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Old 03-07-2021, 05:54 PM   #41
Terri Kennedy
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Originally Posted by robg View Post
Terry - do you happen to know the total you’ve spent on repairs/maintenance over the life of your wagon? Im curious what it takes to run a German car once it’s long out of warranty. My guess is an average of $250/month? I know you love that car so it’s not a question of $$, but just curious as it relates to buying and running fully depreciated cars.
As FC pointed out, it depends on the number of miles and type of service. I doubt you use yours for rock crawling.

The last service my wagon had (in July 2020) was around $5000 at 135000 miles. I'd have to look at my credit card receipts because it was initially higher but I bitched about the price and they refunded around $750 off the invoice.

That was for the aforementioned "replace everything between the kidneys and the engine block" which was around $1750 for the parts plus $1800 for labor on that part of the service. Then there was an Inspection II for $860 parts & labor. I had also forgotten that they ended up replacing the lower control arms which wasn't on that estimate. This is an independent shop that uses "BMW or better" replacement part brands.

The complete cooling system replacement is pretty much going to happen at some time. Mine came a little earlier than 150000 miles, but as I said, there's the aforementioned rock crawling (a good bit of which happens in the Mojave Desert and specifically in/near Death Valley). It is certainly possible to replace only the parts that need replacing, but then you get clobbered in labor costs to keep tearing it down to get to the part, and you're more likely to have a catastrophic failure at the worst possible time (like rock crawling in Death Valley ).

That is getting up close to "more than the car is worth", if you're looking at the basic car without all of the options and mods on mine.

The service the year before that was an annual oil change / inspection and a new set of tires. I'd consider all of that normal wear items and not "maintenance".

I do brake rotors and pads myself, along with other smaller maintenance items.
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Old 03-07-2021, 07:15 PM   #42
Josh (PA)
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Originally Posted by wdc330i View Post
Here you go, Josh. An alternative scenario for your wagon hunt:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/19...aQm15vN937P0zk
man that is pretty. Really sucks that BMW doesn't bring the 5 wagon over any more.

@robg - my e46 probably averages me $1500/yr all in on maintenance and repairs. It lives a pretty hard life, but we are proactive on upkeep. It has 148k miles on it right now.
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Old 03-07-2021, 09:14 PM   #43
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man that is pretty. Really sucks that BMW doesn't bring the 5 wagon over any more.
Indeed. That’s largely what makes the Mercedes wagon so alluring.
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Old 03-08-2021, 06:39 AM   #44
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Originally Posted by Josh (PA) View Post
man that is pretty. Really sucks that BMW doesn't bring the 5 wagon over any more.

@robg - my e46 probably averages me $1500/yr all in on maintenance and repairs. It lives a pretty hard life, but we are proactive on upkeep. It has 148k miles on it right now.
Spend time in a recent 5-series and you’ll regret it less.
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Old 03-16-2021, 01:34 PM   #45
Josh (PA)
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Originally Posted by Terry Kennedy View Post
AWD or RWD? The front CV joints are a known problem area on these. After I paid an independent shop for a 5 year / 50K add-on warranty, I haven't had either of them fail (not coincidence, they got some better parts and assembled and installed them extra carefully).

A sticking caliper should leave some unusual scuffs on the rotor which you should be able to see with a decent light even without taking the wheels off.

.
Turns out both front brake calipers were dragging to various extents. We replaced both calipers, both rotors, pads and the front brake lines. I'll be picking it up tomorrow and see how it feels. It does seem like the issue was a brake hanging up, or one brake grabbing more than the other.
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Old 03-16-2021, 02:02 PM   #46
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Thanks for the info Terry and Josh. $1500 a year for an e46 w/ 148k is lower than I expected it to be. I suppose compared to more modern cars the e46 is still relatively simple.
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Old 08-13-2021, 01:50 PM   #47
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Revisiting this thread from spring time.
The wagon got totalled in early summer... so that answered the question as to whether we were going to keep it.

My 1er turned 10yrs old and 117k miles and finally needs some maintenance. I replaced the valve cover. I think it needs a rear main seal and oil pan gasket to remedy other oil leaks. It has an SES light on that I think is the exhaust O2 sensor, but may be the cat convertor and the suspension is getting tired. My wife and I discussed whether to bite the bullet, refresh it and keep it for the foreseeable future or trade it in on a nicer winter car. After a few drives, we decide it is the perfect daily driver for me, the dog fits in the backseat great with the top down and its just a generally wonderful car so we're keeping it.

That led to a direction on our next winter beater/util car. Something relatively cheap, we are familar with and can fit the role of jack of all trades - nice enough to drive 300 miles, but not nice enough that we care if it gets a ding or a wet dirty dog in the back. I've been searching for about a month and found a good deal on an e83. We're picking this up on Sunday in VA:

2009 x3 w/ 69k miles. Space Gray over Oyster. Solid history, lightly optioned, well maintained, new water pump & thermostat, etc. It has the the N52k/n version of the engine so no ticking and most people claim it is incredibly robust. I'll throw a hitch and a few other accesories on it and I think we'll be in business. I'm pretty happy with the whole thing.
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Old 08-13-2021, 02:02 PM   #48
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Josh (PA) View Post
Revisiting this thread from spring time.
The wagon got totalled in early summer... so that answered the question as to whether we were going to keep it.

My 1er turned 10yrs old and 117k miles and finally needs some maintenance. I replaced the valve cover. I think it needs a rear main seal and oil pan gasket to remedy other oil leaks. It has an SES light on that I think is the exhaust O2 sensor, but may be the cat convertor and the suspension is getting tired. My wife and I discussed whether to bite the bullet, refresh it and keep it for the foreseeable future or trade it in on a nicer winter car. After a few drives, we decide it is the perfect daily driver for me, the dog fits in the backseat great with the top down and its just a generally wonderful car so we're keeping it.

That led to a direction on our next winter beater/util car. Something relatively cheap, we are familar with and can fit the role of jack of all trades - nice enough to drive 300 miles, but not nice enough that we care if it gets a ding or a wet dirty dog in the back. I've been searching for about a month and found a good deal on an e83. We're picking this up on Sunday in VA:

2009 x3 w/ 69k miles. Space Gray over Oyster. Solid history, lightly optioned, well maintained, new water pump & thermostat, etc. It has the the N52k/n version of the engine so no ticking and most people claim it is incredibly robust. I'll throw a hitch and a few other accesories on it and I think we'll be in business. I'm pretty happy with the whole thing.
Congrats!
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Old 08-13-2021, 05:24 PM   #49
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Congrats.

Oyster is hard to keep clean though. My wife had it in her last Mini. She's not one to wash her car often and didn't care, but it drove me nuts every time I was in her car. Those seats were filthy!
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Old 08-13-2021, 05:43 PM   #50
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