Sherpa - I approve of your plan. My husband never was into cars, but he now genuinely enjoys driving his Tesla. Depending on how long it last, it might be his last car. Life is too short to keep Beemer in the garage [or Louboutins in the box. 
] You can still be frugal by running this car into the ground before buying a new one. 
I view cars as a way of getting from point a to point b (needs to start each and every time). Anything that requires regular service or expensive service just ain’t gonna happen. Now boats are a different story. Boat: a hole in the water into which one pours money. Boat: Bust Out Another Thousand.
I’d say no more than 80,000-90,000 miles. As someone mentioned, but be prepared for those $800 +/- (or whatever) maintenance bills.
@sherpa You have the first year of the E90 generation, which I skipped over so I don’t know much about it to be honest. The engine should be rock solid as it was the last of the old-fashioned non-turbo I6s. Totally fantastic engines, the non-turbo I6s.
I believe the E90 was a pretty good generation as far as reliability, IIRC more reliable than the E46 I had, except for the 335i with the first-gen turbo I6, which was a little problematic. Personally I’d just drive the thing, that’s why you bought it, right? I like to keep my cars up to around 100-120k as well, so I say go for it. Just keep up with regular maintenance (there shouldn’t be much until you hit 60-80k) and you should be fine. For short trips under a few miles, take the Insight, for longer trips take the bimmer.
I think the A4 is a fine choice.
In terms of reliability, the Volkswagen Auto Group uses the same 2.0T extensively across its brands and models, with slight tuning differences. They are picky about maintenance and fuel type, but people routinely chip them to run at higher power, and I don’t hear of many problems doing so. If you run it stock like most people do, then at the lightly boosted 220hp, I would expect this engine to be reliable.
@BunsenBurner “You can still be frugal by running this car into the ground before buying a new one.”
That’s exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks.
@anomander - Thanks for the technical information. It’s very informative and gives me confidence that this is a car that should perform well as I “run it into the ground.”
Reminiscing about BMWs, we had a 12 cylinder seven series with the extended body – just a gorgeous car. My H just loved the car and sadly traded it in at ten years old because it was long in the tooth for such a unique vehicle, and he felt like he needed to move on before it gave him trouble. However, no maintenance problems for ten years – too bad that nothing equivalent is available now.
I think 2006 was a redesign year.
Recalls:
- Electrical Wiring And Connectors For Heating And Air Conditioning Air Flow Overheats
- Passenger Frontal Air Bag Does Not Deploy In An Accident
- Driver’s Frontal Air Bag Inflator Ruptures And Sprays Metal Fragments
Per Consumer Reports, problems are: coolant leaks, engine cooling problems, cruise control, A/C compressor. Also, red (worst rating) for “engine minor,” “engine cooling” and yellow (average rating) for engine major. Owner satisfaction is 2 out of 5.
But remember, Bimmers are enthusiast cars, so enthusiasts tend to tolerate the negatives for driving experience. So driving experience is 86 out of 100. Comfort 61/100. Value 53/100.
That’s the infamous Takata airbag recall affecting 49M+ vehicles worldwide. A good reminder for everyone drivng any car manufactured since 2002 to check and see if they’re affected if they’ve moved since buying their car and might not have received a recall notice.
Takata airbag recall information: https://www.nhtsa.gov/recall-spotlight/takata-air-bags