Son is lookin at at 01,02  300 series 500 series.

How reliable and how easy it it to do reg maintenance?

Thanks.

???

Had a 02 330i.

Run away.

My problems started soon after i drove it off the dealer lot.

Shop 3 times for almost a month total before it even hit 20k

BMW Stands for Big Money Waster.  Don't do it.  They are shit.

3 series are generally pretty solid as long as hey have been maintained. Stay away from the V8s.

You will find that interior stuff breaks in the older models more than the motors.

I'm guessing you mean a 3 series or a 5 series. 

Maintenance it usually pretty simple to do, there are TONS of DIY tutorials online and if you shop around you can find parts at reasonable prices (I was able to put pads and rotors on all four corners of my '99 528i for cheaper than my '07 Accord)

Clearly he has never owned a BMW or ever heard what the series are commonly referred to.

I'd guess he means E46 and E39, which is extremely broad model wise.

Unless he has thousands to throw at the car the day after he buys any out of warranty BMW he should pick another brand.
Former BMW service.

What 3 series?  Probably going to have an M54 motor.  

Can you or he wrench?  Add in the cost of a complete cooling system overhaul. Don't just half ass it.  Radiator, hoses, expansion tank, Tstat and housing, water pump and do the belt while you have it all apart.  I don't care if the previous owner says it's been done--do it again.

Great cars but if you can't wrench or don't have a good indy mech, you are going to pay to play.

I was a bmw mechanic, Brother was to,, he went to Tesla few months ago,... BMW is garbage overall thats why their resale is so horrible.

And this is the extent of your research ??  



.

I've exclusively owned German and English cars for the last 10 years. Don't listen to anyone here. The best cars are anything but American, but especially German.

if you know how to wrench they are not too bad and the parts are ok in price. Bring it to dealer or mechanic and you will understand that BMW stands for " bring more wallet".

As with the rest, run away if he is not willing to get stuck with significant maintenance/repair costs. Great cars. High maintenance costs, both for the electronics as well as for the hard parts. Mercedes and Audi are just as bad.

Go premium Japanese.

Thank you guys...
And To the asses that clownin me and shit for not knowin what to call it. Feel good about yourselves!

I was talkin about 5 Series 530iA models  like that.

cooling systems are mucho importanto.  When they go, replace everything.  
And lol at german cars being very reliable.  If you want reliability, you should probably not mention you have been driving german and brithish cars for ten years.  Biggest pieces of crap on the planet.  Unless you're getting new ones on a two year lease, they are garbage for maintenance costs.  I work exclusively on german and english cars.  Japanese for the win.

I can speak for an '01 325i. It is simple, like stupid simple.

Everything is on youtube now a days.

Need to change a window regulator, 40 people on youtube showing you how.
New headlights, there are parody videos of how to videos for that.
Want to an an ipod connection to an old stock headunit, two plugs and an of the shelf box and 13 year olds showing you each step with a demo of their music tastes.

The forums are handy if all else fails or you need to use the restroom before starting the project...

If you don't go hands on it can be costly at the stealership but a trustworthy mechanic isn't bad.

Either chassis in 01-02 will have the M54 6 cylinder engine (unless you get a 540i and you would be asking to unload lots of money on engine problems).  The 6 cylinder engine has several known problems that are actually simple to address.  Coolant problems - water pump and thermostat are known to need replacing every 60K miles.  The M54 can be overheated a couple times, and after that it will warp the head which pulls the threads for the head bolts out of the engine block.  Easy to diagnose, try torquing the bolts and if they start to turn the threads are pulled out.  Can be fixed with money, parts, and time.  The best thing is to take care of coolant system problems immediately when they come up.  You have to add coolant - pressure test the system and find out what's leaking.  The needle goes even a slight tick over half-way on the coolant temp gauge - time for pump and thermostat.   Expect radiator hoses and expansion tank every other water pump change.

Next know problem is oil leaks - valve cover gasket and oil filter stand gasket specifically.  Valve cover gasket is VERY easy to address - be sure and put a dab of red anearobic sealant at the corners of the half-moon areas of the valve cover gasket where the camshaft journals are bored.  Oil filter stand gasket takes a little more effort - cheap gasket but the whole housing the oil filter element is installed in must come off of the block via six bolts.  After removing the belts, the alternator, and taking the bolts loose and dropping down the power steering pump.  Remnants of the gasket that have turned to plastic must be dug out.  Usually have to replace the oil hose that goes from the oil filter stand to the cylinder head.  Not a big deal - 19mm end wrench and 4 copper gaskets.

Next known problem is lean running fault codes.  Usually due to either the rubber boot between the air filter housing and the throttle cracking, and also the crankcase ventilation valve underneath the intake leaks.  A pain to change out, unless you already have the oil filter stand out anyways to replace the gasket and it turns into a much easier job.

Take care of them, and the engines will last forever.  The bodies are pretty good.  Not much goes wrong with the bodies on the E46 three series except the front suspension.  The front suspension of the 5 series e39 goes bad, the sunroof motors quit or the cables break, and the front window regulators go bad.  Outside of these known issues with the 5 series - it drives VERY good.

I had an 06 330i. Pretty easy to work on, lots of online support, and reasonably priced parts. 

Seriously WTF are half of you smoking? The m62 motor is great. Big issue is vanos. Get a pre 99 540i and that car will run forever. Or 200,000 whichever comes first

Thank you guys for takin the time.
Guess he'll stick with honda/acura.
We're used to those.
Some son of a bitch wrecked his rsx.
So he's gonna find another one...

Look for an '11 civic si or something if you want the rsx experience in a more recent vehicle. '12 went to 9th gen and lost the spirit. If he had an rsx before you're already paying bullshit insurance rates so the si badge shouldn't phase you.

Don't buy the bimmer, you guys clearly don't know shit about them and buying that old you'd need to do some wrenching yourself to make it even remotely reasonable financially.

Yeah...he fist got a 2015 accord coupe exl. Then bought the rsx cash to just drive around.

Then...decided he didnt want the payments on the coupe even thou he could afford it. He got it at 18 years old I think. My mother co signed for his ass, so didn't  want her to have bad credit... I took over the fuckin payments.

I don't think anyone was "clowning" you.  "300 series 500 series" reads like you are looking for either a 3 series or a 5 series.  So yeah - confusion and guessing will follow.

They're generally solid cars. Just keep in mind that the E39 parts are getting harder to find.

If your son can wrench, there's nothing to worry about.

There's nothing that handles as well as a BMW, short of a full-on sports car.

If all you worked on, were broken cars - you may not have a very good perspective.

OP, I bought the daughter a 2000 3 series for her 16th and it is still plugging along today. 280k miles and I had to change out both camshaft sensors. The cars are easy to work on... E46 fanatics is a good place to start.

Edit: She also received a new radiator when she decided to drive underneath an SUV that was parked at a red-light  :)

Bavarian Money Wagon.
My brother has had a few, I owned one in Germany. When they are running good they are great. When they break, get out your wallet.

Pretty shocking stuff actually.

I have a 2004 330i with a 6-speed.  I've owned it since new and it's been my daily for 13 years.  It has 207k miles on it.

The car has been nothing short of stellar.  Very, very little in terms of issues and regular maintenance isn't awful.

Only things I've run into are the occasional window regulator and bushings.

I have an 88 325 that I've had since new also, and that's been pretty good over the years.


Seriously, the e46 3-series is very undervalued IMO.  Fantastic cars

i have done this all to my 02 330I . parts were not too bad but the labor if i paid someone to do it would have been crazy.  but my time is cheap

Not smoking anything here, shop manager and shop foreman and still diagnose all the weird problems that come in.  We have a 740iL with 138K in the shop right now, chains rattling.  The M62 is actually a good engine mechanically - but the timing chain guide system that has the chain going over a narrow angle "V" at the center of the engine is a downfall.  Have it replaced, and it's no problem.  But you end up doing lots of water pipes, gaskets, seals, finding failing plastic coolant connections, and even a DIYer still will spend a lot of money on parts and countless days with the car apart waiting on the next part you just found broken.  You will probably spend $2,000 in parts alone.

Unless you buy a pre 99 540i like I suggested which has a much lower rate of failure on the chain guides than the tu motors. First thing I did when I bought mine e was replace the chain tensioner. 5 minutes of work and like 20 bucks, owner forums are having spectacular luck just replacing tensioners before the chain gets to loose and beats the crap out of everything. I have learned in my time to listen to guys who work in shops with a grain of salt. They only see the broken stuff not the good running stuff. I mean if my customers in my shop listened to me none of them would own any airplanes except maybe Beechcraft....

I had a '04 330i. It ranks as one of the two worst cars I've ever owned in my life. The only reliable part of the car was the check engine light.

owned 2, will never buy a used one again, will only ever lease a new one. Don't do it.

What problems did you have?  I'm curious actually.

Did you follow the maintenance intervals?