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

Man they raped, I mean RAPED you! for $2200 you could have gotten coil overs at all 4 ends... some decent shocks and springs (not performance units) should have cost you around $500-600. $1000 for front brakes??? Rotors are about $90-120 each and pads are as cheap as $25-35 a side.. hell for $500 I got all 4 rotors and pads (new brembo rear rotors to boot) from a 1993 M5.

Sorry to have to say this, but they raped you and then gave you a bill for the vaseline. In the future consider going to a BMW shop, not a dealer and research what parts cost.

Serg

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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