When to Buy a Newer Car
 

This is probably not the venue to ask this question, but . . .

I have a 1996 BMW 318ti with 200K miles. It looks great inside and out. I bought it used in 1997. I love the car and how it drives.

However, I'm not really a car enthusiast and just want a car that's reliable and economical. I'm now looking at several expenses:

Immediate need:

1. New tires - $550
2. New suspension mount - $350

Can wait until summer:

3. engine and coolant leakage near firewall - $1500


The expenses to keep this car running are adding up. Should I continue to invest money in this car to keep it running, or should I buy a new/newer used car (under $20K - will need to finance). With the scenario above, my expenses are equaling yearly monthly payments for a newer car, a scenario that suggests it's time to buy the new car.

Michael

You could buy a used Honda that might be more reliable but won't handle as well.

Tires, bushings are all maintenance items.
Any car will need them.

$1500 to fix the coolant leak is insane.

My newest car is a 2003 Mini.
I'd rather keep my cars running than buy someone else's where I don't know the history.

True. Tires are a regular expense. But if I buy a newer car now I won't have this $550 expense. I doubt I'd get back (by selling the car) the money I put into tires. BTW - if I get tires, I'm thinking Michelin Primacy MXV4 - thoughts?

I lumped the coolant and oil repair together. Apparently the engine head needs to be pulled to repair the oil leak; and the coolant leak is right up against the firewall - pulling the engine head will allow access to the coolant repair. I'm not a mechanic, but I'm happy with the mechanic I use; I believe it's all on the up and up.

A few quick and easy solutions for those problems are:


Tires: instead of buying new tires, look at people selling rims and tires together. For example, I am selling 16 inch style 35s (i think) with tires that are nearly brand new. I am selling them (tires and rims) for $350, which is $200 less than the price of just the tires AND you get rims. You could easily sell your rims with the bad tires. The price depends on the style of the rims, but no one really cares as much about the tires as the rims. You could easily get new tires for under $200, depending on the style rims you have, you could easily make money on the sale and come out in the green.

The suspension mount, I am not so sure about. (as in, i am not sure which mount or what the part is) but i can tell you that a used one will be only a few $$'s. Ebay or this website is a great place to find parts. the price is likely just over inflated labor rates, i had my entire suspension replaced a few years ago for less money. I got lucky and found the parts on clearance at a local pepboys store and took the parts to my shop where he replaced it for only a few $$'s.

The engine and coolant leakage near firewall price quote is insane. if a shop told me that i would have been insulted at first, the laughed and told the guy he was an idiot. You could get an entire used motor for these cars for about $350 - $450, and you could pay a small shop the regular hourly rate to replace the entire motor for about what they quoted you.

I think the problem is you went to either a dealer or a franchise car shop. You HAVE to take it to a regular shop. a regular/smaller shop will only charge you per hour. the guy i take it to charges $70/hour. some shops (like a dealer) will use a book to tell them the amount of time, then they add extra time if they think they can get more money. on top of the extra hours, they typically charge in the $120/hour range or more.

For example, i needed my power steering flushed and the reservoir replaced. I took it to some nut job that worked only on German cars. I was quoted $500 for the job, where something like $400 was just labor. I asked them how that was even possible, and they showed me it was going to take 4 hours to replace the parts. I asked how they got 4 hours for the job and asked if he knew how easy the job was. He tried to tell me that he knew it was a 4 hour job since he was the professional and some book he had told him actual times. he even printed out a list of times for me. After looking at them and realizing they were charging me bull**** times, I actually yelled at the mechanic in front of other customers telling him he was insane and the shop was a complete fraud and attempted to get all of the other customers in the store to leave because they will get ripped off. The shop yelled back saying it was the actual amount of time and i needed to leave if i was not going to get work done.

I took it to my shop i have now and it took him 35 minutes and cost $125 to get done with all new parts.

You just need to take that job to a few shops. let them know you had it quoted a a different shop but they were trying to rip you off and ask them for a quote. Honestly, i found the smaller the shop the better. I always took my car to shops in gas stations or shops that do NOT have a franchise name on them when i travel. if they have a franchise name on them or they consider themselves "specialty" they will charged 4x as much every single time for the same quality of work.

You are not getting any better quality work taking it to a dealer or franchise shop either. I have friends who worked at dealers directly after highschool with basically no idea how to do any work. Small shops are typically owned buy people who worked on cars so long and they know so much that they have enough confidence to buy and open a store. they would not take that risk if they thought they could not do the work.

If the shop does not know how to do the work they will either tell you or they will take it to a friends shop who can do it. if they happen to mess it up (which happens) they will try to make it right or they have insurance that will cover your motor exploding after the work was done.

best of luck.

Very interesting. First, I'm not sure about the tire/wheel deal. I'm not sure where to look, and I'm not wanting some off-sized wheel. Perhaps it only takes a little legwork, but right now I have no idea where to start. I currently have 205/60/15 tires.

I use a small shop mechanic and have been please with his work. He's experienced and knows BMWs. However, the prices you're quoting are far less than my mechanic is quoting. Frankly, I'm not a mechanic and I'm not "into" cars. Messing around with parts and repairs is NOT something I want to do. However, perhaps I should seek out other mechanics and get second and third opinions for the frame mount and oil/coolant leaks.

Independents will charge book rate. Fact of life.
I finally had to walk out of my last independent when he told me how many hours it took to replace rear subframe bushings.
He tallied everything I needed even though some of the job did not require any additional labor.

I know people who do this in their driveway without a lift in less time.
Now granted, independents have lots of overhead. I don't take that away from them.
But when you have a good customer who goes to the shop for anything and everything.
Never questioned the price until now. Never questioned how long the car was in the shop, I was hoping for a little consideration. He forced me into looking elsewhere and tackling jobs on my own.

I understand that you are not a mechanic or "into" cars.
You do need to be an informed and educated consumer regardless if it's an old BMW or a Honda.

When I serviced musical equipment we sometimes gave high estimates simply because we didn't want to do the job and if we did it was going to be worth our while. Fair or not, that's how businesses operate.

No experience with those Michelins.

Good luck. Hopefully you can find a more affordable shop who doesn't multiply the price because it's a BMW.

Thank you. Your replies certainly are giving me "food for thought". Back to the original question - I guess it's worthwhile to keep my 318ti, especially if I can find repairs costing much less than currently quoted.

My concern would be the oil leak.
Is it a head gasket or just the valve cover gasket?
Could also be leaking around the oil filter housing.

Valve cover and oil filter leaks are very common.
But once addressed you are good to go.

I was told the frame mount should be fixed ($350 quoted) when I get new tires so that my alignment is correct and won't affect tire wear.

The oil and coolant are slow leaks I'm told - no rush to repair. However, their location necessitates pulling the engine (or heads/??) to fix.

hmm, yeah, prices can be all over the place.

As far as tires, what i mean to say is you could use Craigslist or this site to find a set of BMW rims with tires. (for example, i am selling mine all 4 rims with new tires for $350) You should be able to find sets cheap like this. It would not be mixing or matching, you just buy all 4 from someone else, swap them to your car, and sell your old ones online. All BMW rims will fit your car if they are sizes 15 - 17 and should be able to be swapped over without any hassle. you should be able to find 15 inch sets very cheap since no one wants them. I sold a set of four 15s for $50 with good tires already to someone on this site.

Just food for thought. but the $1500 bill does worry me. I would atleast take it to a different shop and ask for a quote. you may be surprised.

I have always felt that it is cheaper in the long run to keeping repairing the car you have, than buying a newer one. You might end up breaking down on the road a bit more, however. The only way to get full value out of a car is to drive it a long time. Buying, selling and trading cars are all money losers. If, however, you are tired of a car or really want a different one, then that is a different matter. Just my two cents' worth.

I think I'll follow this advice. I like my 318ti, and really don't have any desire for a different car. Most likely what I can afford next will be a driving let-down.

Getting the tires replaced and the oil leaks fixed, etc. is still better than having a monthly car payment for 4 years (or however long you're financing it for)! Just sayin'..

Well, there are still some things to watch out for. Some wheels from other BMWs may require hubcentric rings, and offsets can be all over the place. Tire sizes vary as well.

If you stick to wheels and tires from other E36 models, there should be no issues at all. Others can definitely work, but just need to keep those things in mind.

I wouldn't recommend a high mile old bmw to someone who isn't a "car person". Unless they really like dont mind paying a mechanic to everything and to keep an eye on thing. My mom has had a 92 318is for years, but probably pays a mechainc 500-1500 to keep it going. Still cheaper than a car payment