A Reliable BMW Disscussion??

[Black Sheep]

Is there such thing as a Reliable BMW??? Something that is somewhat older with no warranty that you can drive an beat the $#@! out of. Something that just needs Oil changes, tires, brakes.... Basic maintenance.

I've been using Nissan's (Sentra's & Altima's) for beater cars an just was wondering if there is anything out that you can take to 200k miles an not have to dump a piss load of money into it.

[Q4P]

probably not

but best bets will be ... manual transmission, rwd, NA 3 series

although all BMWs are leaky as hell so I would say 200k is stretching it

[Mr. Nice]

A4 1.8t

[Eric335]

Add a waterpump replacement and you could open up your options a little

[BTM]

E30

Just gotta take care of it, and not care about rust. Easy to work on and very serviceable, fluids, brakes, timing belt, tires, and other wear items (shocks, bushings, etc) and it should treat you well.

[BTM]

A4 1.8t

You mean A4 1.8T///M

[gary88]

+1 to e30. Don't rotors cost like $14 on those.

[Steve B. CBR]

04-06 6 spd E46 M3.

[seth]

hahaha

e46 325/330. you need cooling system refresh about every 30-50k brakes aren't horrible since I know you can do yourself. If you get one with vanos replaced thats golden but if not its not terrible to do every 3-4 yrs.

[seth]

oops...

[gary88]

Mel Tucker new Bears DC.


I think I went to High School with a tranny named Mel Tucker...

wrong thread chief

[Sticky]

Moved to General BMW.

And sure there are reliable BMW's. M50's, M52's, I'd look there.

E46 M3 is solid after the bearing recall of course.

Haven't seen any serious issues with M62's. A 540i might be nice...

[seth]

wrong thread chief

fuuuuuuuck

[lulz_m3]

I would say E90 325/328. I guy just posted on nazipost about his E90 325 hitting 200k, outside of oil changes and waterpump he has had no issues whatsoever. He did get in an accident and had an ac compressor fail (which he attributed to damage from the accident).

[BTM]

Interesting that since the rod bearing recall the consensus is starting to swing towards the earlier (pre 03.5) S54s are more reliable having less VANOS trouble. Either way, not sure if Ryan wants to spend his "beater" money on $100 oil changes every 5-7500, $200 valve jobs every 25-30k (DIY price, add 3-4hrs in labor for a shop), for 18 or 19" tires, for bigger brakes, etc etc all that comes with a higher performance BMW.

In fact, according to " somewhat older with no warranty that you can drive an beat the $#@! out of. Something that just needs Oil changes, tires, brakes.... Basic maintenance" statement it seems a 4L Jeep is what you want

[Bimman]

I think e36

[seth]

Interesting that since the rod bearing recall the consensus is starting to swing towards the earlier (pre 03.5) S54s are more reliable having less VANOS trouble. Either way, not sure if Ryan wants to spend his "beater" money on $100 oil changes every 5-7500, $200 valve jobs every 25-30k (DIY price, add 3-4hrs in labor for a shop), for 18 or 19" tires, for bigger brakes, etc etc all that comes with a higher performance BMW.

In fact, according to " somewhat older with no warranty that you can drive an beat the $#@! out of. Something that just needs Oil changes, tires, brakes.... Basic maintenance" statement it seems a 4L Jeep is what you want

Totally agree but the title says Reliable BMW... not Reliable Jeep with electrical issues I can fix.

[Sorena]

E34 535i. The M30 in those cars will outage your grandson, easily Not much of electronics in E34's, everything is simple and easy to fix. Of course you can get the E28 which is even better, but also it's older.

M20 powered E30's are good too. I personally don't think the M20 is as solid as the M30, but it's a great engine as well and the E30 is very easy to maintain.

The E36 M50's are great too. The non-vanos M50 are the strongest of the M5x family, and the E36 itself is one of the last cars that was built with having reliability in mind.

[Black Sheep]

Cool thanks for the Input guys

[BTM]

http://chicago.craigslist.org/nch/cto/3549641453.html

[seth]

"approximately" 200,000 miles?