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      05-05-2013, 08:48 PM   #1
x1enth
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X1 reliability / maintenance costs

Hello Everyone!

Recently, I've been talked out of buying BMW (X1) by a couple of friends since both of them had a very bad experience with BMW 5 series. One had engine breakdown after 40K and other is spending nearly 1K every year for the last couple of years on a 5 year old BMW. I was also looking at http://www.automobilemag.com/am/2013...hip_costs.html, it shows at least 1K/year after 4-year. I noticed that pretty much with most of BMWs. When I compared with Mercedes or Audi the cost was much less than 1K/year.

My argument to friends was I see a lot of BMWs on the road and still not fully convinced that BMW will become maintenance nightmare after 4-year, but would appreciate any reviews/data or experiences to completely feel comfortable with buying X1!
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      05-06-2013, 08:55 AM   #2
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No way is it $1,000 a year unless you are including tires. My dealer has been doing $99 oil changes and brake flush for $120. You can buy air filters and cabin filters yourself. New spark plugs is 60,000 so brakes would be the biggest expense and there are always deals on them. My 2007 335i is on its original pads and rotors but only 22,000 miles but the dealer says I'm good for quite a while. I just replaced my battery at $320 but it was 6 years old. Unless you have some major issue tires are by far the biggest expense.
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      05-06-2013, 09:41 AM   #3
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My M Coupe required oil changes, fuel filter, coils, a few batteries and plugs and brakes for 143k trouble free miles over a dozen years. It never left me stranded, didn't need a clutch, never developed electrical gremlins, etc. Our 135i had a bunch of expensive, early issues, but all were sorted under warranty and in the first 20k miles, it was trouble free for the next 25k miles we had it. Our X1 has 6k miles and hasn't done a single weird thing yet.

Anyone who thinks an Audi is cheaper to maintain long term has clearly not owned both an Audi and BMW like I have. I currently don't own a single VW/Audi product and don't plan on ever having one again.

If $1k/yr out of warranty seems like a lot, than I do think any BMW is the wrong thing to be looking at. Just round numbers, but an oil change at the dealer is $100-$150, a set of tires is $600-900, an Inspection 2 is $400-$600, etc. If you take care of it, they're trouble free, reliable and fun cars, but they are not as cheap or maintenance free as Japanese or Korean cars. I know I had a few years that $3k of total car costs weren't uncommon, including tires and oil changes with my M Coupe. I wouldn't expect an X1 to be that much, but it's hard to really say how much cheaper, without some sort of mileage per year estimate, a sense of how proactive you are and what your mechanical aptitude is or if you'll be having a dealer or service shop do all of your work for you.
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      05-06-2013, 10:11 AM   #4
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I've never had reliability issues with BMW ever. Perhaps I've been lucky but I've never had any issues that my free maintenance doesn't cover. $1k a year seems extremely excessive... the only out of pocket expensive I've had is when I got a flat tire and needed to replace one of the wheels which was ~300. The car before I spent $0 in 3 years. Don't keep the car past the warranty and you won't have to worry :P
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      05-06-2013, 10:42 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucky13 View Post
No way is it $1,000 a year unless you are including tires. My dealer has been doing $99 oil changes and brake flush for $120. You can buy air filters and cabin filters yourself. New spark plugs is 60,000
I knew spark plugs can be expensive, but 60 thousand is a bit too much, even if the entire plug was made from platinum...

Anyhow, $1000 per year isn't that much - it's still significantly less than a car loan or lease for a new car, or gasoline costs for that matter. I'm more worried about the BIG expenses, like engine or transmission wrecks. Luckily, BMW has a better track record there than say Audi - not as good as Merc, but still pretty good.
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      05-06-2013, 11:36 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Grovsnus View Post
I knew spark plugs can be expensive, but 60 thousand is a bit too much, even if the entire plug was made from platinum...
GM has been installing iridium plugs in their higher end cars to go 100K (not me mind you, but scheduled maintenance).
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      05-06-2013, 04:31 PM   #7
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I've owned an E39 and an E46 past 100k miles and $1000 per year is conservative. Parts are 2-3 times as expensive as American or Japanese counterparts even if you do your own work. A brake job alone costs you $1500+ at the dealer. Wheel bearings, bushings...i could go on and on regarding the stuff that ends up needing work. Now that turbos are involved I don't plan to keep my X1 past 100k miles.
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      05-06-2013, 05:00 PM   #8
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I think there are a lot of people on here who are DIY'ers or use Indies to lower maintenance cost as BMW service centers often charge a premium and some people have worse experiences at them.
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      05-06-2013, 05:45 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Grovsnus View Post
I knew spark plugs can be expensive, but 60 thousand is a bit too much, even if the entire plug was made from platinum...

Anyhow, $1000 per year isn't that much - it's still significantly less than a car loan or lease for a new car, or gasoline costs for that matter. I'm more worried about the BIG expenses, like engine or transmission wrecks. Luckily, BMW has a better track record there than say Audi - not as good as Merc, but still pretty good.
60,000 miles or just spend $60k for a used M3.
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      05-06-2013, 05:53 PM   #10
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For every horror story there are BMW's like the one I bought for my son. Bought a 2000 BMW 528 summer of 2011 that had 24,000 miles on it and now has close to 60,000. Only expenses so far are 3 oil changes, new brakes at $800 (not at BMW dealer) and a new air filter and cabin filter we installed for about $60. Bought some new tires but that's not true maintenance so that's so that's $1,200 in about 2 years.
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      05-06-2013, 09:05 PM   #11
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Things are cool under 100k miles...over these cars will bleed you dry.
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      05-07-2013, 05:53 AM   #12
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BMW X1 won the Dekra 2013 Used Car Report

"The BMW X1 triumphed in the off-road vehicles/SUV class with 96.2 and the Ford C-MAX held the best overall DFI among the hatchbacks with 97.7."

http://www.dekra.com/en/press_releas...cleID=34109368

Last edited by malinen; 05-07-2013 at 06:01 AM..
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      05-07-2013, 01:25 PM   #13
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Also to throw in there, it depends on the driver. I'm quite aggressive in driving compared to my wife but she kills cars fast because she doesn't pay attention to when she does what and even noises. Her 2nd gear syncro is about gone because of the way uses the gas I can't count the number of times she turns the wheel all the way, holds it hard, then doesn't pay attention to bumps and pot holes. Her second set of struts are about gone after 4 years on her Tiguan...

My cars seem to last forever and she doesn't understand why she always gets "the bad cars". She also spends 4x as much on car washes yet my car is always cleaner and even at almost three times the age and triple the miles, my car has 20% of the dents and dings as her car. The interiors? Hers is far more thrashed and dirty than mine.
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      05-07-2013, 02:27 PM   #14
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I never actually researched BMW's reliability, but I've long noticed how expensive pre owned bimmers are relative to new ones, so i just assumed they were enduring pretty well.

Also, a lot of common maintenance like oil\filter changes and tire rotations are easy enough to DYI.
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      05-07-2013, 03:19 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by annoyingmouse View Post
Also, a lot of common maintenance like oil\filter changes and tire rotations are easy enough to DYI.
Modern tires are directional, so you can't rotate between the left and right side.
And if you have staggered tires, you can't rotate between back and front either.

As for oil and oil filter changes, sure, but I think it is more important to reduce the oil/engine wear through sensible driving. High RPM on cold engines can change the oil longevity from thousands of miles to hundreds.
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      05-07-2013, 04:51 PM   #16
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Just got my X1, long time lurker. Found this link to X1's reliability in Europe to be reassuring.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=htt...UpqjhhcoHYoJiQ
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