Early last month, I declared victory against my wife’s stately 2001 BMW 525iT E39 wagon. The Beemer, which seemed to be on death’s door with absurd oil consumption, catastrophic misfiring, and impressive smoke, was fixed with $400 of parts and labor plus a so-called “Italian Tune-Up.” The car was now better than ever, but it’s not lasting. Just 3,000 miles later the car has found new and creative ways to break. Here we go again, is this thing haunted?
Back in late 2022, our secret designer The Bishop sold me this stately wagon. At the time, it had just minor issues. The car needed a new catalytic converter, new tailgate wiring, and rust repair, but that was it. I drove the wagon for some time before I gave the vehicle to my wife as a gift. This car has changed her life. Sheryl has always been the kind of person to exhaust seemingly infinite energy to help others, but little for herself. So, she’d drive things like base model Subaru Imprezas and Toyota Camrys, never realizing that driving could be thrilling.
The Bishop’s E39 changed that. This was a car that, at the time, was both reliable and thrilling to drive. Sheryl traded cloth for leather, an inline four for a straight six, and a Toyota badge for the BMW roundel. The BMW might be the greatest automotive evolutionary step my wife has experienced. It may be a $1,500 pile of German over-complication to you and me, but it means the world to her.
So, we’re continuing to keep this car alive, even when it seemingly wants to take a nap.
What Broke Last Time
My wife drives a lot. As of now, she’s on track to drive a tick over 40,000 miles this year. She drives more than I do, and I’m the one who writes about vehicles! Sheryl is often ripping across the state of Illinois to show up in courts all over these flat lands. Unfortunately, this puts a lot of wear and tear on a vehicle and she doesn’t have the time for a car to be broken for too long.
According to our calculations, Sheryl drove the BMW about 30,000 miles in a little less than a year. That’s a lot for any car, let alone a 23-year-old, well-loved German car. At first, things were great. She installed new coils and plugs, gave the car a full brake job, and vanquished the infamous “trifecta” ABS, traction control, and brake warning lights in the instrument cluster. That last one felt particularly good because not even the Bishop was able to fix that. We even diagnosed the vehicle’s airbag light to be a faulty mat in the passenger seat.
Sheryl then went on to add individual touches to the car including interior trim imported from Germany, new headlights, and modern infotainment. The Beemer purred like a kitten and even scored 30 mpg. Then things got bad:
Then late October rolled around and something changed about the car. Suddenly, fuel economy went into the toilet and oil consumption was best described as epic. I measured oil burn to be as much as a quart every 50 miles. My mechanic friends and even readers here suggested that there could have been a blown head gasket. But the car’s fluids never mixed and aside from the oil, they never changed their levels either. Yet the thick clouds of oily smoke billowing out of the tailpipe suggested the car was using oil worse than a two-stroke motorcycle.
By November, things started getting dire as the M54 2.5 six signaled its displeasure with its existence and stopped running on one, sometimes two of its six cylinders. The misfires were constant and shook the car harder than a Harley-Davidson’s V-twin. From November forward, there was never a time when the car didn’t misfire.
The problems made the car, named Wanda, undrivable. An oil consumption of a quart every 50 miles makes driving to downstate Illinois prohibitively expensive. That’s ignoring the fact that the car ran on five cylinders on a good day. Sheryl ended up parking Wanda and it sat for months. Every time we started Wanda, it groaned into life with a smoke show and a flashing check engine light. Our mechanic friends gave us scary potential causes from piston rings to possible top end trouble. Everything looked hilariously expensive for a car I spent just $1,500 on.
In April, Sheryl was ready to throw in the towel. She sent me out to take pictures of Wanda for a listing and in typical me fashion, I welded the accelerator to the floor. Eventually, the car cleared its throat and the misfires were gone. Even the smoke let up a little bit.
This gave her the motivation to get a third opinion on the smoke. I rang up my friendly mobile mechanic and one day he replaced the vehicle’s crankcase ventilation valve. It was an instant fix, with not a puff of smoke coming out of the exhaust. Oil consumption then returned back to its normal of a quart every 1,200 miles or so. The best part is that parts and labor were just $400. We then replaced the car’s catalytic converters, which turned off the check engine light, seemingly for good. The Bishop told me the instrument cluster hasn’t been that devoid of warning lights in over a decade.
That sounds like a mission success in my book.
It’s Gone To Hell, Again
Sheryl’s been driving her beloved Wanda through May and things were great for most of the month. The car didn’t smoke, didn’t burn any abnormal amounts of oil, and didn’t misfire a single time. My wife had her baby back. Of course, because old German cars like to be silly, we’re now in a situation that seems both strangely familiar and new. Sheryl’s put just 2,500 to 3,000 miles on this car since we fixed it.
The first sign of new trouble came when I was following Sheryl home with the Can-Am Ryker press loaner. Sheryl hit the gas on a green light and a little puff of oily smoke came out. Uh oh. Still, that wasn’t so bad, it was just a puff! Then, Sheryl let off the accelerator to turn a corner. As the vehicle turned right, a cloud of smoke emitted from the tailpipe. Now, Sheryl says it’s back to smoking constantly. Crap.
The car then had to get cute. One day, we were just relaxing at home when the car’s alarm started sounding. A check of my security camera showed nothing bothering the vehicle. It just started crying all on its own. That was weird, but we decided to keep on trucking. It got worse quickly. We’re now to the point that the car will sound its alarm less than an hour after the vehicle is locked. Thankfully, Sheryl now has a garage, so the car can be left unlocked at home.
At first, I assumed the issue was the rusty tailgate’s latch sensor failing. Sometimes the vehicle thinks the tailgate is being opened even though it’s closed. My Volkswagen Touareg VR6 had an issue similar to that. A deep scan of the vehicle shows a single immobilizer code of “0F – Power-On Reset.” That’s an error caused by low voltage. The battery died recently so that one makes sense. I cleared it and as of publishing it didn’t come back. One error is stored in the body control module with “5E – Central-Locking Drive, Passenger’s Door.” Some early research suggests this could be a potential wiring issue or a lock actuator issue. The failure mode seems non-functional central-locking on that door, not the alarm sounding. Either way, the locks are working great right now.
Sheryl has also noted that on one recent occasion, the vehicle shut down while she was driving. The engine stopped running and the electrics went dark while she was moving. Turning the key to the off position and then turning the vehicle back on resolved the issue. I have not been able to replicate this.
The misfiring came back, too, but this time it’s intermittent and seemingly random. Punching the throttle doesn’t seem to make a difference. Wanda is now back in the garage far sooner than expected. Sheryl feels she cannot trust the car at this current time, so I have to bring it back…again.
Now it’s time for me to roll up my sleeves.
What’s Next
First, I want to tackle the misfire. I know Sheryl is using some pretty “sus” aftermarket coil packs and white-label spark plugs. Thankfully, I keep old working parts for troubleshooting purposes, so the Bosch stuff will go back in for now. Of course, I’ll inspect the plugs upon their exit as well. My mobile mechanic said that the car is in dire need of new vacuum lines, so those will need to be replaced, too. I’m fairly confident I can knock out the misfiring issue.
I think I can tackle that alarm system, too. Some E39 owners have had issues with their alarm systems going off after a failure of the hood sensor. Like all good German cars, the E39 is also said to be sensitive to battery voltage, so we should test and maybe replace that battery since it died once. I just have to inspect the alarm system. If we’re lucky, it’s just the hood sensor and that can be disabled.
I’m less sure about everything else.
The smoke is a curious one. Why did the car drive for a whole month without smoking? What could have happened? I suppose there is a non-zero chance the new CCV already failed, but that would be weird. It’s also notable that the smoke isn’t as heavy as it was before. The smoke before was dark blue, almost black. This stuff is a lot lighter. Still has that pungent oil smell, but it’s not the same. Oil burn has increased to a quart every 500 to 600 miles. Past experience would suggest possible valve seals as a culprit, but I’m not certain.
I also believe Sheryl when she says the car shut down while she was driving. The question then becomes why? Apparently, the ignitions in these cars can fail, which could cause this. But I want to replicate this before shooting in the dark.
Either way, I have a feeling I’m going to be spending much of this summer tinkering on Wanda. On one hand, it’s frustrating that this car just keeps finding dumb and annoying ways to break. On the other, I am learning a lot about BMWs during this process! Hopefully, we’ll eventually get back to a place where the car can be trusted to go anywhere at a moment’s notice. At the very least, Sheryl’s Scion iQ is still a champ that isn’t letting us down. Thankfully she has a reliable daily driver or else I’d be sweating bullets.
If any of our lovely readers are more well-versed in BMW than I am, I want to reach out for your help. What am I missing? Do you have advice here? Well, advice that isn’t “sell the car,” that is.
Lol driving lots of miles and relying on an (older) BMW. The golden age of ‘German engineering’ actually relating to quality and ‘ultimate driving machine’ are long behind us.
-previous BMW owner/fan
Lol driving lots of miles and relying on an (older) BMW. The golden age of ‘German engineering’ actually relating to quality and ‘ultimate driving machine’ are long behind us.
-previous BMW owner/fan
Alarms. That’s the trauma. Rented a car last month, ended up with a 2024 G20. Drove it an hour and a half, and then the car alarm went off. Eventually got out, opened and closed the trunk, and it shut up.
Drove it another thousand miles before returning it, without a problem.
Well, the curved display is a problem. It’s a good car to drive when you’re one, but it sucks for the co-driver. We weren’t in Germany, but, when I go cross country there, a co-driver helps a lot: comms, collating the car’s traffic info against a second source (e.g., the Goog) and the radio alerts, spotting traffic, working the entertainment system. There’s a lot that can be done, and, sure, you can ask the car to do it, but where’s the fun in that?
Back in the old days, if it was a BMW of a certain age, that puff of oil smoke told you the motor was still running.
Alarms. That’s the trauma. Rented a car last month, ended up with a 2024 G20. Drove it an hour and a half, and then the car alarm went off. Eventually got out, opened and closed the trunk, and it shut up.
Drove it another thousand miles before returning it, without a problem.
Well, the curved display is a problem. It’s a good car to drive when you’re one, but it sucks for the co-driver. We weren’t in Germany, but, when I go cross country there, a co-driver helps a lot: comms, collating the car’s traffic info against a second source (e.g., the Goog) and the radio alerts, spotting traffic, working the entertainment system. There’s a lot that can be done, and, sure, you can ask the car to do it, but where’s the fun in that?
Back in the old days, if it was a BMW of a certain age, that puff of oil smoke told you the motor was still running.
For those kinds of miles in an older car you need a Lexus GS400 S160. Ultra reliable and every bit as nice to drive as an E39.
True. People talk about older Lexuses needing some amount of maintenance and repairs, but it’s usually pretty typical and easy-to-diagnose old car stuff like a new starter motor or water pump. None of this ‘we can’t figure out what’s wrong with it!’ that seems to be exclusively the domain of old European cars.
For those kinds of miles in an older car you need a Lexus GS400 S160. Ultra reliable and every bit as nice to drive as an E39.
True. People talk about older Lexuses needing some amount of maintenance and repairs, but it’s usually pretty typical and easy-to-diagnose old car stuff like a new starter motor or water pump. None of this ‘we can’t figure out what’s wrong with it!’ that seems to be exclusively the domain of old European cars.
Fix those vacuum lines! I bet that’s now the source of most of you engine problems.
Car turns corner, engine leans over a bit, crack in vacuum line opens up, the PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) valve opens or closes too much at the wrong time and your sucking oil which fouls said valve. Floor the motor, engine leans over the other way and vacuum leak gets better? Or flooring it releases some of the PCV fouling. See what I’m saying? I suspect you’re just going to foul the new PCV valve just like the old one if it isn’t already. I repeat, fix those lines first.
Note that I have yet to read any other replies, so if this is redundant, apologies.
The way you explained your theory reminded me of Click and Clack. I miss those guys.
They were the best. I rarely felt dumber than when listening to them and I loved it every time. They knew their shit and were so entertaining.
This. When I read about the vacuum lines, I had the same thought.
Third. Great suggestion and write up.
Same thought here as well. It’s hard to get a reliable daily driver out of any car with vacuum lines that have 20+ years on them. They’re gonna crack and cause all sorts of unpredictable issues downstream. As always, if possible, fix all the basic foundational issues first before addressing the symptoms of an underlying disorder. If not, you’ll be chasing your tail in perpetuity.
Fix those vacuum lines! I bet that’s now the source of most of you engine problems.
Car turns corner, engine leans over a bit, crack in vacuum line opens up, the PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) valve opens or closes too much at the wrong time and your sucking oil which fouls said valve. Floor the motor, engine leans over the other way and vacuum leak gets better? Or flooring it releases some of the PCV fouling. See what I’m saying? I suspect you’re just going to foul the new PCV valve just like the old one if it isn’t already. I repeat, fix those lines first.
Note that I have yet to read any other replies, so if this is redundant, apologies.
The way you explained your theory reminded me of Click and Clack. I miss those guys.
They were the best. I rarely felt dumber than when listening to them and I loved it every time. They knew their shit and were so entertaining.
This. When I read about the vacuum lines, I had the same thought.
Third. Great suggestion and write up.
Same thought here as well. It’s hard to get a reliable daily driver out of any car with vacuum lines that have 20+ years on them. They’re gonna crack and cause all sorts of unpredictable issues downstream. As always, if possible, fix all the basic foundational issues first before addressing the symptoms of an underlying disorder. If not, you’ll be chasing your tail in perpetuity.
I would definitely look into the ignition switch for the car cutting out.
As for the smoke, I have seen a lot of aftermarket/OEM CCV’s fail and cause smoking shortly after install. Before condemning anything else, I would try swapping out the CCV for a Genuine BMW one and seeing if that resolves the issue, I had several cars where that happened so I switched to using only Genuine BMW parts for that job.
You are correct in your evaluation of the alarm system, the hood switch is the most common cause of it going off randomly. Another somewhat common source of the alarm going off, particularly in the tourings, is a sensor that’s in the driver’s side rear area, behind all the audio stuff, I had an E39 540it in the shop that kept setting off its alarm constantly, and that ended up being the culprit.
The ignition switch leading to the car cutting out is a great tip.
For those curious, the ignition switch on old German cars have a housing made out of plastic (could still be IDK). On VWs, the ignition switch will fail like clockwork around 180,xxx miles. The way they fail is they develop a stress Crack in the plastic housing.
Zee Germans in their infinite wisdom have all the accessory systems run off of power to/through the ignition switch, so as it starts to fail, accessory electronics will turn themselves off bc they have lost power. This includes the interior fan, interior lights, radio, a/c/heat, wipers, headlights, cruise control, turn signals (like those are ever used in a BMW 😉 ) etc…
If you’re driving down the road and all your electrics fail, if you jiggle the key in the ignition, they should come back on. That’s how you know it’s the ignition switch.
I would definitely look into the ignition switch for the car cutting out.
As for the smoke, I have seen a lot of aftermarket/OEM CCV’s fail and cause smoking shortly after install. Before condemning anything else, I would try swapping out the CCV for a Genuine BMW one and seeing if that resolves the issue, I had several cars where that happened so I switched to using only Genuine BMW parts for that job.
You are correct in your evaluation of the alarm system, the hood switch is the most common cause of it going off randomly. Another somewhat common source of the alarm going off, particularly in the tourings, is a sensor that’s in the driver’s side rear area, behind all the audio stuff, I had an E39 540it in the shop that kept setting off its alarm constantly, and that ended up being the culprit.
The ignition switch leading to the car cutting out is a great tip.
For those curious, the ignition switch on old German cars have a housing made out of plastic (could still be IDK). On VWs, the ignition switch will fail like clockwork around 180,xxx miles. The way they fail is they develop a stress Crack in the plastic housing.
Zee Germans in their infinite wisdom have all the accessory systems run off of power to/through the ignition switch, so as it starts to fail, accessory electronics will turn themselves off bc they have lost power. This includes the interior fan, interior lights, radio, a/c/heat, wipers, headlights, cruise control, turn signals (like those are ever used in a BMW 😉 ) etc…
If you’re driving down the road and all your electrics fail, if you jiggle the key in the ignition, they should come back on. That’s how you know it’s the ignition switch.
“My BMW is trying to break me”
”My meth lab keeps exploding”
”My CEO is a sociopath”
”My pet scorpion keeps stinging me”
”My Enzite subscription can’t be cancelled”.
All sentences that will be repeated forever.
“Jason’s Pao hit a deer”
“My BMW is trying to break me”
”My meth lab keeps exploding”
”My CEO is a sociopath”
”My pet scorpion keeps stinging me”
”My Enzite subscription can’t be cancelled”.
All sentences that will be repeated forever.
“Jason’s Pao hit a deer”
I don’t have any BMW experience really, but if it’s like my Audi, you have to use Genuine OE parts for the PCV valve system (either Audi or the original manufacturer brand, which for the B7 platform they only sell as Audi). Using any other parts (even from other OEMs like Febi that typically have good quality) have very fast failures. The $400 parts and labor sounds too good to be true to me, I’d suspect the PCV used isn’t up to the quality needed to last
Using a faux German accent while wrenching is said to help as well. A secondary incantation is a small money shrine nearby where you burn ten and twenty dollar bills every hour to appease the ancient gods of service..
I don’t have any BMW experience really, but if it’s like my Audi, you have to use Genuine OE parts for the PCV valve system (either Audi or the original manufacturer brand, which for the B7 platform they only sell as Audi). Using any other parts (even from other OEMs like Febi that typically have good quality) have very fast failures. The $400 parts and labor sounds too good to be true to me, I’d suspect the PCV used isn’t up to the quality needed to last
Using a faux German accent while wrenching is said to help as well. A secondary incantation is a small money shrine nearby where you burn ten and twenty dollar bills every hour to appease the ancient gods of service..
40k miles per year screams for an EV if she can charge it at home. Assuming $5/gas for premium and 20mpg for the BMW that is $0.40/mi or $16k/yr. An efficient EV at $0.16/kwh and 3.5mi/kwh would be $0.045/mi or $1800/yr and reliable.
It sounds like a lot of that mileage is highway driving, with longer trips. EV’s are quite inconvenient if you have to regularly drive over 200 miles a day. Having to stop in the middle of a highway drive to charge is irritating, especially when the BMW can do 350-400 miles on a tank easily.
If she’s regularly heading to Southern IL, an EV is a horrible idea. Other than the options immediately on the interstate chargers are pretty non-existant, which means she has to add large amounts of time to every trip.
IL is a long state. She can easily be putting 500 miles a day in without making multiple stops. 6 or 700 if she’s heading into the real southern end.
Unfortunately, an EV doesn’t currently fit in our life just yet. That garage she has? Its electrical system is joined with two other garages. I tried to charge the Zero in there and it trips the circuit every time. Doubly sadly is the fact that she’s often going to rural areas where charging is still spotty.
Her dream, which is waiting until we move, is to get a Kia EV6!
I’m an extreme case–I have the misfortune of being under Pacific Gas and Electric, california’s largest investor-owned utility. The residential electric rates are so high, an EV cost the same or more to charge vs putting in $5/gal gas into a Toyota hybrid
40k miles per year screams for an EV if she can charge it at home. Assuming $5/gas for premium and 20mpg for the BMW that is $0.40/mi or $16k/yr. An efficient EV at $0.16/kwh and 3.5mi/kwh would be $0.045/mi or $1800/yr and reliable.
It sounds like a lot of that mileage is highway driving, with longer trips. EV’s are quite inconvenient if you have to regularly drive over 200 miles a day. Having to stop in the middle of a highway drive to charge is irritating, especially when the BMW can do 350-400 miles on a tank easily.
If she’s regularly heading to Southern IL, an EV is a horrible idea. Other than the options immediately on the interstate chargers are pretty non-existant, which means she has to add large amounts of time to every trip.
IL is a long state. She can easily be putting 500 miles a day in without making multiple stops. 6 or 700 if she’s heading into the real southern end.
Unfortunately, an EV doesn’t currently fit in our life just yet. That garage she has? Its electrical system is joined with two other garages. I tried to charge the Zero in there and it trips the circuit every time. Doubly sadly is the fact that she’s often going to rural areas where charging is still spotty.
Her dream, which is waiting until we move, is to get a Kia EV6!
I’m an extreme case–I have the misfortune of being under Pacific Gas and Electric, california’s largest investor-owned utility. The residential electric rates are so high, an EV cost the same or more to charge vs putting in $5/gal gas into a Toyota hybrid
Just let it go. Find something moderately nice but not overly gaudy, newer and decent on fuel. I see the usual Lexus and Avalon have been mentioned, but there is also Acura for a little more sportiness. Or a CPO Lincoln or Cadillac. Genesis maybe?
Also nothing already showing rust. As someone who lives in Southern Ontario that alone is the biggest draw of buying new or lightly used. And Krown that thing yearly.
I second this. Mercedes, you have enough vehicles that you could sell quite a few, and buy your wife a wonderful, reliable, newer vehicle. It’s time. You’ll still have some left over when you are done, I’m sure. Every household needs ONE car that is reliable. And that needs to be driven by the one makin the money, or the one haulin’ the kids (IMHO).
It’s not my car. 🙂 If it were, it would have been sold before that annoying Passat was sent downstate.
Also, it seems many readers are missing how Sheryl has a reliable car nowadays. The BMW is now her fun car. While the headline says “my” for simplicity’s sake, it is solely her car and her space.
Just let it go. Find something moderately nice but not overly gaudy, newer and decent on fuel. I see the usual Lexus and Avalon have been mentioned, but there is also Acura for a little more sportiness. Or a CPO Lincoln or Cadillac. Genesis maybe?
Also nothing already showing rust. As someone who lives in Southern Ontario that alone is the biggest draw of buying new or lightly used. And Krown that thing yearly.
I second this. Mercedes, you have enough vehicles that you could sell quite a few, and buy your wife a wonderful, reliable, newer vehicle. It’s time. You’ll still have some left over when you are done, I’m sure. Every household needs ONE car that is reliable. And that needs to be driven by the one makin the money, or the one haulin’ the kids (IMHO).
It’s not my car. 🙂 If it were, it would have been sold before that annoying Passat was sent downstate.
Also, it seems many readers are missing how Sheryl has a reliable car nowadays. The BMW is now her fun car. While the headline says “my” for simplicity’s sake, it is solely her car and her space.
No suggestions, just commiseration.
I bought a ’74 Bavaria in 1981 with around 60K miles on the clock.
Two years later, it blew a head gasket on the way to my wedding rehearsal.
After the honeymoon (in my ’71 Peugeot 504 with 130 K on its clock), I took it to a BMW specialist and ended up having the engine rebuilt.
A month later, the u-joint in the prop shaft decided to let go.
I didn’t have the money to keep up with the charade of owning that kind of car on the salary I was making. Those two repairs alone were more than double what I originally paid for it.
I sold it while it was still drivable and never looked back other than to rue the day I bought it.
BMWs of the era of yours were beautiful, but as Robert Palmer sang, “A pretty face, don’t make no pretty heart.”
Good luck!
Upvote for Bavaria! I bought a shitty one a few years ago, and have been collecting parts. Really want to just slam it and drive it.
No suggestions, just commiseration.
I bought a ’74 Bavaria in 1981 with around 60K miles on the clock.
Two years later, it blew a head gasket on the way to my wedding rehearsal.
After the honeymoon (in my ’71 Peugeot 504 with 130 K on its clock), I took it to a BMW specialist and ended up having the engine rebuilt.
A month later, the u-joint in the prop shaft decided to let go.
I didn’t have the money to keep up with the charade of owning that kind of car on the salary I was making. Those two repairs alone were more than double what I originally paid for it.
I sold it while it was still drivable and never looked back other than to rue the day I bought it.
BMWs of the era of yours were beautiful, but as Robert Palmer sang, “A pretty face, don’t make no pretty heart.”
Good luck!
Upvote for Bavaria! I bought a shitty one a few years ago, and have been collecting parts. Really want to just slam it and drive it.
I have been dumping money into an older car figuring it only costs $$$ more and I’ve already replaced all these other things. After it died the last time I said “I’m done.” I need to get to work and ride-share twice a day is expensive. I bought another car known for reliability.
Even though I’d prefer to set it on fire in front my mechanics shop I’m selling as is. I just finished washing it up in order to post an ad. Ominously, that Kars 4 Kids commercial played while typing this.
My advice – Figure out when you and Sheryl will decide your done. There comes a point in every cars life it is no longer considered a reliable daily driver.
I have been dumping money into an older car figuring it only costs $$$ more and I’ve already replaced all these other things. After it died the last time I said “I’m done.” I need to get to work and ride-share twice a day is expensive. I bought another car known for reliability.
Even though I’d prefer to set it on fire in front my mechanics shop I’m selling as is. I just finished washing it up in order to post an ad. Ominously, that Kars 4 Kids commercial played while typing this.
My advice – Figure out when you and Sheryl will decide your done. There comes a point in every cars life it is no longer considered a reliable daily driver.
I have never owned a BMW, but it seems like literally every member of the staff owns at least one.
Someone with an objective POV explain to me why this kind of self-inflicted torture makes sense. They can’t be *that* great to drive to put up with nonsense like this, apart from M cars and such.
I don’t have a TON of BMW experience, but have seat time in a few models including an E36 M3. Only the M3 has ever been THAT great of a drive. I actually disliked how my brothers E90 328 drove, and that was before all the repair bills.
They’re great cars if you’re handy and can fix them yourself. If you’re paying somebody to maintain them, it can be a pretty miserable experience. I say this as a former BMW technician. Most of my 25+ BMW’s have been incredibly reliable, but I’m also fairly picky when buying them and I fix minor problems before they become major so I’ve never really been stranded.
My home depot car is a ratty-ass 2008 X3 (probably the most unloved BMW ever), and even that is great to drive. Granted, it’s way worse to drive than every other Beemer I’ve owned, but still way more fun to drive than most modern cars. There’s something intoxicating about that straight 6.
Same here but a 2007. Problems galore but a nice solid ride.
Like many other toxic relationships the thing with BMWs is when they’re good, they’re soooo good. And yes even the non-M cars have so much good engineering baked in that most other daily drivable cars don’t even come close. BUT that is also imo mostly pre-2010 BMWs as they lost a lot of the magic in the last 10+ years.
I had a 2000 323i (similar engine to the wagon in the article) that had 195K when I bought it and ran it until 215K when the combination of an odd drivetrain noise and a truck running into me made me throw in the towel, but I’d say it’s reliability and problems were outside of one well known failure-coolant system components-otherwise only slightly worse than I’d expect for a car that age. And the older e30 and e28 I’ve owned were reasonably reliable for their age and mostly pretty easy to work on, even the e46 was honestly mostly pretty reasonable to work on for a shade tree mechanic.
My perception is that BMWs, like most other old European cars, can’t handle any amount of deferred maintenance. If you ‘put things off’ because ‘they’re not that bad yet’, it quickly becomes a litany of mysterious failures that have no obvious cause and the car will become undriveable. If you have the money and time to fix something right away the second it becomes an issue, old European cars can at least work as cars for the most part.
I think BMW spec’d the parts around the assumption the cars will get serviced regularly by a licensed shop, and that a bunch of stuff gets replaced at once, rather than replacing them as they wear out
That’s probably why some generations of BMWs have a reputation for bad cooling systems, because you’re supposed to replace the thermostat, water pump, expansion tank and some of the plastic bits all at the same time
The draw is: For that generation of BMW (E39, E46, etc.) the driving experience is incredibly satisfying. They’re great all-rounders. Comfortable in traffic and on 2000 mile road trips, easygoing in traffic and city driving.
I used to own a 2004 330i 6MT (E46 with ZHP package) and it’s the best car I’ve ever owned. I’ve driven it back to back with an E46 M3, and the two feel remarkably similar when street driven. I’ve driven a friend’s 2006 X5 with a V8 a couple times, and I still think about how nice it drives
With my E46, I did all the maintenance myself. It was remarkably easy to work on, and the way everything is laid out in the engine bay, BMW seemed to have designed it specifically be to be straightforward to service. The biggest lesson I learned from mine is that you can’t replace things one at a time. For example, if you’re replacing the thermostat, you have to do the water pump at the same time because BMW assumes both of those things are being replaced at regular intervals before either of them become a problem
I have never owned a BMW, but it seems like literally every member of the staff owns at least one.
Someone with an objective POV explain to me why this kind of self-inflicted torture makes sense. They can’t be *that* great to drive to put up with nonsense like this, apart from M cars and such.
I don’t have a TON of BMW experience, but have seat time in a few models including an E36 M3. Only the M3 has ever been THAT great of a drive. I actually disliked how my brothers E90 328 drove, and that was before all the repair bills.
They’re great cars if you’re handy and can fix them yourself. If you’re paying somebody to maintain them, it can be a pretty miserable experience. I say this as a former BMW technician. Most of my 25+ BMW’s have been incredibly reliable, but I’m also fairly picky when buying them and I fix minor problems before they become major so I’ve never really been stranded.
My home depot car is a ratty-ass 2008 X3 (probably the most unloved BMW ever), and even that is great to drive. Granted, it’s way worse to drive than every other Beemer I’ve owned, but still way more fun to drive than most modern cars. There’s something intoxicating about that straight 6.
Same here but a 2007. Problems galore but a nice solid ride.
Like many other toxic relationships the thing with BMWs is when they’re good, they’re soooo good. And yes even the non-M cars have so much good engineering baked in that most other daily drivable cars don’t even come close. BUT that is also imo mostly pre-2010 BMWs as they lost a lot of the magic in the last 10+ years.
I had a 2000 323i (similar engine to the wagon in the article) that had 195K when I bought it and ran it until 215K when the combination of an odd drivetrain noise and a truck running into me made me throw in the towel, but I’d say it’s reliability and problems were outside of one well known failure-coolant system components-otherwise only slightly worse than I’d expect for a car that age. And the older e30 and e28 I’ve owned were reasonably reliable for their age and mostly pretty easy to work on, even the e46 was honestly mostly pretty reasonable to work on for a shade tree mechanic.
My perception is that BMWs, like most other old European cars, can’t handle any amount of deferred maintenance. If you ‘put things off’ because ‘they’re not that bad yet’, it quickly becomes a litany of mysterious failures that have no obvious cause and the car will become undriveable. If you have the money and time to fix something right away the second it becomes an issue, old European cars can at least work as cars for the most part.
I think BMW spec’d the parts around the assumption the cars will get serviced regularly by a licensed shop, and that a bunch of stuff gets replaced at once, rather than replacing them as they wear out
That’s probably why some generations of BMWs have a reputation for bad cooling systems, because you’re supposed to replace the thermostat, water pump, expansion tank and some of the plastic bits all at the same time
The draw is: For that generation of BMW (E39, E46, etc.) the driving experience is incredibly satisfying. They’re great all-rounders. Comfortable in traffic and on 2000 mile road trips, easygoing in traffic and city driving.
I used to own a 2004 330i 6MT (E46 with ZHP package) and it’s the best car I’ve ever owned. I’ve driven it back to back with an E46 M3, and the two feel remarkably similar when street driven. I’ve driven a friend’s 2006 X5 with a V8 a couple times, and I still think about how nice it drives
With my E46, I did all the maintenance myself. It was remarkably easy to work on, and the way everything is laid out in the engine bay, BMW seemed to have designed it specifically be to be straightforward to service. The biggest lesson I learned from mine is that you can’t replace things one at a time. For example, if you’re replacing the thermostat, you have to do the water pump at the same time because BMW assumes both of those things are being replaced at regular intervals before either of them become a problem
I’ve had random electrical issues and poor running all be traced to a loose engine ground, might be something to check for too.