Hi, all, I am a student in college, and have found a pretty good deal on a BMW 3 series, e46 generation. However, I have only driven new cars before, and I have 0 experience in fixing anything car related. I would like to know what maintaining costs would go into owning an old BMW, as well as its durability, the chances of it actually breaking down, if it is durable enough to be driven in the winter. All in all I am just concerned about how durable it is, not really trying to have it die on me on the freeway :/. Thank you all!
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[–] A_Fringe_Element 0 points 8 points 8 points (+8|-0) ago
You're in college - you can't afford a used BMW nor will it impress chicks. The kind of materialistic bitches that care about your car are smart enough to know it's used.
A used BMW is also incredibly unreliable and the replacement parts are expensive. Go buy a used Honda or Nissan.
[–] escapetomars 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
Everyone in California has a BMW, it's not to "impress chicks". Having a nice car is a sign of maturity and class. It's like making sure you don't show up to a cocktail party in some ripped up suit bought from a payless 15 years ago.
I'm sorry, but you just have no idea what you're talking about. Nissans consistently rates worse than many BMW models in reliability. E46 BMWs are some of the most reliable, solid cars BMW has ever made.
[–] A_Fringe_Element 0 points 4 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago
There's quite a few "nice" cars that cheaper and of the same or higher quality. Maturity means buying something that's reliable, affordable and meets all of your needs. There's two kinds of people who buy used luxury brands - ghetto trash and enthusiasts. Unless you're an actual BMW fanboy and OK with the warts you're wasting money.
http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/l-Used-BMW-M3-d390#listing=107474929
There's tons of brand new vehicles with factory warranty's you can buy for that kind of money.
[–] curbstickle 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
A well maintained vehicle is reliable, and poorly maintained vehicles are not.
I've seen plenty of well maintained and poorly maintained BMW's. Some with hundreds of thousands of miles on them, some of them sounding like they are ready to be made into a crushed metal cube with less than 100k. I say this as someone driving a car with over 350k miles, and having owned a Mercedes diesel with over 400k miles. Which I then sold and ran beautifully until it was in a nasty accident (though the driver came out fine).
Parts can be expensive, but they also can be expensive for VW's, Nissan's (especially Altimas of certain years that have a poorly designed exhaust and frequent sensor problems), and many others.
tl;dr, if you don't know cars, bring a mechanic to check out any vehicle you are interested in purchasing. Make and model play a role, but not so significant of one as good maintenance.
[–] SkepticalMartian ago
These are both essentially lies. Propagated by people who have never had any experience with them.
[–] lola18 [S] ago
Sorry if I gave you the wrong impression, but me buying a BMW has nothing to do with what others think. I simply came across a good deal, and while I do have an interest in cars, I simply do not know about this generation well enough to make a sound decision. Of course there have been many options that have presented themselves in terms of cars from the "more reliable" Japanese car makers, but I am trying to look for the best thing I can buy with my budget.
[–] A_Fringe_Element ago
What's the mileage, year and asking price for the vehicle ?