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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Always have driven Toyotas in the past, currently in a VW Golf.  Thinking about going bigger into a compact SUV and interested in a more of a luxury brand, specifically Audi, BMW (open to others).  Is maintenance really THAT much more expensive, or is it all overblown?  I've been tedious with keeping maintenance up to date with my VW (3 years old) and have had zero issues, but also everything's been under warranty so far.  Thanks![/quote]

Like you, I grew up having "Hondas and Toyotas" only. By 2006, I was ready for my first "luxury" brand vehicle. Since then, I've owned BMWs, Mercedes, and Maserati. BMW used to offer free maintenance for the warranty period, which both of the two I owed enjoyed. So I've never done any maintenance on a BMW. These days, however, maintenance is no longer free. As for doing the maintenance, most of these cars follow an A/B alternating service schedule. Service A is just an oil change with some general inspections and likely costs between $200 to $300. Service B usually involves an oil change, plus brake fluid flush, and maybe other things like cabin air filter change. This runs anywhere from $400 to $800 depending on the car.

You can, of course, do all of this yourself at significant cost savings, but this is not for everyone. Just for comparison, doing the oil change on my wife's C300 costs about $50 in oil and $15 for a filter. It takes me about 30 minutes. Doing the oil change on our Odyssey costs $25 in oil and a $6 filter, about exactly half. Other than the cost, maintenance really only happens once a year, so it is not a lot "to do". I guess one nice thing with luxury car maintenance is that they will usually provide you with a loaner. I've not known a Honda/Toyota dealer to do this just for an oil change, for example. [/quote]

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