I’m in the market for a new (used) car and I find THIS. BMW 740 with ~119,000 miles, good body and beautiful interior. It is about 6 grand. That seems a little TOO good to be true. I think I will have it inspected by a mechanic but maybe someone here can save me the trouble. Will I be in for a series of frustrating breakdowns or engine failures and need to be in the mechanic’s shop constantly if I purchase this vehicle? Or can an older BMW with this many miles on it still be a solid daily driver?
BMW’s are good cars but they aren’t magical. Cars (any car) with more than 100,000 miles are typically on the accelerating down slope of reliability and are fairly major risks for seriously expensive things going wrong. Yes, you can probably keep it going well into the 200,000 miles range but at what cost?
If it’s been taken care of, a BMW can last seemingly forever. The parts however are hideously expensive. I got a fuel pump for my brother-in-law’s 1988 BMW. It was $1,000.
Checking on Edmund’s price guide, a BMW like what you found is valued between $3,600 (trade-in) and $6,170 (dealer). So, looks like they’ve got it priced right.
Probably; it seems like a legit dealership. Ultimately it’s going to come down to whether or not the mechanic gives it the thumbs up. My dad will arrange for it to be taken to a qualified BMW mechanic in Indy; his regular mechanic here will probably set it up, so we know that it’s someone trustworthy who’s vetting the thing.
The other vehicle I’ve got my sights on is a red 2000 Acura Integra - I’m torn between small and sporty, or big and luxurious. The BMW is like a sultan’s palace on the inside! But the Acura would get twice the mileage on half the gas.
I love BMW’s and have owned two of them. They they aren’t regular cars that you can take to the mechanic down the street. Repairs are super expensive and you really need a savings account with a few thousand dollars in it to cover that. Any thing that goes wrong is going to cost a lot. $2000 for a rather simple repair is not unheard of.
I will say that the 7 series is great. It looks like that one is an “L” for long and that equals a personal limo. The back seat on those has huge amounts of leg room.