Okay guys this is something I just need opinions and facts on, the issue of reliabilty of a BMW what Im looking at is a 1995 325I its a 6cylinder automatic. So just give me the ideas of reliabilty, I know there expensive to fix when they break so i need to know how often do they break?

 

when ever they want to...couldn't really tell you...been driving a Honda for a while.

 

Ok, I can tell you quite a bit about this car since it pretty much has the same powertrain as mine. As far as the engine goes, it's pretty much bulletproof. My car has the same motor as that 325 and I currently have 250k miles on it. The only thing on the engine itself that I had to replace was the valve cover gasket (when these deteriorate, you will have oil leaks and you will also have oil getting into spark plug wells which will cause misfiring). It's a very easy fix that takes no more then 15min. and the gasket itself costs $35 from the dealer - if you can change oil you can do this with ease. Cooling system will need to be looked at and some part will need to be replaced every 100k miles. Waterpump may fail as well as a thermostat. Again this is a somewhat easy fix (well, it's obviously more involved then the valve cover gasket) and will cost you around $200 in parts. The next thing to look at is suspension. Take the car for a drive and listen for "clunk" noises. This usually means that your ball joints need replacement (it's much cheaper to buy the entire control arms because otherwise you will need to go to the shop to get new ball joint pressed in. Lower and upper control arms should be replaced at the same time. If you hear snapping sound when turning or going over bumps - you need new sway bar links. The aforementioned parts can be bought for $250 (for the whole set of parts) on ebay. You need to be somewhat mechanically inclined to replace those, but everything is self-explanatory and there are really no tricks to it (well the only thing that you need to make sure is that lower control arms should be torqued while the car is on the ground or there's pressure applied to the front wheels. Otherwise you will need new lower control arms in about a year - ask me how I know).


The above info pretty much covers 90% of known trouble zones. It would be the best if the seller has maintenance records that shows the above parts replaced recently. If that's the case - you probably will not need to worry about anything for at least 100k miles.

PS. DO NOT buy an automatic. In those years BMW used GM auto transmissions and they are known to fail around 140k or so. Stick with 5spd getrag - it should last for the life of the car. I'm also curious about the price of the said car, because these should cost around $4k to $7k max (maybe a bit more if it's perfect visually, has all maintenance records, has low mileage and is mechanically flawless.

 

Ive had 4 bmws in the past. They are EXTREMLY reliable if they were taken care of, I had a 525i with 314k miles, on orig eng & tranny, never rebuilt. BMW 3 series are the seconed most reliable car out there according to consumer reports. And they arent that expensive to fix, just expensive to upgrade. How many miles does it have? Just a warning, if you do buy a Bmw you'll never want to drive another car again, trust me thats how i ended up with 4 consecutive ones.

 

They are not THAT expensive to repair if you can do the wrenching yourself - labor kills. As soon as you pull up to the shop they would be like "oh, it's a BMW" and will charge you more then they should. I'm a college student and I can afford my car just fine. Then again, if I didn't fix everything myself I wouldn't buy a BMW (or any german car for that matter)

 

LOL, that's the same way I feel. I know there are much better cars out there from other manufacturers - german and japanese alike, but I think I'll stick to BMW in the future

 

I put 35,000 miles on my last bmw in a year and all it needed was routine maint. It had 120k miles on it when I bought it.

 

My brother had an 86 323i and it was good for I know over 200k until it was totaled on an icy bridge. No major work was done to it while he had it, just regular maintenance. E36s have had very good reliability ratings as well. Like Andryuh said, their engines are bulletproof. You see superchargers and turbos running insane boost and they hold up well. I have a friend here at work who's owned his E36 325 since I've been here (10 years) and it still looks very good and he claims to not have had any major issues with it. Test drive it and have your mechanic check it out. Depends a lot on how the previous owner took care of it.

 

my girlfriend has always been very pro-dodge, and as most of you know, we have mostly dodges, but driving the 525 made her change her tune about them. i no longer have it, as it now resides in PA (so i still use it when i visit) but it has 210k on it now, and the only thing wrong with it was that we had to replace the getrag gearbox...and it was expensive.

that being said, a thread questions bmw's reliability, is a joke, right?

i like alot of cars, and i love my dodges, but there are few cars built like a BMW, and andry is right, if you do the work yourself, or know a mechanic that wont gouge you on the labor, it isnt bad it all. we got it with about 175k on it, and it needed exhaust, tires, suspension...and little things like new trunk carpeting. the car had NOT been taken care of...but i think that we paid around a grand for the full new suspension all around, the exhaust (which was custom made, i worked at an exhaust shop so it cost next to nothing), and tires. that amount also includes new center caps for the tires, as well as new OEM carpet for the trunk, and the front and rear OEM floormats. Also, it got a new shift boot and BMW shift ****. the only thing wrong with the body is a tiny dent in the drivers door.

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a shot of the cars at the track..i ran the first three cars in this line that day.
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Okay thanks for the responses, my dad is now starting to re-think the idea of allowing me to get a bmw because of possible insurance spikes for me. As I just got a 95 in a 55 not to long ago. So he's thinking about letting me purchase a car that wouldnt get me into so much trouble (the cops around here hate modified hondas) as many of them are the ones that cause the problem. And yes I do realize I deserved the ticket im not going to argue that. But considering I have gotten pulled over becasue I spun my tires on a wet up-hill road when I started going from a stoplight, I got pulled over for wreckless driving evban though i didnt sit there and spin them on purpose it was they just slipped when i started climbing the hill. Anywasie the BMW I was considering was a 95 325I for $6,000.