BMW 530i: Edmunds.com service sticker shock

I see nothing out of place here. The 530 is a premium car. Aside from that the people at Edmunds are a bunch of journalists who will buy anything you tell them to, just like Fast and the Furious ricers. It's a bunch of average joes trying to masquerade as enthusiasts and the result is articles that question the usefulness of manual tranmissions or why cars are still made without DSC type systems.

 

Either the person who bought the car pays for it, and probably can afford to pay for it. Or, alot of M5's go on the market.

 

Not too suprised here. My E38 can bring in low 4 figure bills at times.

 

We've had a number of BMWs, and none have had significant problems. In fact, I'd say they have been reliable- 2001 740i, 2004 325Xi, 2004 M3 cabrio. We don't keep them after their sticker date, though. I could see how they could be money burners after 50 or 75 k miles. We get them for a reasonable lease price and turn 'em in. They tend to depreciate more than the lost value of the lease, eg, th3 740i was around 64k dollars new in 2001, fully loaded Sport, at a blowout price.
The lease was around 850 month. After 3 years the car was worth about 32k dollars with 40-45k miles on it. I don't think I got hurt, but since I didn't like the new 7 series (and had no need for such a big car), I didn't re-up for a 7, but went with the M3.
I really dig the M3 though, and would love to keep it, since it is 'old-fashioned' looking and comparatively low tech, compared to the new Ms.
But i'm sure it will be a money pit after the miles add up and the car starts to age.

 

Many of these new BMW's and Benz-o's are becomming lease only vehicals. What do I mean by that..They are built with all this wiz bang tech for the short term owner, not the long term owner. These cars are mostly designed to be leased, covered under warrenty for a few years and then turned in.
All this "free" maintenance is built into the cost of the cars, which will be refelcted in the lease payment.

BMW or Benz will offer a warrenty for a price on these older high tech cars once the factory warrenty is up.. But the price of the warrenty will be quite large for say a loaded 05 745il. I have seen some of the warrenty repair bills on these things, and it would put a Testarossa engine out service into the bargin catagory.

Would you buy a 7 year old 06 745il off of a used car lot without a warrenty?? No way..but you'll be able to grab one for next to nothing...or they will just be turned into BMW, crushed and made into new cars again..

 

I know it is old and very low tech compared to the new ones but I still have my 1986 325. It now has over 220K miles on it and has never had the head off. I do the belt changes at 65K miles and the other things as needed. I do a lot of the work myself so my bills are relatively inexpensive. I can do front brakes with new rotors for under $100. I only average about $300 per year on maintenance other than oil changes and wiper blades. I am driving it daily with a 76 mile round trip five days a week.

This will be my sons first car when he gets his license in a few months. He is actually looking forward to it. And I never thought I would have a classic. This car is now 20 years old...........

 

I think they make an inteface kit for the Commodore 64, so you can upgrade your I-Drive in the future.

 

You source was all wrong!
It is a Sinclair ZX Spectrum
(I actually had one)
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I'm in the car industry and never cared for edmunds or any so called auto journalist as most of them don't have a clue. All I can say is, if you're going to keep your bimmer long term, pay a couple of grand or less and get the extended warranty and/or maintenence.

 

So true. Want to trade your car in for what edmunds says it's worth? Ship it to their offices and wait for them to send you a check for "TMV", lol.

I don't understand why people are so warranty averse? Would you buy a new BMW 5-series with absolutely no warranty if you were offered an extra 2,000 discount? Of course not, nobody is that much of a moron.

Yet when it comes to a car that is 4+ years old with some tens of thousands of miles on it nobody thinks it's worth the money for a warranty.

They drive away thinking "I showed them, I'm not wasting money on a warranty" and then their window switches fail, heated seat breaks, differential breaks and transmission craps out. They call and ***** until they talk to a manager, and all I can do is try not to let them hear the smile in my voice when I say "No problem sir, what's your extended warranty policy number, I'll just bill the repairs to that."

 

Sounds to me like Edmunds is being pretty honest about what repairs the car needed and how much those repairs cost. Their point is that BMW dealers expect their customers to agree to repairs by the dealer's word alone and also that the car is not what you would call "trouble free". I wouldn't expect a car ("premium" or not) to need a new radiator (barring a road accident) or some power steering hoses by 70k, would you?

 

Warranties are calculated so that the dealership makes money. There is no way around that fact. For the individual its like gambling, 'will I be the unlucky car that goes over the cost of warranty, or will mine be fine?' If the dealership didn't make, on the average, a profit from the warranty they wouldn't offer it.

 

I don't see why Edmunds is getting slammed. Do you need to be a pro racer or a BMW Tech to write a review? If anything, them being laymen makes their comments more relevant since 95% of us are in the very same boat.

 

My 01 740i sport (July 2001 build) with 65K has been flawless.

Wife's 01 525it (May 2001 build) with 45K miles has been flawless.

Dealer service in Winston Salem NC has been outstanding -- never had an issue with work performed, price quoted, etc. Only thing we didn't like? Bridgestone tires that came OEM with car. Pretty minor stuff.


-Daniel

 

BMW = Bring My Wallet

I concur heartily regarding the comments about the newer MB/AUDI/BMW/et al product being lease only type scenarios..........having flogged MB´s for 8 years......MB Credit had the leases (residuals, money factors, etc) set up to maximize the potential of a client opting for a 24 month low km lease......anything else was usually more expensive.....

 

Agree here too.

The manufacturer does not care what the car is like outside of warranty. Why would they? MOST of these modern cars are going to be hideously expensive to maintain outside of warranty.

BMW is certainly no newcomer to this arena either. Look at the old 92-99 W140 MB S-Class. Without question, a fantastic car in almost every respect, however you have to WANT to own one due to the service costs.

 

The cost, and the arrogance of the service department... this part isn't broken, but BMW's are special and you want your car to be perfect, so go ahead and shell out $3,500 please....

 

I feel Edmunds just has a backwards view about alot of things, I don't think anyone is slamming Edmunds but me. If you really think about some of the things they say it's amazing how little they know or understand about cars. Maybe I am just a young guy with old fashioned tastes, but I like to know what guys like me think about a car. I am glad I am not part of your 95% in that case. Somewhere someone forgot to educate the consumer and instead allowed them to wallow in their ignorance to buy their Camry with or without that rear wing because it will obviously make it faster. The result is people falsely believing things like; "manuals are only for people who race" or "my car runs better on premium". If I gave you a choice to buy a computer from Best Buy or Burger King, then which would you choose? That creepy BK King may know his red meat, but I doubt he has my best interests in mind if all he knows about computers is what he can read in a press release.

 

I'm sorry but, BMW is really no differnt than any other dealer or auto repair shop in finding problems with the car and trying to talk you into repairing them. Take a Chevy to a Sears shop or Firestone and you'll have the same scenerio. That's how they make the money. Even a fast oil change place will do it.