Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I enjoy BMWs and currently drive a 2021. When I bout out the lease I made sure to get an extended warranty - just replacing one headlight unit costs about $8500 from the dealer (its all one piece). You will absolutely pay quite a bit for maintenance, just like with any German car. A lexus should be more reliable and (slightly) cheaper to maintain. Still premium gas. Also, they drive differently.

OMG

That's a lie. I've had one replaced.

Anonymous wrote:Part of the cost is that you must use a dealership or shop that can reprogram the car to accept repair parts. We replaced a car battery, and I was shocked that it cost $1000 because they needed to reprogram it or the car would complain or the battery wouldn't work. It's supposed to be for safety or theft, but it seems like a cash grab. I am used to going to AutoZone, getting a $150 battery, and doing it myself.

Do you realize how easy it is to code a battery change in a car's ECU? I mean, obviously not yet, but you should.

I recommend you look into it. It takes an adapter and five minutes on your phone or laptop. And it's not usually needed anyway.

Anonymous wrote:I’m a Mercedes owner and would never buy another German car. My Toyotas are much more reliable and cheaper to repair.

Anyone who would consider a Toyota should definitely buy a Toyota.

I drive a 2022 x3. Consumer Reports has consistently rated it as being reliable and it has the B48 engine, which is also used in the Toyota Supra. So far so good as I bought it CPO with an extended warranty.

Repairs can be expensive, but to me the trick is preventive maintenance. Oil changed every six months or 6,000 miles. Driven like you are not running from the law. Some of it is plain luck - you can do everything right with any car and still run into problems. IMHO, the CPO mitigates some risk.

Anonymous wrote:Part of the cost is that you must use a dealership or shop that can reprogram the car to accept repair parts. We replaced a car battery, and I was shocked that it cost $1000 because they needed to reprogram it or the car would complain or the battery wouldn't work. It's supposed to be for safety or theft, but it seems like a cash grab. I am used to going to AutoZone, getting a $150 battery, and doing it myself.

This is highway (pun intended) robbery.

If you have AAA, you can get the battery changed at a nominal cost. They will come to your house.

Part of the cost is that you must use a dealership or shop that can reprogram the car to accept repair parts. We replaced a car battery, and I was shocked that it cost $1000 because they needed to reprogram it or the car would complain or the battery wouldn't work. It's supposed to be for safety or theft, but it seems like a cash grab. I am used to going to AutoZone, getting a $150 battery, and doing it myself.

Anonymous wrote:BMW’s aren’t what they used to be. I’d never dream of owning a current one (late 20-teens and newer) past the warranty period.

There’s so much plastic in the induction side of the engines now (to save weight and manufacturing costs) and quality has slipped so far (because again, cheaping out) with things like cam chain tensioners and chain guides, that the engines simply won’t last as long as BMW’s of old used to, especially if driven hard (like they’re supposed to be).


If you want a real BMW, get an 80’s or 90’s 3-series. They’re fully depreciated right now, so you can get one for almost nothing, and then spend $20k having it worked over by a BMW performance shop.

You’ll have a MUCH better car, for less $$$

I love our X7 and have had zero problems, but I sure miss my e21.

BMW’s aren’t what they used to be. I’d never dream of owning a current one (late 20-teens and newer) past the warranty period.

There’s so much plastic in the induction side of the engines now (to save weight and manufacturing costs) and quality has slipped so far (because again, cheaping out) with things like cam chain tensioners and chain guides, that the engines simply won’t last as long as BMW’s of old used to, especially if driven hard (like they’re supposed to be).


If you want a real BMW, get an 80’s or 90’s 3-series. They’re fully depreciated right now, so you can get one for almost nothing, and then spend $20k having it worked over by a BMW performance shop.

You’ll have a MUCH better car, for less $$$

How much is the actual repair cost versus the perception that if you can afford this car, you can afford to pay more for repairs?

Anonymous wrote:Just read today about a GM vehicle blowing an engine at 2000 miles... so there is that

In general, the latest generation of cars of all of the brands are less reliable then their predecessors. They all have undersized engines and use thinner lower weight oil to hit fuel economy targets. Then they get tuned and stressed to the limit for performance. I have a 2018 Lexus GX that's currently in the shop for its 200,000 mile maintenance. My wife's 2025 GX550 has about the same amount of shop time on it in 15 months.

Just read today about a GM vehicle blowing an engine at 2000 miles... so there is that

This might suprise people but GM has some really good extended factory bumper to bumper warranties comparied to other brands, you can got our 7 years and 100K miles max past the factory warranty. And any dealer can sell it to you. Has to be from a dealer and a GM warranty otherwise slop.

My 2023 Acadia Denali fully loaded I just bought the extended warranty for 7 years as my 3 year almost expiring for $1,800 bucks. My warranty now expires 2033. 7 years from now.

I had a BMW 5 series and I tried to buy an extended warraty from BMW prior to my factory expiring and it was like $4,500 back in 2012. Today it is almost $6,500 Even BMW refuses to give that type of long warranty without a sky high cost as the repair costs are so sky high. And since it does not include maint and they like you to service at dealer so you dont void warranty you be paying out noise for maint.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. I didn't think about the premium gas. I think the repairs really scare me.

Maybe leaning towards a Lexus as a second option.

Lexus charges more than Toyota for the same part. Did you consider Acura? Nice handling, without the maintenance costs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BMW AWD SUVs are supposed to be very good snow vehicles. My BIL and his wife both drive them for this reason.

Yeah but so are Subarus without the $8500 cost to repair a headlight...

You're responding to me. They had Subarus before they switched to BMW's. I don't know about the $8500 headlamps, as I don't own a BMW. My DH and I are Subaru people. My Outback had superb traction on snow and slush.

The windshield and wipers on my Outback were a problem. If it was snowing hard, the windshield fogged over and nothing I did improved the problem, nor the wipers getting bogged down with snow. I literally had to stop on the side of the road to clear the windshield wipers of the snow. It doesn't snow that much in the D.C. area, so it wasn't an issue for us. It only happened a couple of times.

My in-laws live in New England so they wanted vehicles with optimal performance in snowy conditions.

OP here. Thanks for the input. After much thought, I am going to get a Japanese car. As much as I love driving European cars, I don't want to deal with the possibility of an expensive repair.