oakley6575

iTrader: (5)

So recently I have been looking around for a fuel efficient daily driver. I'd like to spend around $6000 or so. There is a local BMW that looks super clean and has a nice interior. I keep passing it up because it has 165000 miles on it. But it keeps popping back in my head. What do you guys think about a german car with that many miles on it?

Am I allowed to post the craigslist link?

zachm89

iTrader: (16)

as long as it has been well maintained i wouldnt be scared at all. the only thing that would keep me from ever buying a bmw is cost and availability of parts IF you did have to fix anything down the road. I had a girlfriend in h/s and college that had an early 2000s bmw and that thing was a nightmare to find parts and when you did, 95% of them had to come straight from Germany and were expensive as hell. The mileage wouldnt worry me at all, hell i bought a 2000 z28 about 2 months ago with 267,xxx miles on it and i drive it it every day about 500+ miles a week. Only thing ive had to do is general tlc, other than that it runs great.

DR132

european cars in general are my least favorite vehicles to work on. i don't like the way many of them are designed to go together/come apart, not to mention the cost and availability of replacement parts, especially living where i do. that said, they're pretty cool in a lot of respects but keep in mind a number of shops won't want to touch it..i would personally only consider an old and very cheap one that i could spare the cash to fix up or a new one with a good warranty and a plan to trade it in before it starts needing everything replaced..if the bmw you're seeing has thorough maintenance records by reputable shops and looks like it's had many of the common failure parts serviced then it'd be worth considering. at that mileage it will likely either need a lot of work soon or it recently had a lot of repairs done. could be a score or could be a time bomb.

custm2500

iTrader: (10)

Parts are expencive, **** is a pain to work on. Good news is they like any modern car don't usualy take much to keep going.

Parts are typicaly at least 1.5 times more expencive so just keep that in mind.

07vmax1500

expensive, complicated, lots of special tools required, and correct me if im wrong but isnt 'routine maintnance' at certain miliages a head gasket? swore i heard a bmw tech say that. i personally would look for something else before a european car

TX Tahoe Z71

iTrader: (28)

My dad's 2003 530i with 65k started falling apart. Clock display went blank ($600 to replace the CD player, only way to fix it), wood dash cracked in multiple places, tie rods worn out, auto dim mirror got hazy and stopped dimming, driver's electric seat stopped working, paint wasn't looking great and probably a number of other problems I'm forgetting.

It was a really sharp looking car and handled great, but it seems like something broke once a month and would have cost >$500 each to fix. Luckily someone t-boned him (he was fine) so he bought a 2003 Q45 and hasn't had a problem with it in the past few years.