Bmw Costs A Lot To Maintain?

[thaddeus]

I hear people say that BMW's are not reliable and end up in the shop a lot and cost a lot in repairs.

Edmunds.com say that maintenance over 5 years is not bad at all for a BMW. In fact the "true cost to own" (maintenance and depreciation) is cheaper than a Lexus is300 and the maintanence costs are less than an Acura TSX.


http://www.edmunds.com/new/2005/bmw/3serie...sidenav..4.BMW*



So, being a new BMW owner with 36k miles should I be worried that I just got myself a money pit, or is the Edmunds site correct and BMWs do not cost that much to maintain?

[jisang1]

I really think the maintainence depends on how the previous owner treated the car and also how lucky you are. There is a wide range of what owners have experienced - some pour money into maintainence, whereas others get lucky.

BTW - thats a really helpful Edmunds link you pasted above. Never seen a per-mile cost for such cars. Thanks!

[karupspc]

I think most vehicle reliability comes down to how the owner maintains it.
I know of 3 people with BMWs.. a 1999 and 2002 5 series and a 1998 3 series all bought it used and now has 90-110K miles on it without any problems.

similar to audi and mb, bmw offers a 4yr/50K maintenance free program.