***Monderp GMT***
- Thread starter Pesqueeb
- Start date
i wonder how his wife is liking UberLet's be fair now. It isn't 3 of the last 4 weeks but rather 3.95 of the last 4 weeks.
Misery
Money
Maintenance
Money
Maintenance
Serious question for Stoney: would a pre-purchase inspection by a qualified ///Mechanic have shown these problems you're now fixing, or did they arise post-purchase as a natural consequence of BMW's "design to be reliable throughout the lease term" policy?
Hidden items. I did a PPI at BMW in Nashville. No codes were throwing then and these trip quickly, as oil gets into the cylinder causing misfires. They are 'things to be aware of' around 100-120k. I just happened to get them earlier than expected.
Just heard back from one of the online shops, BMW has 7 in the US. No wait time!
Okay, that's funny.
No. But thanks for the flashback on my douchery. I was just outright bad back then... popped collar and all.
///Mighthavebeenbetteroptionsoutthere
///Marketing!
jabs and fun aside, I drove said /////M car when it still car'd ... it is a gorgeous example and has ridiculous power. Once everything is sorted it will be a nice ride again.
Everything breaks, just not everybody rolls the dice and decides to wrench themselves.
Everything breaks, just not everybody rolls the dice and decides to wrench themselves.
FTFY.jabs and fun aside, I drove said /////M car when it still car'd ... it is a gorgeous example and has ridiculous power. Once everything is sorted it will be a nice ride again.
Everything breaks, just not everyone should wrench for themselves.
But I'll give him credit for trying.
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The big difference between doing things by yourself and having somebody do it is often time. Time to research the problem(s) and find normal sources and solutions. Time to get said replacement parts. Time to take apart and put back together car around said repairs.
When I'm looking at paying somebody over $150/hour to sort this out for me, I can spend the time on my own. To have somebody take care of the VANOS solenoids that I have already done and is the first step to solve these codes, would have cost me almost $5000, as shops just replace the parts instead of repair them. I'm in $2000 so far and the boards now work. I'm up $3000.
The hoses I need next will take me about 2 hours to install and only cost $200. Having somebody do it would cost me $500. It that doesn't solve the problem, I need to pull the entirety of the VANOS system off to get to the support valve mentioned above. That involves taking off the fascia, intakes, yadda, yadda, so another 1.5 hours of billed labor to get there. It takes me maybe 20% more time, as I'm getting good at the disassembly process now.
I've run the numbers already. I pay easy 3-4x my billable time have somebody do it. This might take me a while to get it done, but it's a whole lot cheaper to do it myself. Plus I have another car that is rarely driven during the week, as Wifey works from home. If thats wasn't an option how this is being handled would be very different.
For you amusement though, a quote from Haley last night when she walked into the garage with the car up again: "Why is your car broken again?". I was between laughing and strangling her. Wifey squeezed out a chuckle, despite her unhappy look that it was back up again.
Some jerk got mud all over my bike so now I have to wash it. I hope the dirt is not holding my bike together. Might go hit the local dirt roadie trails before they get off work.
The parts I have done already work perfectly well. Just chasing down gremlins now.
Question for you: When you Jeeps took massive dumps (as Jeeps are well known to do), did you always know the solution before you started or did you just bitch up and pay somebody to do it for you?
'92 Cherokee - bought it at ~130k miles for $2,500 (first car), gave it to a family friend at ~160k miles. Regular maintenance only (fluids/filters).
'96 Grand Cherokee - bought it at ~80k miles for $4,000, gave it to my brother at ~140k miles. Fluid/filters/brakes, replaced water pump somewhere along the way. He had it for several thousand miles after issue-free as far as I know.
'04 Grand Cherokee - bought it at 35k miles for around $12k, sold it privately at 115k miles for $7k. Fluids/filters/brakes and replaced the front DS CV joint around 100k miles and a front caliper right before I sold it. Spent a majority of the time wrenching on it adding lift, skid plates, etc.
So, all in all, looking at $18,500 in vehicle costs, about $500 total for non-maintenance repair parts (replaced/fixed myself), 170k miles of use, and recup'ed $7k on one of them to put towards my commuter. That's $.071/mi cost of ownership (not counting regular maintenance items such as fluids/filters/brakes/tires).
Bought my 2010 Focus new for $13,500. Replaced the thermostat for $25 at ~130k miles. Currently at 177k miles. That's $.076/mi cost of ownership (again, less regular items.)
I've driven 347k miles at around $.074/mi average cost of ownership. You're hovering around 50 miles total usage at ~$500/mi cost of ownership, and still off the road.
Not that anyone's counting...
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Add the ///M factor into your equations and then the car is pretty much paying for his retirement.
Is the ///M-Factor additive, multiplicative or exponential? Considering normal mathematical operation I am assuming that ///M = 1/M. Clearly divisive.
5/M
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You are the luckiest Jeep owner I have ever met. I know more than a few who replaced engine/transmission around 100k. Those were Grand Cherokee's though. Not sure what line you were on.
As for cost per mile, I've currently 7k miles at $.285/mi. Your math is a bit off. If you actually look at the fact that most of what I have replaced/repaired is actually within maintenance cycle mileage, my actual repair costs are far lower. The MAFs and air filters were damaged, those are repairs. The VANOS solenoids are at maintenance distance, so maintenance. The hoses will be repair (although again at mainteance replacement mileage so...) as will the suport valve if needed. My actual repair rate is even lower at closer to $.10/mile.
Either way, I expected ~$2-2.5k per year in maintenance and repair when I bought the car. I don't forsee anything substantial in the next few months and since I will be getting over 100k next summer, I will have more work to do. But so is the nature of owning a performance car.
Realistically, it is no different than owning any other high-performance mechanical item. It's just more expensive to fix on a dollar basis.
///Mmath
20 miles at 17.9 mph on the tri bike on tired marathon legs. Two days in a row on the new bike and my crotch doesn't seem to mind. Progress.
I had 2 Grand Cherokees like you alluded to. Lucky? Maybe a bit. But the AMC straight-6 4L (cast iron block), NV242 transfer case and 42RE transmission that were in all 3 Jeeps I had have been known for their reliability, and why I chose the vehicles I did, rather than the V8 versions in either Grand I had. So while luck had something to do with it, I gave myself the best chance of getting my money's worth by choosing what I did, and maintaining them properly.
As for the ///M...my bad...didn't know you had and have been driving it for 7k miles already...I thought this was recently purchased and these issues were before it was even on the road.
Regardless, to me, expecting $2-2.5k/year maintenance/repair costs on a 13yo car I paid $25k for is mind boggling to me. If I'm spending 10-12% of what I paid a year on a car, it's not to keep it running, it's to add moar power/gadgets/fuzzy dice. YMMV, of course.
The solution is obviously to buy a second high-ish maintenance German car, so that the odds of at least one of them being operational at any given time are pretty good. It's working for me.
The solution is obviously to buy a second high-ish maintenance German car, so that the odds of at least one of them being operational at any given time are pretty good. It's working for me.
But less money, so it works out.
Well, $1000 a year is tires. This thing consumes tires and Pilot Sport's aren't cheap. Oil changes require 7 qts of 10w-60, so each change at 7500 miles is $125. Brake service is 1.5 years tops, as it's a 4200# car that gets driven hard. The 'consumables' are about $1500/year. You need to plan for another $1000 or so for maintenance. It's got a new clutch and sparks, and the brakes were done right before I got it, so that is a good chunk of cost I'm not going to be paying for a while.
It's one of those things that when you buy it, you know what you are getting into. I've wanted this car for over 10 years and low mileage, good condition models are rare. I don't know if I mentioned it earlier, but I plan on being the final owner of this, one way or another. I'm just going to enjoy it while I can, especially as they get progressively rarer. Hell, on the m5 board three just went up for parts in the last 2 weeks. The estimate of the ~10k that made it to the US over four years (2000-2003) is that less than half still on the road.
One of the problems with these cars is that they are expensive to maintain and if you're not willing to put the work in or have the money to have it done, they will die poor deaths. Add to the fact that the buyers at this point fall realistically into two categories - enthusissts and badge holders* - the die off rate will probably get higher.
*this was defined over on the m5board. Because the high mileage models are getting to the <$15k range, they are within purchase price of people who just want a badge (think guido). They are the ones that show up on ebay and autotrader 6 months after they were last sold with more problems that were not taken care of. It's pretty interesting that the guys on the board have a tracking sheet of VIN #'s for cars that go up via online sales with px, listed issues/repairs, etc. It was pretty helpful when I was looking at cars and what to avoid. There is also a guy who keeps buying up wrecked or too expensive to repair cars for part out. He's getting a new one almost every month, which is kind of sad.
I argued to get two car initially. One M5 that needed work that I could rebuild, the other being something like a b6/7 A4 Avant for my daily. That idea lasted all of 3min. What's funny at this point is that if she had just let me keep the Forester, my cost of replacing the transmission and getting it dialed for another 100k would have been less than what we've spent on cars since selling it and ending up with this.The solution is obviously to buy a second high-ish maintenance German car, so that the odds of at least one of them being operational at any given time are pretty good. It's working for me.
I still get nasty looks when I tell Wifey that should should have just let me get the full Stasis, 6-speed, S4 Avant when we were in SF. She said no because it wasn't a stick, but a month later I bought the Forester, which was a stick. I'd probably still have and be enjoying that car had she said yes then. Oh the amusement.
That's crazy to me. Do you know the cause of this? My guess is people that can't afford the upkeep letting them fall apart?
Accidents initially. That's a lot of car for somebody who doesn't know how to handle it. If you take off the traction control, it very quickly gets ass happy. Then maintenance. Assume people drive the American average of 15k miles per year. The 2000's are going to be over 225k, with the '03s being 180k. That's a lot of mileage and large service tickets for a premium German car.
One of the board members figured out the average rate that performance cars are removed from registration rolls is roughly 5% per year. I don't know how, but he said that he worked for a govt agency, I remember that. So figure not everybody would drive it like a performance car and assume a 4% burn rate, and suddenly we have ~5000 cars left
The board has accounted for ~1000 existing cars with probably 10-15 per year wrecking or parting because the repairs are too much. It would be interesting to go back to the '00 posts and pull threads for part-outs and wrecks since then. I bet they could account for at least a couple hundred.
My GF was kind of flabbergasted at the idea of me keeping 2 cars. She's super not a car person (drives a '14 Impreza with the base engine and CVT, because she just wants something reliable that can get her to the mountains).
I also don't think she likes the M3 very much. It rained an assload over the weekend, and at one point we were driving through some ~4" deep puddles from storm drains that couldn't keep up. She said she was really glad we were in her car instead the M.
Wifey really wants a Highlander (don't ask me why, I'm still not sure) so I might try to angle to keep her Forester as a winter car. It will be paid off soon ($4k @1.9%
) and I think I can use that to my advantage, depreciated value and all. Honestly if I could get a 6-yr no to minimal interest loan for her Highlander I would do it.That sounds pretty reasonable. I'm certainly not one to go all ZOMG RWD YOU'RE GOING TO DIE but I wouldn't want to drive an M5 every day through one of your winters. Not because you can't, but just because it takes a bit more care and attention that I'd rather not worry about all the time (e.g coming home tired from a day of skiing).Wifey really wants a Highlander (don't ask me why, I'm still not sure) so I might try to angle to keep her Forester as a winter car. It will be paid off soon ($4k @1.9%