Re: God, these cars are expensive! (archive)

I also have an '86 535i. My attitude is, any used car's going to cost a lot initially, in addition to its purchase price. Mine sure did. Also, any used car is going to cost money to maintain. Remember that the e28 was engineered as a luxury/status/fun car, not an econobox. Now, it's an old luxury/status/fun car.

I noticed the word "dealer" in your post, and I think that is half your problem. I have a choice between a local BMW dealer and an independent BMW/Mercedes garage that is about the same distance. The garage gets my business every time.

I also noticed the phrase "Short of doing the work myself..." and I think that is the rest of your problem. I bought the Bentley manual and do a lot of small stuff myself, especially if it's under the dashboard or electrical in nature. I also buy parts from catalogs, and only buy cheap stuff from the dealer, for the convenience.

The bottom line is, in the long run, it's the yearly cost of ownership that gets you, and if you use the dealer for every problem that comes along, you WILL (IMHO) find yourself with a strangely empty wallet.

I lurked awhile here on the Forum before jumping in and purchasing an '86 535i (I wanted a 535is, but couldn't find a decent one).

You guys all seem to love these cars, and after driving one, I found I liked the model as well and thought that one would last a long time and be fun to drive.

I had heard stories about rip-off repairs, but I needed new shocks and springs for my car because there was a banging in the left front corner on parking lot speed bumps only a week after buying it, so felt that the dealer would be more honest than unknown independent shops.

I ended up paying over $2200 for shocks and springs plus almost $1000 for front brakes (I needed pads and calipers, but the dealer wouldn't do the job without new calipers since my car had over 100,000 miles on it and I couldn';t prove the calipers had been previously replaced).

I only paid $4500 for the whole car, and now I have almost $9000 (including tax and license) in it and they told me that I need new front end parts ($2500 or so)to make the car "right."

Add to that the fact that I failed CA emmissions and they want $1700 plus an additional $300 to install a new catalytic converter. The local muffler shop won't touch the car since their cats are not CARB certified for BMWs unless they get a cat from the dealer, so it's the same price either way.

Short of actually doing the work myself (I live in an apartment don't even own a hammer), how can I ever afford to own this car? I like driving it, but they just didn't build them like I thought they did! Do you guys have a list of shops that can fix my car somewhere? I live near Redding, CA. and cannot justify owning a $14,000 car of 1986 vintage regardless of how much I like it.

Erik

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