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Time For A New Daily Cruiser Any Recomendations

Longz

By Longz,
in General Automotive Discussion

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Cowboy1600 Grand Master

Cowboy1600

Posted
Posted

i heard that older bmw's stuff up alot ? any BMW above 5 years has alot of problems

Find yourself a tow truck driver and ask him the most common marque he picks up and I bet it'll be BMW closely followed by Mercedes.

German reliability my arse.

jetblack Collaborator

jetblack

Posted
Posted

Find yourself a tow truck driver and ask him the most common marque he picks up and I bet it'll be BMW closely followed by Mercedes.

German reliability my arse.

I agree with BMW being very high maintenance, have owned a few of them and have always had problems, if your are looking at a e46 coupe make sure you have the sub frame checked as these are known to crack especially the 323ci/328ci,

Mercedes and Audi have been pretty reliable, some of the cars i have had have done over 300,000 ams without major problems

Toyota/Lexus id say would be less hassle but don't really have the style of a benz etc

GTR-N1 Grand Master

GTR-N1

Posted
Posted

That is very true (basing the info for the 3 series) - plenty of design flaws from the beginning.

I suppose the only way around this is to find a BMW that has been always serviced by a BMW dealership at the correct intervals - as most of the problems would have been fixed. Usually these cars cost much more. There is no such thing as a "cheap" bmw.

iseekool is not far from the mark

Beemers are renowned for being able to plant themselves thru corners at speed and not waste fuel in the process

Since you live in the Sydney area, and if you're considering BMWs

* BMV Engineering Ph 9526.1855 at Taren Pt > Massimo is a specialist technician and great diagnostician who won't charge an arm and a leg if you decide on a Beemer

* BMWise Ph 94381669 at Artarmon > George is also meticulous and reliable without charging like a dealership

Had a E46 328Ci without problems > Have a E39 530i without problems

Our Previous Beemers had temperature/water pump/sidetank problems.

God_speed Veteran

God_speed

Posted
Posted

M5=awesome, but I've done some research having considered one myself and I think you'd find either E34 or E39 will be high maintenance and need a lot of attention to keep in tune.

As Terry said we've had plenty of bimmers in the past and they've been a mixed bag. All of them were six cylinders and that would be the only way to go. I've had two 325s and a 328ci before and all 3 have been good fun.

An E39 525 or 530 sport would make a great cruiser but they're auto only. Being a 5, depreciation means you could get yourself a lot of car for your money though. I know many criticise the reliability of bmws, but the E39s really were well screwed together. The cooling system *is* an Achilles heel however.

3 series would probably mean E46, still a great shape and longer scheduled servicing intervals than both te previous E36 and E39. As someone said, rear subframe cracks were a common problem. Being used to the power of your GTR I think you'd find a 323i or Lexus IS200 quite slow... A 325, 328, or 330 will offer good poke, about 7.5, 7.3, or 7.0 sec flat to 100kmh respectively for the steptronic sedans. See if you can score an '01 330ci coupe or 330i sedan which will have xenons, sunroof, leather sport seats, 17s, leccy seats with settings memorised in the key, cruise, and other nice stuff. If you can get one with sat nav that'd be a bonus as they changed from being std fit in 328ci to an option for 330ci. 8 airbags are standard for the e46.

For reference, the W210 E class of similar era were renowned for breakdowns while the equivalent BMW E39 has proved significantly more reliable. Around this time, mercedes were undergoing significant expansion in production and introducing new models, subsequently letting their quality standards slip. They've recently worked hard to turn this around

As another option a v35 would be like a budget version of a BMW coupe; you could also go an R32 Golf?

  • 1 month later...
Marlin Grand Master

Marlin

Posted
Posted

Everything you read in mags about them is pretty true. They ok, one dimensional, but ok. I wonder how the suspension and steering bushes are coping 5 years on though.

f**k BMW out of warranty. f**k all Euro actually. And f**k gutless Lexus IS200 too! Lol, making friends aren't I :)

Have you mentioned a budget somewhere I haven't seen?

I'd probably buy the best XR6 Turbo my budget would buy. Service and repair costs will easily outweigh any perceived lack of fuel efficiency.

scathing Grand Master

scathing

Posted
Posted
German reliability my arse.

It must be from people who either bought their Mercs back in the 80's, or can't believe they spent so much on so little and delude themselves even further to think they're getting actual value (rather than just the perception of it).

Modern Mercs are a shade of their former selves, BMWs have always had electrical issues, and VWs shit themselves on a regular basis too.

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