the day before thanksgiving in 1998 i ordered a 1999 323i (bmw chassis code e46).
the dealer handed me the keys the day after my birthday in february 1999.
238,623 miles later, she has moved on to a new owner.
all that is left was a dry spot where the light rain was shielded from the driveway.
in 16 years,
i picked up my future wife for the first time in this car.
i drove to my wedding in this car.
i drove to my dad's funeral in this car.
my wife and i visited about 20 states in this car.
it was my daily driver for about 8 years.
it was my wife's daily driver for about 8 years.
i would be remiss to point out here that it is a manual transmission.
she liked driving it so much that she wanted our next car to be a stick also.
we never walked. ever.
the one and only time this car refused to move was when the fuel pump failed at about 200K miles -- in our garage.
the e46 type has become well known for reliability; i had the usual issues in nearly a quarter million miles but nothing major.
the original alternator is still in the car.
the original water pump is not.
but everything, save one button, is still working.
incidentally that one button cycles through the (then primitive) dashboard computer display.
ergo the display is permanently stuck on the temperature reading right now.
i will admit the driver's side window regulator is a bit cranky.
everything that worked on day one still works -- sunroof, etc
it was quiet at speed, and only an inherently balanced inline 6 gives you that smooth DC motor-like power.
from an MPG standpoint, it got good mileage.
i got stuck in deep snow a couple of times in this car.
my wife got stuck in deep snow a couple of times in this car.
it was a shit magnet. it got hit at least 4 times WHILE IT WAS STATIONARY. one time was in our driveway, when a drunk driver turned down our driveway thinking it was a road. best conversation ever with the police. another time my wife got out of the car at a shopping center, was 10 feet away, and a 18 year old girl driving a lexus hit the rear quarter. none of that tops my "day of doom" -- i left work, and an ice sheet from a truck not far in front of me came off the roof of the trailer and i *almost* missed it. the frozen chunk tore the driver's side rear view mirror off my car. the reason i was going home from work was because i was going on a business trip. an airport limo service was picking me up at home. i parked my car in the driveway, went inside, told my wife that the car was dorked but i got the plate number on the truck, and went upstairs to pack. moments later, the guy who was coming to pick me up to take me to the airport backed his towncar into my car.
btw i can tell you now with absolute certainty that factory paint is ONE MILLION TIMES more durable than anything a high end body shop can do.
total outlay, that is the original purchase price plus the repairs over 16 years minus the sale price is on the order of US$38K.
i'm not including consumables, the X sets of tires and Y pairs of brake pads and Z cases of Mobil1 5W-30 etc.
US$38K/16 years $2.3K/year, or about $200/month.
so long and happy trails.
ETA
my 2002 tacoma has 208K on it. i really wanted to get to 500K miles of cars in the driveway, but alas...
ar-jedi