearings are fine, but are well over their expected life). Can probably keep going with the original clutch, but it's slipping and weak on getting up to speed. Parts for it is not much worse for $$ than other cars, maybe even less expensive. Also replaced the waterpump and thermostat at 112k miles, which is also over it's expected life. When I changed it out, only the thermostat was bad. Who knows, maybe the waterpump could have gone to 200k+.

the steering wheel lock needs a new column. the software fix rarely solves it. But you can score a used column from an 08+ (the ones that have no lock on em) on ebay for a few hundred, vs the dealer which was 500$+. Also the lock issue comes up if you have a weak battery, so that might be worth checking out before you consider a new column.

[JohnPenz]

I've never brought extended warranties and declined when my car went out of warranty in Jan of '12. A 2 year 100k mi extension was quoted to me at about $2,400. So far I've spent $1,200 on eccentric shaft sensor and with about 3 months to go until the extended would have expired I was feeling pretty good about my decision. Last week I had the car checked and they found worn belt tensioner $330, currently a very minor oil pan gasket leak$1300 and a headlight assembly replacement to fix a turn signal issue, $800, so quickly I find myself on the other side of the statistics. Had these issues revealed themselves in just a few months, after the warranty expired, I would've overpaid by taking the warranty and then in addition face the cost of repairs, so it's really a luck of the draw.

[JohnPenz]

I've never brought extended warranties and declined when my car went out of warranty in Jan of '12. A 2 year 100k mi extension was quoted to me at about $2,400. So far I've spent $1,200 on eccentric shaft sensor and with about 3 months to go until the extended would have expired I was feeling pretty good about my decision. Last week I had the car checked and they found worn belt tensioner $330, currently a very minor oil pan gasket leak$1300 and a headlight assembly replacement to fix a turn signal issue, $800, so quickly I find myself on the other side of the statistics. Had these issues revealed themselves in just a few months, after the warranty expired, I would've overpaid by taking the warranty and then in addition face the cost of repairs, so it's really a luck of the draw.

[CharlieBear]

Originally Posted by Frankb_8

I recently purchased an e92 with 50,200 miles. Everyone told me I should consider a warranty. I bought the car from a Lexus dealership however. I hear that if I'm not the original owner though that I cannot purchase extended warranty? Are third party warranties that bad as I've been reading? Thanks. Any helpful information is appreciated.

check out Route 66. Pretty good. Covers all major parts, except fluids, hoses, tax. Water pump/thermostat only cost me $80 around and you can take it to a BMW specialized shop and not necessarily a dealership, so it'll cost that much less.

[amarth1972]

My 2008 E90, CPO warranty runs out either in April or in 10K miles, I have had a few things fixed under CPO warranty (driveshaft, two window actuators, and front control arms) but the car is just paid off so I am gonna keep it well serviced and go without an extended warranty..I am in AZ and I only put 10K miles a year on it so I feel confident....

[NorthernCAE90]

06 325 no warranty, but this year is bullet proof.

[mike@x-ph.com]

+1 for no wararnty... 85k miles,FBO e85 ~ 430whp ... no problems so far

[_Sinister_]

Sadly mine is out of warranty but I like to work on my own ride win win if im capable of doing the job

[BigFoig]

I went outta warranty and bmw Canada gave me an exception to buy the extended bmw warranty. Not a third party warranty. 6yrs 200k km for 2750 taxes in.

[N54B30A]

I'm out of warranty on my third 335i I have don't just about anything that will go out on these cars so to me aftermarket warranty is pointless these cars a way more reliable than people give credit for

[ad500]

Originally Posted by sahyoun

I'm out of warranty on my third 335i I have don't just about anything that will go out on these cars so to me aftermarket warranty is pointless these cars a way more reliable than people give credit for

I agree with this fully.

I feel pretty covered even out of the warranty, 120k miles on HPFP , 82k/8years on turbos, 2 year warranty on my recent W/P replacement and 6 on the new battery. I also never drive the car hard so don't feel that I'm accelerating any component wear by my own doing.

Id love to see an honest survey covering 335 owner car problems, how often those problems happen with actually how hard the car "really" gets driven.....I suspect for the majority, there is going to be a correlation.