A family friend who owns a collision shop ,has offered us a 1994 BMW with 130 k miles. It is physically perfect , claims to have kept all the maintenance up to date. He also drove 40 or so highway miles to work. he wants 6 ,000 dollars for it.
My experience has been that people always over value their own vehicles. Is that a good price?. He says you can drive a properly maintained for 300 thou.
Is it a good price or would we be driving trouble.?
What series and model is it? For a 7 series, that may be an Ok price, for a 3 series, it sounds too high.
I had a 1994 BMW until a couple of years ago. My wife and FIL have a 3 series and a 7 series now. They are great cars to drive and the handling is almost unmatched but God help you if you need to get a BMW fixed. The high repair and parts costs aren’t a joke.
Its a five series . I think 525I
Look at the Blue Book first. You should be able to get it for less than that. Like I said, BMW’s makes the finest driving car you will find but repair costs can often make your eye’s buldge and you really need a specialized BMW mechanic to work on them. I don’t know if I believe the 300K miles figure. Mine died at 160K and my wife drives a lot so hers has 130K and it still looks and drives great but it has need things like $1500 worth of front end work and a few other things that would probably add up to 6K by themselves.
Another long time BMW owner here. Old BMWs are expensive to maintain if they go bad.
The six cylinder E34 5 series is a great car. It is supposed to be one of the most reliable BMWs ever made. Its successor, the E39 (96 -03) is considered the best BMW series ever made.
I suggest that you find an E34 forum and ask there. You will also most likely find a list of common problems and you may find a checklist of things to look for.
I quickly googled and found http://www.bmwe34.net/ and The 5 Series E34 Forum
You may also want to head over to www.bimmerfest.com (my hangout) and check out the E34 forum.
BMW stands for Bring Money in Wads.
BMW parts impressively expensive.
Funny, I always thought it stood for Breaks down in Many Ways…
How expensive is repair and does that include routine maintenance.?
Well back in 1991 when I was still wrenching for a living, a timing belt for a Volvo was $15-20 retail. I had a friend with a 320i who asked me to change his t belt. My wholesale cost for the timing belt was $75 and that did not include the little sticker that read "Belt changed at _____ miles ($5). :eek: Don’t forget these prices were wholesale which is about 15% under retail. So at that time at retail a t-belt was roughly 4X more expensive on a BMW than it was on a Volvo.
YMMV of course.
We used to joke that every time the Mark went up the Germans raised all their parts prices, but when the mark came down, they never lowered them.
I am an huge BMW fan. When I got my first professional job, I wanted a nice car but I obviously wasn’t going to buy a new one. I figured a small Mercedes might be nice and I had my eye on a few other just based on ads and not experience. I test drove a couple of Mercedes and felt a big meh. I went around to a few other places test driving things and nothing really struck a chord. At one place I went, they had a few nice cars but I noticed a blue 3 series BMW blocked in by lots of other cars. I decided on a whim to ask the manager to move the rest of the cars to let me drive it. My (now) wife was with me and about 5 minutes into the drive, she took one look on my face and said, “This is your new car isn’t it?”. I replied “Yep”.
I used to take that BMW on 2 hour drives to nowhere and back just because I liked driving it so much. BMW isn’t kidding when they say they make driving fun and their cars are for people that like driving. They have a very special feel that I could tell in a millisecond blindfolded. I will get another one as soon as I can but I can drive the ones in the family so that is good enough to satisfy the lust now.
However, the parts and labor for a BMW is no joke. We aren’t talking about a 15% or even a 50% increase. It is more like a 200% - 400% increase over regular vehicles. You can’t even get an oil change from a regular place with good results because they can’t reset the computer. Regular mechanics can’t diagnose them from their computer and they generally require specialized training to work on.
I am not saying not to get it. However, you should just know that the purchaser price is only a part of the cost of ownership. I found a really good and supposedly reasonable BMW repair shop that I took mine to. I was always happy when I got out of there for less than $1000 and I had to go several times. A BMW is the host of a $70 oil change for instance.
My feeling is a car with 130 k is pretty used up.
For a BMW 130K is barely broken in, not almost used up.
But I agree 100% with Shagnasty. I wouldn’t drive anything else now, but the periodic 10-15K mile service routinely costs >$500 & often >$1K from a quality specialty shop if they do all the diagnostics & replace all the little items per schedule. Really, the factory suggested maintenance program is much more appropriate for an aircraft than a car. But if you do all those things, it’ll drive like new at 250K miles.
And if you skip all those things, at 250K miles at least one idiot light will be stuck on and it’ll still be a nicer/better car than a Ford or Toyota at 50K miles.
If the OP takes the car, do recognize that the first accident is a total loss. You may be able to save costs by scrimping on periodic mainenance; you won’t be able to avoid the high cost of parts if you crunch a fender & trash the radiator & cooling fan assembly.
Also recognize that the interiors, though very nice & quite sturdy, are not designed for some Americans’ sloppy habits of living / eating in the car while using the back set for a trash receptacle. You’re not gonna get another 150K miles of happiness from the car if the back seat carpet is a biohazard waste dump a year from now.
You might be able to buy a BMW but can you afford to own a BMW?
1999 528i $73.00 for a pair of wiper blades.
Not my cup of tea YMMV