Took my 2020 Bimmer to the dealer for an oil change…

[The Artillerist]

What a terrible vehicle if it needs $8,000 worth of maintenance and repair after only doing a mere 30,000 miles.

My 10 year old Mazda 3 has 130,000 miles and has gotten nothing but oil changes.

My 11 year old GMC Acadia has 165,000 miles and is STILL on the factory spark plugs, coolant, valve cover gaskets, etc. Runs Like New.

I must be the lucky exception to the rule.

To be fair, and not to denigrate your vehicles — most all automotive species have their place to be — but your pre-pensioner Mazda and GMC are rather rudimentary hoopties relative to a G30 M550 bimmer.

A Trabant is, perhaps, yet even more reliable and economical to run than my car — no ABS, no power anything to fail, no computers — but that is a weak basis for an argument that an M550 is a terrible car. Hey, it felt great and mellow at 170 mph while giving me a massage .

The mechanical issue, of which front differential was $6,5k were taken care of under the warranty. The front diff is going bad is likely a one-off event. The $1,200 or so to swap the rear flex disk with a crack is a “bit” premature, but the car does make 523 hp and 553 lb/ft, so

 

[Bailes1992]

I've said it before on this board and I'll say it again. The majority of the time, high mileage vehicles found in Europe are BMW, Mercedes or VAG with a fair share of Peugeot and Citroën diesels thrown into the mix.

German cars here in Europe are generally considered to be very reliable.

My Father bought a BMW 320d brand new in 2012 and put 170k on it in 5 years and nothing ever went wrong on it. Nothing at all! And that included 19-24 year old me driving it like my hair was on fire on a regular basis. Tyres, brakes and servicing is all it ever asked for. OCI's were lucky to come round every 25k too!

I don't know what German cars you get in the US, but they must be vastly different to ours.

 

[svenson]

but all the problems that gave bmw a band reputation were until 2010 production models.all the E8x-E9X-E6x models.

use of it is a big factor too. 170 in 5 years are almost the double km of a regular driver.also bmw's need to be driven like you are running away from a bank robbery ,fast and furious..they like it a lot. short commute, in town use and slow driving is not for bmws. then you will go to the service shop more often.

 

[dkryan]

What a terrible vehicle if it needs $8,000 worth of maintenance and repair after only doing a mere 30,000 miles.

My 10 year old Mazda 3 has 130,000 miles and has gotten nothing but oil changes.

My 11 year old GMC Acadia has 165,000 miles and is STILL on the factory spark plugs, coolant, valve cover gaskets, etc. Runs Like New.

I must be the lucky exception to the rule.

With all due respect to you, Artem,

165k miles on the same coolant and plugs……….?
The VC gaskets I understand……….if they’re not a problem, leave them alone.

Enlighten us, please!

 

[Artem]

With all due respect to you, Artem,

165k miles on the same coolant and plugs……….?
The VC gaskets I understand……….if they’re not a problem, leave them alone.

Enlighten us, please!

Well… I’ve been waiting for something to spring a leak on this thing for many many years now, so I can remove the intake manifold and get back there to the plugs.

Many many years later and there’s still nothing leaking and I see no reason to touch anything since it runs LIKE NEW.