Another "what car should I get?" thread

[CosmosMpower]

I've never owned a M3 or 5, but my past experience with my wifes 740iL has shown that a well maintained BMW will last for many miles. It has 160k miles on it. Besides regularly scheduled maintenance, we have had to replace the radiator and a pulley bearing for the belt. Total bill of about 650 at the stealership. Part for Part a Miata is less expensive. Hell my white car cost me less that a set of tires for my Porsche .

I didn't say it won't last for a long time, I just said it will be a money pit. For the most part the drivetrains are pretty stout but there are tons of other parts that can and will go haywire costing you the big $. I definetely wouldn't start with one that already had 80K+ miles, that's all I was saying.

[Miatamoto]

Joe, your car was a nightmare compared to mine. I never really had a problem with my M3. It was super reliable.

Obviously you've never owned one. I had a E36 M3 sedan and if you saw some of the repair bills you'd shit a brick. Just to name a few things for the E36 you have expldoing radiators, rear strut mounts, subframes that come apart, oil pump nut falling off, rear trailing arm bushing, vanos unit dying, SRS seatbelt sensor. The cheapest fix for any given problem with DIY labor is around 200-300 bucks. BMW's are NOTHING like miatas when you're talking about maintenance cost. The price of a small glitch in a M BMW could easily pay for a longblock and transmission replacement in a miata. Go do some reading on bimmerforums, 5 series and M stuff is very expensive.

[CosmosMpower]

Joe, your car was a nightmare compared to mine. I never really had a problem with my M3. It was super reliable.

I'd say that somewhere between your car and my car was a normal medium. You have to admit that radiator, rtab, rsm, oil pump nut, plastic water pump etc etc are pretty common and not that cheap when you add it up and M5 parts are considerably more costly.

[sammm]

My wife's bimmer was a reliable car for the most part, but when it did have to go to the shop = . I wasn't sorry to see it drive off with a new owner after it was out of warranty.

[Miatamoto]

I'd say that somewhere between your car and my car was a normal medium. You have to admit that radiator, rtab, rsm, oil pump nut, plastic water pump etc etc are pretty common and not that cheap when you add it up and M5 parts are considerably more costly.

I guess we just had a very different experience b/c the RTABs and RSMs never had to be changed on mine before I sold it at 120k miles. Never had a problem with the oil pump nut and the cooling system is just something that has to be dealt with at 100k miles ($250 package for everything incl the radiator at bimmerparts.com). Have to change all that stuff at a 60k interval with the Miata.

Not trying to argue, but just telling my experience.

[juxt3r]

Well, this has certainly made for some good reading! Thanks for the thoughts & ensuing discussion.

While I like the idea of an M-series, I really can't justify such a thing at this time. My dad has one of the aforementioned E36 M3s. It's proven itself to be fun for him, but a bit high on the upkeep expense side. I'm gonna have to take the zero on that one, though I do love the looks & performance of the cars.

MS3, well, that's my fav at the moment.
The suggestion that really has me intrigued is the A3, which attracts me on aesthetics alone. Would this Audi fall under the general umbrella of "lease it, then unload it before the electrical gremlins pop up" like many other Audi/VW vehicles I've read about or been related to? I saw one at Carmax in Columbus, OH, on Tuesday that was very reasonably priced...so I have to wonder.

[Titus]

I recall reading that the leases on the A3 really sucked because of the low residual value.

[altiain]

MS3, well, that's my fav at the moment.
The suggestion that really has me intrigued is the A3, which attracts me on aesthetics alone. Would this Audi fall under the general umbrella of "lease it, then unload it before the electrical gremlins pop up" like many other Audi/VW vehicles I've read about or been related to?

I would suggest that as standard practice on any VWAG product.

I second srivendel's suggestion on the upcoming 135i. That looks like it's going to be a fun car. Still, I'd offer make the same suggestion to dump a new Bimmer (or Mercedes, for that matter) before the warranty expires. There are a lot of electronic doodads on these cars, and the Germans still haven't figured out how to do electronics quite as well as the Japanese.

[Davidss]

For $30k you could get a Z06 AND an Accord!

[miataspeedracer]

The suggestion that really has me intrigued is the A3, which attracts me on aesthetics alone. Would this Audi fall under the general umbrella of "lease it, then unload it before the electrical gremlins pop up" like many other Audi/VW vehicles I've read about or been related to? I saw one at Carmax in Columbus, OH, on Tuesday that was very reasonably priced...so I have to wonder.

Based on previous experience with my S4 and the gf/s TT, I would say "yes."
But fire off a PM to rob76turbo on this forum; he currently owns an A3...

[MX-5EE]

Don't ask me why, but I kinda prefer the E30 M3 over the E36. Though a swift search of Autotrader reveals it to be a somewhat undesirable option due high price and low availability. Just my personal preference.

[Miatamoto]

Don't ask me why, but I kinda prefer the E30 M3 over the E36. Though a swift search of Autotrader reveals it to be a somewhat undesirable option due high price and low availability. Just my personal preference.

The E30M3 is a great car, but is (from what I've heard) a maintenance nightmare compared to the E36M3.

They have a 15k rule, if you don't spend that much on one, you'll end up spending that much to make it good.