Quote:
Originally Posted by twastheglow
Ha, love this post.
Although this IS good advice, I can only take so much of it for face value. I'm certainly not a BMW expert, but I've owned more than a dozen of them and done 95% of all the work on them over the years myself (aided tremendously by friends and beer). So I do have a very solid basis for their reliability as a whole. But I have found while owning so many different models (along with 3 M cars) that some are more "problem prone" than others. But I could not agree more that preventative maintenance is paramount with these cars or you quickly thin out your wallet.
Since this would be my new daily, the car would remain stock-ish, save for a modest tune...that is unless of course things start to fail at a rapid rate.
I'm already enjoying flirting with the dark side, a full conversion does sound like bliss. 
Mike |
Understood and understandable. I got my '09 Blue-D two months back with NAV, paddle shifters. steering headlights (or whatever that option package was called, but gawd I love them) for $11,300 (wife is a good bargainer and bought me the car I'd never gotten to test drive--I was actually out of state and she busted their chops down
. Damn I love her more.) Had 123K miles, perfect interior, exterior 3M Clearbra, tint, KWV2 coilovers, and aftermarket 19's (bleh). Clearly owned by adults (2 owners).
I've invested 10-11 hours into fixing vacuum issues (found 2 leakers and replaced most tubing), EGR cooler vacuum actuator replaced, PCV hose replaced, new thermostat.
I just put in a JR stage II tune today. It really has lots of low end torque now. Very much improved driveability, IMO.
My intent is to leave the alphabet the heck alone and keep the system clean using 2-stage water/meth/custom solution spraying mapped against my chosen parameters (3D).
If/when I have to replace emissions stuff, I will. It's just part of car ownership. Unless/until there is a cost/benefit curve that radically shifts my opinion. I'll evaluate on an ongoing basis. But I'd highly prefer to NOT emit smoke or more emissions. It hurts our perception, IMO. 15 more whp isn't worth it to me at this time.
I budget 7% of our family's take-home pay for fleet maintenance (2 cars and 1 motorcycle). That is I PLAN to spend on it and maintain it.
I had your same concerns and reached the opinion that while some BMW's are "problem cars", this is not one of them, although of course there are some problems here and there.
Best of luck.
Nick Lockard