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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[–] Mandog ago
Owner of a used 98 z3. My advice would be to do a lot of research into the 3 series, BMW forums are a great place to start. For example before I bought my z3 I knew that around 75,000 miles the cooling system almost always needed to be replaced so I factored that into the cost of the car. I would do the same thing with the 3 series and see if you can negotiate a lower price based on that. Also check out how reliable the car is overall. If its not a reliable make of BMW then I would avoid it. People are going to say mechanical repairs will cost more, and they may but that won't be a problem if you buy a reliable model and budget for the most common repairs needed.