e46 Winter Car

"d1ck" (d1ck) 10/08/2013 at 11:17 • Filed to: None

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Should I? I have always had a soft spot for these, and it seems they go for around 7-10k depending on mileage and condition (locally).

magman007 > d1ck 10/08/2013 at 11:18

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IX? if not, whats the point? Rwd does not make an ideal winter car.

ddavidn > magman007 10/08/2013 at 11:18

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Makes a really fun winter car, though...

ddavidn > d1ck 10/08/2013 at 11:19

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I would steer you in the direction of an A4 quattro...

twinturbobmw > d1ck 10/08/2013 at 11:20

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Xdrive? If so, 10k is a bit low for a good one. For some reasons, xDrives are much more expensive.

d1ck > magman007 10/08/2013 at 11:30

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Not X-Drive. I've got an FR-S and I want to extend the RWD fun into the winter months. Besides we don't get a lot of snow here, just lots of slush and messy stuff.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > d1ck 10/08/2013 at 11:35

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Why would you do that, unless you winter in warm climates.

BMWs with high mileage aren't exactly cheap to maintain... and slogging them through the winter is going to accrue maintenance costs.

An X-drive BMW might have the traction to handle snow, but that is all the more complexity to cost money beyond warranty.

BMW, or other premium (expensive to repair) makes would be the LAST thing I would buy as a winter-beater.

Buy a BMW if you want, but you might as well get an M3 or a Z4M or something as a NICE car, and then buy a Subaru, or a Honda, or something CHEAP to maintain to slog around in and beat to hell on ice-damaged pot-holed roads.

IF someone slides into your car, or you end up in a ditch, or something else happens in winter driving conditions, you aren't going to like the BMW's repair bills.

You can get a heck of a lower-mileage mainstream car for 7-10K, compared to a high mileage, high cost of ownership BMW.

Plus, in REAL winter driving... a bit of ride height might not hurt, in addition to AWD.

d1ck > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 10/08/2013 at 12:30

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All of those things make sense, however it's worth mentioning that I do all my own repairs, so in that case they will be a pita, however I'm not expecting it to be hugely expensive. Are you saying that the car is more likely to break, and that the parts are more expensive than a subaru or other car? From what I've read so far the BMW cooling system is failure prone, however the preventative maintenance doesn't appear to be particularly expensive.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > d1ck 10/08/2013 at 15:13

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Do BMWs still use service light reset tools, and other specific stuff?

I can't imagine that repair parts are that cheap, even if maintenance parts are affordable.

And german cars in general, seem to be more and more complex, the newer the model year, and the higher the initial MSRP when new, with lots of electronic gizmos and gadgets.

I have heard, but it is only conjecture, that a lot of the german brands have tendencies to put features and amenities in cars before they are fully 'baked', in order to be able to market the features as soon as they can... and sometimes those complications don't last as long as one might think, before potentially breaking.

Considering the build quality differences I have seen between my 1992 Subaru SVX LS-L, and my 2005 Legacy GT Limited... adjusting for age... the SVX was screwed together better in it's day.

Unless you have a heated shop with a lift... doing your own repairs on a late model german premium-brand car in the middle of winter, to get your car back on the road so that you can get to work the next day... doesn't sound like any amount of fun to me.

I have heard it in reference to Porsche, from a Porsche mechanic... If you can't afford two of them, you can't afford one of them. Maybe BMW is a little less, but I wouldn't touch a BMW unless I could afford a 1.5:1 ratio at least, and had the financial situation to afford 50% more than the car's asking price, and then allocating that to upkeep and repair.

Hell, my Legacy is getting bad enough to support after 100K miles, and Subarus aren't premium nameplates, and had a reputation for durability past 200K miles.

I am beginning to think that most cars built after ~2001 or 2002 are built to be more disposeable than their predecessors. Car companies went bonkers with 0% financing and tons of incentives to keep people buying cars during the recession after 9/11/2001... and the economics hasn't really let up much since... especially not since the crash of 2008 when GM and Chrysler went bankrupt. Even the companies that didnt' go bankrupt, didn't exactly have a hey-day... and I think the materials quality of cars built in the 21st century is reflecting that. The prices have been kept in check by lowering construction and materials costs.

And if BMW did any of that... (most of BMWs cars got more expensive... so maybe they didn't cut as many corners, but that means that their parts and materials costs went up, too, as well as the weight of their cars.) Then, I would be planning on budgeting for maintenance and repair costs more than your average honda or toyota mass-produced appliance.

911e46z06 > d1ck 10/08/2013 at 19:11

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Yeah dude, it would be fun until you really needed that awd. Look for a cool old Quattro or something.

Did I just advise someone to buy an Audi over a BMW? Somebody pinch me.