Re: 325is Maintenance results so far

[Henri Baccouche <henrib@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

What you are gambling on is that you be able to reliably drive a 13 year old
car
with 100K+ miles without having to perform some sort of large
repair.........The odds are not
in your favor. Sure, your 87 528e runs........but,it's burning oil.
How much of the machine is within operational tolerances ?
Eventually, out of tolerance = the broken down cars you see parked on the
freeway.......

A new car owner is gambling on the same thing, except he expects to drive
100K+miles
without making any large complicated repairs. A new car is very likely to stay
within engineering
tolerances for the first 100K miles = Reliability. Time is money.

Economically, if you were able restore a 13 year old car with 100K+ miles up to
the original engineering specifications, it would be prohibitive financially.
The best policy for most people is to buy new or near new and drive the best
miles out of it for the first 10 years.

Life is short.........

Henri



Aaron Ness wrote:

> OTOH, is any "older" car cheap to maintain?  I think it still easily beats
> the cost of buying a new car.  I have never owned a car newer than '87, and
> although I have to replace things, I don't spend a lot of money and I even
> use quality parts.  There is no way I could afford to own a new car.  Even
> though you are not replacing parts, you have the extra cost of insurance,
> expensive plates (at least in Indiana), the initial cost of the car, and
> knowledge of the fact that so much of the money you're paying to drive a new
> car is just covering the depreciation so some schmuck like me can come along
> and buy it from you for a fraction of what you paid if you bought it new.
>
> Incidentally, we have a fairly complete folder of maintenance records that
> came with our '87, and it includes the paperwork from the dealer listing the
> actual purchase price.  We paid less than 10% of that, and the car is in
> very good condition.
>
> Aaron
> '87 528e
> '82 Scirocco
> '70 Beetle
> '87 Jeep Cherokee 4.0 - for sale!
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-bmw@domain.elided [mailto:owner-bmw@domain.elided]On Behalf Of
> > Henri Baccouche
> > Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2001 3:17 PM
> > To: Daniel Pham; bmw-digest@domain.elided
> > Subject: Re: 325is Maintenance results so far
> >
> >
> > It's the same.........100-125K miles is major mileage and many items
> > will be worn out.
> > On BMWs it is sometimes hard to notice , but nevertheless major
> > components are out of tolerances
> > and considered worn out........if you take the time to look.
> >
> > Shocks
> > Ball joints
> > Drive shaft getting stiff, center bearing may be torn
> > AC drier will be exhausted
> > All the engine and transmission mounts will be sagging
> > On the newer 92 325's with the newer lightweight manual getrag
> > transmission.........the transmission
> > On the newer 92 325's with the GM auto.........the transmission
> > Rack and pinion starts to leak......
> > Wheel bearings tend to go at this mileage
> > Ignition Wiring harness
> > Radiator on some cars will be shot
> > Thermostat housing will be shot
> > Idle control valve on the older models
> >
> > Is that enough for now?
> > These cars are not cheap.........to maintain.
> > Ask me how I know..........
> >
> > Henri
> > --
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