BMW extended the timing chain warranty on those 4-cylinder engines (the N20) due to the failures. You should view the “insufficient oil changes” excuse with a grain of salt, as BMW included free scheduled oil changes for 4/50. Therefore any insufficiency would be due to BMW’s own policy but more importantly if the excuse were true then the risk would be widespread amongst every car they sell due to their policy.
That said, for 2012 and 2013, IIRC BMW had a longer oil change interval. Something like 2 years / 15-20k I think? In 2014 it was officially changed to 12 months / 10-12k or some such. Another reason to be wary of the 2012/2013 models.
I have owned 3 BMW’s over the last 25 years starting with a 1984 325i that I bought in 1989. They are sturdy and wonderful cars to drive. Thankfully, none of the cars I bought were lemons. From my experience, the best value purchase of a used BMW comes at the 5-6 year mark, when they have about 75K miles and are about 60% off of their purchase price. You have to patiently scan the internet and nearby dealerships to find one whose owner maintained good records of work done and has kept the interior well. A few years ago, I gave up my BMW obsession to try other upscale makes. Right now, I am longing for a at a well kept 2008 BMW 535xi with 72k miles that I took a test drive at a local dealership. It is priced at 10.5k as compared to its list price of 52k when new. But the timing is not right as my Lexus is still going strong.
A Lexus LS is not exactly sporty to drive, though. Of the Lexus sedans, probably only the GS and older generation IS could be considered sporty, if that is what the OP is looking for.
We keep our cars until they die. H’s philosophy is that a car just has to get you from point A to point B. We’ve owned toyotas, hondas and mazdas.
Having said that, we bought H a used BMW for his big birthday a few years ago. He hesitated and dragged his feet for a while - we wanted a new car, but he went in for a used BMW. He absolutely loves driving it - says it is such a joy! It is indeed troublesome to maintain - he has had trouble finding a reliable mechanic for it in our area (our usual guy doesn’t do german cars). But hey, as someone said, life is short - if this is what you wanted and you can afford it, why not??
I loved my BMW small SUV. I found it to be a very reliable car. It didn’t spend a lot of time in the shop but when it did it was costly. I sold it when it was going to need a costly repair. I replaced it with a Mercedes Glk 350. I’ve had the Mercedes for 3 1/2 years and aside from oil changes I’ve had no repairs. It is sturdy, reliable and has been hassle free but it doesn’t compare driving wise to the BMW.I regret I didn’t just repair the BMW. I test drove a Lexus when I was looking and while they are nice it is a totally different feel to the drive. It’s personal preference.
Some people are car people and others are not. It would be hard to convince someone who sees a vehicle as a means from point A to point B that a German car is worth the money.
Porsche is surprisingly reliable, very likely the most reliable German automaker. They seem to work best when driven regularly and pushed hard, but not abused.
But their service costs are also the most expensive.
Completely accurate. It’s either in your blood or not.
However, if I were buying a German car and looking for “sportiness,” then I’d opt for the used Porsche (Carrera, Cayman, Macan, Cayenne, etc.). I’d look for a used Boxster or Carrera, since I love convertibles.
Google the Bimmer forums and BMW’s X-drive, it’s supposedly a maintenance and usage headache.
I’ve been trying to stay out of a discussion of brands, but I have seen Mazda mentioned a few times in this thread now. A nice compromise of sporty handling and low cost maintanence are the new Mazdas (2016 and newer, the ones they have been completely designing themselves after their long-term dreadful collaboration with Ford). Every single model in the line up is lauded by the enthusiast car magazines as Germanic handling at an affordable price point. They have just figured out how to set up a car to handle and drive well without it having to cost so much. They have been surprising a lot of people in the automotive industry with their new formula.
I went from a Mercedes C300 Sport 4MATIC to a Mazda6 Grand Touring. The only things I miss about the Mercedes are the straight-line acceleration and the AWD. The Mazda may be just a hair less sharp than the Mercedes (which had an aggressive suspension set up, staggered wheels, etc.) but it will carve the curves and is easy and fun to toss around. Not to mention it does it with a 20% MPG gain, regular vs. premium fuel and bare minimum maintenance expense. If you wanted to keep it around $20K you could get a CPO 2016 6 right around that or even less (depending on the trim level). I opted for the 2016 Grand Touring (highest trim and feature package) one year ago, only 4 thousand miles, CPO extended warranty, for $24K. With it being a year older and with slightly higher mileage, $20K is about right. Every person who gets into my car now says they had no idea how nice Mazda’s were…they are aiming up market and doing it well. And if I had to go back to an AWD sedan, the Acura TL SH-AWD does the trick with regard to handling and acceleration in a very reliable package. Just some non-Germanic options for your consideration. Good luck with your decision!
Actually, Mazda got some good things out of the Ford association, such as the second generation Focus platform for the Mazda 3 and 5. Both Mazda and Ford have tended to be on the sportier side of less expensive mainstream cars, so many of their offerings are worth looking at by those who want a sportier drive but do not want to pay the brand prestige premium of BMW and Audi.
Both the Miata and Porsche are great cars, used and/or new. However, there’s a huge difference in feel between the two. I mentioned it on another thread here on CC, but I own an original series 1990-1997 Miata. Purist here.
I think the OP’s interest was partially due to the convenience of knowing someone with a BMW for sale. And I apologize for getting the OP a bit off topic. Honda, Toyota and Subaru all have fantastic used sporty options for around $20,000 or less. Knowing BMW’s, the maintenance and depreciation isn’t worth it for me.
About $20,000-ish:
German sporty: Porsche Boxster or Cayman
Japanese sporty: Mazda Miata or Toyota FRS/Subaru BRZ
I’m sure there are a few possibilities that I missed in the Japanese category.
They are fun to drive but expensive to maintain. After 80,000 miles you will be taking it for regular maintenance and spend lots of money which is no fun. After my BMW retired I went back to Honda. Having experienced both, low maintenance for me works out just fine. Do not miss the $1000’s spent on maintenance on the BMW.
I have no idea how old OP is, but at some points in life you need to consider the insurance cost as part of the total equation. I bought my son a used Scion TC, and assumed it was similar to Honda Civic or Mazda 3. NOPE, the insurance was close to 3K for my 18 yo driver with no issues on his license.
It does make sense to check insurance prices for all vehicles under consideration before buying one, in order to avoid surprise insurance expenses.
In the past, when there were more rebadge variants of the same car, sometimes one of the rebadge variants would have a lower level of insurance losses and insurance pricing compared to the other, so it made sense to favor the rebadge variant with the lower insurance pricing if it were otherwise available for a similar purchase price with the same features.
Body style variants (2 door versus 4 door, hatchback versus wagon versus sedan) could also have different levels of insurance losses.
I bought a BMW X1 (AWD wagon) 4 years ago, and have 65K miles on it. It still looks and feels “new”. There is no rattling, every stitch on the seats is tight, etc. Every mechanical feature works perfectly. Just like new.
But what people are saying about the maintenance costs are absolutely true. I just took it in for scheduled maintenance yesterday. $800 for oil change, spark plugs, etc. And it eats tires! Time for yet another set of tires, another $800.
@anomander (or anyone else who knows BMW’s well) - Can you give me any advice on a prudent time frame to plan on keeping the BMW I mentioned upthread?
Quick summary - 2006 330i, excellent condition, well maintained, only 40,000 miles.
Because of the low miles I drive it sparingly, which sort of defeats the purpose of owning it. For everyday driving I tool around in my 2002 Honda Insight (200k miles/65 MPG), but I much prefer the BMW.
On approach would be to try to let go of my innate frugality, and just drive the car I love to drive (and can afford to maintain), plan on putting another 50,000 him or so miles on it, and dump it when the maintenance costs start to compound.
If you go with the BMW, definitely put a good chunk of money aside for maintenance. Is there a particular reason you want that specific model? There may be better and more reliable alternatives.
I’ve been looking at 2015-16 low-mileage 328 X-drive, Audi A4 Quattro and Infiniti Q50 3.0 AWD cars.
Having watched a lot of videos and read tons of reviews, here’s my personal conclusion on the three:
The BMW has the best transmission, followed closely by the A4
The BMW and Audi have the best handling; probably a slight edge to Audi.
The Audi has the best interior quality and slightly more room (or seems to) in the back seat.
The Infiniti has the most power -- it's a turbo V6 with 300hp -- but the worst mileage. The Infiniti and BMW consistently throw down times of 5.4-5.5, while the A4 has a range of 5.1-5.7... maybe they're using launch control to get those lower times, or just a heavier foot.
All three are about equally fast, mid-5 seconds to 60 mph
The Infiniti is the sexiest
I’m leaning towards the A4, but if I found a prime 328i X-drive for under $20k, like you have, I would run, not walk, to buy it. Even if it was white or black, my two least-favorite colors; you can always get a paint job. Assuming my boss would let me buy it…
Good luck with your decision!