NuncoStr8

The car for sale has 153,000 miles on it and it's 11 years old. That's driving 6 times around the planet. And over a decade of wear and tear. What rational person would expect a machine to be in as-new condition at that point?

BMW's with all the service records are worth more than those without for good reason. Everything has a service interval, and if it has been maintained over it's life you'll be fine with routine maintainance, barring the odd expensive issue.

No maker produces a car with a water pump designed to last that long. Nobody sells shocks and struts designed for that kind of mileage before replacement. No clutch will last that long. No alternator, no plugs, no radiator, etc., etc.

I don't care what make of car, you want service records not just hope and pray it's been serviced regularly. A couple years ago I helped a friend patch his 2001 325 after the plastic part that runs coolant through the throttle body broke off on the outlet side. It was integrated into part of the intake, so we just plugged both hoses coming and going to it so he could drive it without spewing coolant. It wasn't a POS, it just had a minor part failure, entirely predictable after so many years and miles.

If that part had been replaced on schedule it likely wouldn't have happened, but neither him nor the previous owner saw the need to do it before failure. That's normal. And why complete dealer service records make any car more valuable than cars without.

And a thing to keep in mind is people often decide to sell a car when it needs an expensive service, such as struts, brakes, or water pump/cooling system. They won't fix it before a sale as long as it "drives nice."

Especially look out for cars with an asking price well below market. The linked car is priced in line with mileage and age, but it's not like it will never need any part replacement in the future. It's fine to buy, just don't expect gas and oil is the only thing you'll pay for over the next year. I don't know what is so depressing about that.

Presto123

^ I've seen a few cars beyond 150k and older than a decade with many of the original components you stated. Unsurprisingly, none of them were BMWs.

NuncoStr8

I've seen cars with the same shocks and struts for the last hundred fifty thousand or so. You can spot them on the freeway - they're the ones with wheels bouncing in time to the music (150bpm techno). You haven't seen any cars with the same radiator, water pump, alternator, clutch, brakes, or starter, just people who didn't know when they were replaced.

brandondan1

Speaking from experience, (I've owned 3 E30s, and my mom owned a 01 325ci), a car with service records is going to be the crucial factor. There's a sayimg that "they don't make em how they used to" and that's true. E30s in general are pretty bulletproof if you keep up the timing belt, water pump..and have less electronic BS to go wrong. However my 1st e30 (and 1st car in general for that matter) came with no records, had been sitting for years and had a lot of issues to show for it. Needless to say I was always tinkering with that car, and for any normal person, it wouldve left a bad taste in my mouth, but it gave me the knowledge to work on cars myself and not get ripped off.

My second e30 had regular maintenance done throughout its life and had 270k when I purchased it. It still ran great well past 300k and I took it on road trips many times with no issues. A testament to how dependable they can be. I'd trust this car more than a new X35 turbo bmw anyday.

Now the e46 was a different story, with lock actuators failing (had to use key to open door instead of fob), cam position sensors causing misfire (BMW eventually updated the part which now doesn't have issues). Fan resistor failing (causing blower motor to stop working except on highest speed). Those are the only non wear and tear items that went wrong, and while were annoying, weren't that big of a deal. My mom had no idea what car maintenance was.. and pretty much drove the car on 30k oil changes, putting midgrade instead of premium etc... yet she had no drivabiltiy issues until about 150k when her plastic coolant reservoir decided to finally give and lost all coolant. She drove the car home with the temp pegging in red... Needless to say I expected the worst, but after I replaced the water pump and reservoir the car started right back up and drove just as it always did. She had it until 200k when she finally got rid of it.

Long story short, the drivetrains on BMWs are pretty durable, its the misc accessory junk that fails from time to time. If you enjoy the blend of luxury and sportiness (which few other cars can match) just do the preventative maintenance and you SHOULD be good to go. If you don't know how to DIY don't buy one, because mechanics often misdiagnose and overcharge.

deepbluejh

My Celica has spoiled me... I've had it for 9 years (it's 12 years old) and the only thing that has gone out has been the catalytic converter. NOTHING ELSE. 194k miles and still on original brakes (with new pads), clutch, struts, cooling system, water pump, etc etc, with only routine scheduled maintenance. It has never broken down and never left me stranded.

I realize not all cars are like that, but I didn't figure a well-cared for BMW would be completely worthless at 150k miles. =\

Marin3SSgt

I owned a 2001 BMW 328 also and it was the worst pos ever!!! it only started when it felt like it. Was stranded for 4 hours in a parking lot and after my 400th time to crank it the pos started. sold it and bought the S and never looked back

Presto123

My car is 10 years old and pushing 120k on all original components except clutch master cylinder and brakes. I expect my clutch to last past 150k as well.

RonnieB

Owned an E46 330i (04) as a DD for some time. The quality is out of this world. Drove it everywhere. 102k miles. Excellent car. BUT, my god the price to fix the little things really gets old, and the window regulators needed to be replaced constantly. I just got the point, where it just wasn't the car i wanted anymore and bought another Evo. I sold it right at market value, with all service records, within 3 days of posting it.

hellaSleepy

After my first s2k was totaled, I bought a E46 330ci with 70k miles from the original owner that really took care of the car as it was immaculate. For the price of the car it was pretty nice & sporty. During the time I had it, I had no idea about the infamous E46 subframe cracks, when I was going up & down driveways I always heard some noise in the back that none of my other cars had before & thought that was pretty strange, there was even a pretty loud thump one time. Didn't pay much mind to it at the time until I was reading up on E46 M3's & found out that it was actually my subframe making that noise. Few weeks later a friend pointed out that there was a huge wet spot underneath my car on the driveway, I checked for leaks but couldn't really find anything so I filled it up with coolant & drove to my mechanic (or tried to), before my cooling system exploded on me & coolant came bursting out all over the freeway, the cars temperature instantly shot up & I had to pull over and wait for a tow truck for a few hours. Keep in mind that before this happened there was absolutely NO signs of this happening. Long story short, I overhauled the entire cooling system before selling it & getting into my 2nd s2k. The car also occasionally would have random lights pop up in the dash, such as the traction control light or a check engine light which would cause me to nurse the car home & the next day the lights would be gone & everything was fine.....loool & to think that this car was from the original owner that DID take care of the car. I still kept in touch with the buyer at times, & the only problems he had were the window regulators going out, some brake lights that went out, the A/C was stuck on full blast & some electrical issues. I still want a E46 ///M though but that's a whole other topic of issues & potential problems with that car

g0g3tt4

Never known BMW and reliabilty to be words used in the same sentence with regularity. I was watching "How It's Made" one night and they were at the BMW factory. The CEO or or some Executive said in his own words that they had to work on reliability but for what ever reason it hasn't stopped the car from selling and our brand has gotten stronger and stronger.

My immediate interpretation of that was, "yeah the idiots keep buying them so why change anything?"