Why are they so cheap?

Whlile these are for sure nice cars and obviously well maintained, they are after all over 10 years old. For that reason you are going to start to see things like rubber seals and other things starting to deteriorate over time. Any old car is going to start to require more maintenance and any bimmer is going to be expensive to maintain. The parts are extremely expensive and a lot of the work has to be done at a dealer.

BMW, under Max Hoffman, learned from Porsche and understood that there was a gold mine in the aftermarket. If you don't have a huge production base, nobody is going tool up to make knock offs of your parts. For that reason there is no competition, you have to go to the factory to get spares, and they can basically charge whatever they want for parts. This comes from a long time BMW owner and current BMWCCA member. It's part of life, if you want the car you are going to have to pay for it.

Also, BMW supports the price of their newer used cars in the auction and resale market. There are kickbacks if you are a dealer (and not even a BMW dealer) if you buy BMW's coming off lease at the auctions. This makes them more desireable for a dealer to buy and props up the resale value of newer ones. After they get older the rebates are gone and the prices fall more to the real market value of the car, and if you consider the maintenance costs these get expensive and consequently, the price goes down.

Also it's harder to finance an older car, which reduces the buyer base.

Finally if you look at any other car that was comparably prices that is 10 years old you will see that BMW's have retained more of their original value, so while the car sounds cheap, it really isn't.

 

Are BMW's expensive to repair? Do you not know the answer to that question? In the photos I see faded dashes, dash lights that are failing and undesirable cars for their age.

I had an eight year old 540i6 that was previously owned by a millionaire, the maintenance was perfect, the car was flawless and he was getting divorced. I originally bought the car for $12,500, drove it like a race car for two years and sold it for $19,500 {including the winter tires/ wheels}. Other than that used Bimmers that are near or past 10 years old can cost a fortune and after a few years of driving them they'll be 15 years old, out dated and in need of significant repair.

I would use $8,000 to buy a somewhat newer Toyota and when that car dies {in 10 years} spend some of the money you saved by driving a Toyota and buy a three year old BMW.

 

What he said. Money pit, no collectible value, etc. The market knows.

 

I learned that the hard way.

 

You should see the M3 resale=~$0

 

And that's after the eBay Dinan badge goes on!

 

Vanos job on my M5 was over 7 grand, and I have had two of them. I wouldn't hesitate to own a single owner car with extensive servie records. They are decently reliable if you are on top of things. But if you drive it like an Accord, plan on huge repair bills.

 

Per-Vanos days were lovely. I don't think the debate is over reliability but over, buying an $80,000 {up here} car that's 10 years old and will soon need either brake jobs, perhaps lines, clutch, differentials depending on if the car was abused, engine maintenance etc. All of this is standard but for a used BMW it can be much more expensive than regular cars.

What do you mean by "if you drive it like an accord"? As in daily driver?

 

You find it cheap, i find it too expensive.

the '97 E39 should be around 7k.

The 328i coupe should be around 5k or a tad less.

Comparatively to Audis or MBs i find Bimmers on US market really expensive. If the dollar was 1:1 to Euro BMWs in Europe would be 25 to 40% cheaper.

 

I was referring to the general attitude of most Honda drivers, they won't schedule a service appointment until a light on the dash comes on. Yet they still last a half million miles. Try that with a BMW and you will spend more than the cost of the car in repairs in five years.

The worst thing BMW ever did was change the reccomended oil changes on the cars until the computer says so or 15k miles. Doing it every 7500 miles seems to make a huge difference.

 

I have driven BMW 7 Series cars as my daily drivers since 1985. The drivetrains and engines are robust if driven sanely and serviced frequently. Bodies and interiors are of very high quality. The computers and electronics are the devil's playthings and are where the troubles live.

With BMW's 15000 mile + oil changes and sealed transmissions, I would think twice about buying a one owner used car, regardless of warranty. With this thinking, it seems they cover the first owner during the warranty and lease times, but could care less about the second, third and later owners during the cars life. You are on your own and will be paying for repairs for wear and abuse of these engines, if you are a second or later owner.

Doesn't make the car desirable to me, nor one that I will buy, unless he previous owners, thought along the same lines as me and frequently changed the oil and filters, with documentation and a detailed inspection, to verify it. BMW isn't the only one, I believe.

Something for consideration.

Ciao...Paolo

 

Funny enough, I can not get my local BMW dealerships to change the differential fluid on my M5, they claim it never needs changing. I asked the service tech if Willy Wonka had given up his desires to make an ever-lasting-gobstopper and decided to work for BMW and wanted to meet him.

He didn't find it funny and still refused to even do the service, even with my offer to pay. I had to take it to an independant to get it done. I don't think I would buy a used BMW made after the mid 90's for these reasons. Basic fluid changes can be the life blood of the car. Some enthusiast owners will go the extra mile and service them properly, and those cars will likely never have any big problems. However, the majority of car owners stick to dealer reccomended services, and I'm afraid the ones on BMW's are just too far apart.

 

I have owned an e34, e39 and e60 M5 . I have heard from other Mr owners of differential failure a few thousand miles after a fluid change against a dealer's advice. It is claimed that the M5 diff does not take kindly to be drained and refilled...good luck...

 

Because they are so old and are crap compared to new cars.

 

BMW = Bring My Wallet.

 

Haha... tell me about it. I just spent $1800 on a regular inspection and a few maintenance items (brakes, belts, tires).

 

For a long time, I have sort of been drawn to those old 2800CS coupes. Yes, I know they are all supposed to be rust buckets - but they sure are good looking for the general 10K to 20K asking price.