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Comments
$3,800.
Now if we should need a head gasket on one side only that would be 15 hours labor plus $3890 in parts (refurbish one cylinder head), so that's (in California) $6, 424.
You know, this car is looking better and BETTER
So, for roughly the cost of a Hyundai Accent, or maybe a little more, you can drive, and be seen, in a uber luxo-barge. That's a cheap price for feeling important. Of course, there's maintenance to consider, but the extra cost of feeding and maintaining the BMW will be partially offset by the fact that, while the Hyundai depreciates, the V12er is nearly fully depreciated.
Conclusion: If you buy the BMW and fix it up, also buy an Accent as a backup. Keep the Accent in the garage and the BMW in the driveway, to impress the neighbors. Use the Accent as your daily driver, and drive the BMW on special occasions, to limit expenses.
Now, if you buy what I've just written, there's a bridge that I'd like to sell you.
Actually I shouldn't joke. My friend has a V-12 rotting in his driveway right now for similar reasons. He loves the car but cannot justify any further expense. It's a wonderful car to drive. I taped over the check engine light and that seemed to help a lot.
But it does start every time, and runs quite well, thank you very much. I also laugh that here in Austin, there are BMW's of all flavors EVERYWHERE. I swear I think they are more common than Chevys. Must impress the neighbors, you know.
Everywhere I go in the xTreme I get folks asking where I got it because they are very rare in the southwest. Currently there are eight listed for sale within 500 miles of central Texas, most are hacked up, and one even has had Buick portholes added to the fenders!
Keep your bimmers, I like driving down the road and not constantly passing myself. Although, the local police know exactly who owns the Victory Red, low slung Blazer that has been scooting around town. :shades:
Thing is, before they get endlessly miled up BMWs are very much reliable and drive beautifully. My friend has a 2000 BMW 328 ci and at almost 100k, all it's needed were rotors once and 1 sensor. It's still a great car to drive.
I sometimes think about branching out in the BMW world past my 3-series. If you had $10,000 to buy any BMW built since 1990 and use as a daily driver, what would it be? Second and third choices?
My experience suggests that people love to talk about their successes, but rarely acknowledge that, "you know what, I made a mistake in buying that V12 money pit; I had to get an evening job to cover the the cost of ownership...", or words to that effect. The prices of used luxury cars, not so much the entry level luxury ones, but the high end ones, are really appealing. People think, "hey, I/we can afford that. You know what, honey, for what we'd pay for a new Camry/Accord/Impala, we could own this beautiful pre-owned S-Class/7-Series/XK/or whatever...I'm tired of driving an ordinary -------...Let's go for it!....What do you say?..." The trap for some of these people is they underestimate the cost of ownership of an out-of-warranty luxo barge. I've came close to being seduced by an old LS400 and a Q45, because they're so much car for the money. Fortunately I pinched myself just before bidding.
IMO the old 735 was the best car BMW ever made in its entire history.
Old LS400s are actually pretty decent. I have a friend that drives pretty much non-stop for his sales job. He buys LS400s at around 10 years old and 150K miles. His sold his last one two in running condition at 400K miles and his current one is just under 300K. He is the type not to worry about interior wear and such, but his mechanical expenses are reasonable.
A 5 Series, to me, is just more complication, more gas, more weight. Of course, you do have a point, there is also more ROOM. For some reason, BMW 3 Series are *tight* in the driver's compartment and for that reason I have never owned one.
I coulda bought a clean 5 series recently for cheap but the 18 mpg and the thought of the repair bills on a miler car discouraged me at any price. And for me it's too large a car to drive with a manual transmission, even if i could find one. I really hate big cars with stick shifts.
528i..................530i...............335is
3,494 lbs.........3,450 lbs........ 3,571 lbs.
The 335i is about seven inches shorter then the two older 5 series but weighs a 100 lbs more.
A *fast* porker, but nonetheless, weight is weight....
I like my passenger cars about 2,800 lbs, which isn't easy to find.
As for the 3-Series, I'd avoid the E36s, because they're troublesome, and go for a E-30 or E-46, depending on budget and needs. I think the E36s are being scrapped at a rapid rate, because the economics of repairing them to keep them on the road frequently doesn't compute.
I was actually fairly impressed with the last 3-series I sat in. It was a coupe though, and not a sedan, so maybe that made a difference? With the coupe the B-pillar is still behind me even with the seat all the way back, wheras in the sedan it's going to cut into my space. The seat was low to the ground, but went well back from the firewall, giving me that stretch-out room I like so much.
A buddy of mine has an '02 or '03 5-series. I rode in it a couple weeks ago. It was actually bigger inside than I thought it would be. Now with me up front, you couldn't get another person my height in the seat behind me, but the same can be said for a lot of much bigger cars. The EPA classified it as a compact, but it felt bigger inside to me.
How well does an old Q45 handle? I always liked the style of the older, grille-less models.
A 1997 3 series coupe is about 3,100 lbs and I think the E30s would be around 2,800 for a coupe with a manual but over 3,000 lbs for the other models.
I think BMW would have a much bigger hit on their hands if they had designed the 1 series to have the same look, size and feel of the E30.
The early Qs handled considerably less old Japanese than the LS400s. They made a decent attempt at engaging the driver instead of isolating him from the driving experiencing. The old Q45s are seriously quick too. Unfortunately, the cost of maintenance was "old German-like," which is why you very rarely see a Q45 today.
Of course, you can SCARE yourself in any car, if you try hard enough. :P
The Q45 seems like the old Subaru SVX--- a curiosity worshipped by a small cult and ignored by the rest of the world. It's the car everyone praises and nobody wants!
Funny, but I kinda like the old Sube SVX too. What was that other little wedge-shaped coupe they had? XT or something like that? They were kinda neat, too. I mean, I don't aspire to own one anytime soon, but I guess I sort of admire them from afar.
Have you sat in one? I found the headroom amazingly tight, but I have that problem...
My '76 LeMans is actually pretty tight on headroom. I think the top of my head is only about an inch from the ceiling. It doesn't actually touch, but it's close enough that I'm aware it's there.
Basically, it is a two-door Blazer with a factory lowered suspension and ground effects, bigger alloys, bigger sway bars. Same drive train as the rest, but the programming on the ECM is different. Shift points are a bit higher and crisper, that sort of thing.
While not the most delicate handling beast on the road, it is a hoot to drive.
In terms of maintenance and repair costs, the regular Q is on the high side, but the Touring model, with its fancy suspension, is prohibitive.
I think a low miles grandpa/grandma Q45 might be okay, but I sure wouldn't want to tangle with that 7-foot serpentine belt that engine uses. This is not a Honda Civic we are talking about.
I had a chance to buy a Q45 about 2 years ago, and I don't remember much about the test drive except that I was pretty underwhelmed. It was only $3,500 and in very nice shape but for some reason I barely drove it ten blocks and gave up on it. It WAS pretty quick, though, I do remember getting on it.
Cachet is only $2,795 away.
One too many zeros.
excessive optimism
Truth in advertising, but does anyone really care about matching numbers on this?
$10k for a Crapvette?
Yeah but it is a !978 Vette those are really rare... :P
1978 Corvette--he'd be lucky to get $10K, but it's possible
96 Ford Escort -- shouldn't that read "runs awesomeLY"? 40 mpg? sure, sure.
Cost of a 1986 Porsche 944?---$2,795
Cost of a new clutch and water pump?---priceless
The second generation Q doesn't appeal to me, since it's less powerful and blander, styling wise, than the first generation.
Interestingly enough, I still have a spare belt from my last Ford Crown Victoria Taxicab. It is 98 inches in length, which is 8 feet 2 inches. And EASY to replace.
With those serpentine belts, don't you just have to loosen some tensioner, and the thing just slips right off? Probably simpler than wrestling around with the four individual belts on my '85 Silverado! I did pay to have the serpentine belt done on my 2000 Intrepid, because it looked like such a tight clearance that I could see me getting frustrated and destructive if I tried to change it myself.
I remember that the oil filter on them is a PITA to get. Depending on the year you have to disassemble the air filter box to get to the oil filter. On some other years you can get the filter from below but only after removing the belly pan and then it is still a tight fit.
Sorry, but not sure whether you're referring to the Q45 or the Jeep.