15 years of BMWs

[RobM77]

18 years for me - how time flies!

In 2001 I bought a 1993 E36 325i four door, which I owned for 3 years and 70k miles. I bought this aged 23 and couldn't believe how grown up it felt, but as it turned out it was a great car to drive. I bought it because it had identical on-paper specs to a 200SX (bar the n/a engine), but cost less than half the amount to insure.

In 2004 I bought a 2000 E46 330ci coupé. Awful, awful car, which put me off BMWs for a good while. I owned it for 3 months before trading in for an Elise.

In 2007 I bought a 1998 E36 328i sport coupé to recapture that E36 magic, and it was stunning, but cost a lot to keep running. I took it from 67k to 83k I think, selling it two after years before it ruined me.

In 2009 I bought a Z4 3.0si Coupé, which was great, but flawed.

In 2010 the Z4C’s flaws got the better of me and I was shocked to drive an E90 320d and find that aside from the engine, it actually drove better than the Z4C. Plus I’d now taken up windsurfing and the cello, so needed a more practical car. So, I bought a 2007 E90 320d, which I took from 49k miles to 153k miles.

In 2015 I got another E90, this time fitting Birds suspension. This was the best handling BMW I’ve yet to drive. From 69k miles to 130k miles.

Everything then changed, with a baby arriving, a new heavier racing car, and a longer commute, so I now have a 2016 F10 530d, which I love.

[bodhi]

This thread has made me realise I'm just coming up to my 10 year anniversary running BMW's! After a series of hot hatches, and a Fiat Punto that was mostly made of duck tape, I decided it was time for something a little more grown up, and paid the grand total of £1500 for an E36 328i. It was far from a minter, having rust on every panel and 108k on the clock, but it was mechanically sound, and still had that glorious straight 6 up front.



A change in job meant I had a 100 mile round trip to get to work and back through the joys of the West Midlands, which I think was a bit much to ask of a 15 year old car, and whilst it never left me stranded, each month typically brought a new issue - suspension bits, cooling bits, then a white van round Dudley decided to stove in the front wing, and the fuel gauge failed, so I decided it was probably time to get something a bit more modern to do the trip. Whilst it was in getting the fuel gauge diagnosed, the indie I was using dropped off an E46 330d as a courtesy car, whilst casually mentioning it was for sale.

Even though it ran on the devil's fuel and was missing the soundtrack of the 328i, the shove was addictive, so we did a deal and I ended up running the below:



Turned out to be a damned good car, taking it from 96k when I bought it to 163k over 3 years. It did leave me stranded once when an aux belt failed, the propshaft was made of cheese and some wonky glowplugs meant it gassed most of the surrounding area when starting from cold, but otherwise it was quick, comfortable and ate motorways for breakfast. In the end however I needed to get back into a petrol straight 6 before they disappeared - the diesel unit was very impressive, but lacked the soundtrack and top end of the old 328i, so I started looking around.

I actually ended up working backwards for this one - decided I wanted an N52 then picked from the available cars - looked at 130i's and 330i's but they were getting a little old for my car allowance policy (had to be 2008 or newer), so eventually settled on a 125i. As I wanted a manual there were only ever around 3 on Auto Trader at one time, so ended up driving down to Watford to look at one in Titan Silver. The chap selling it started it up whilst I was standing behind it, and the deal was done.




5 and a half years, and 90k miles later I still have it, and if I'm being honest I never want to sell it. The other BMW's were good, but this has been the best car I've owned by a country mile. Quick (especially after the remap), great to drive, supremely reliable and not too bad on fuel. It's on 146k now and the strange noises are starting (currently got a whirring noise coming from the prop/diff area) so will probably need replacing this year, am still trying to talk the wife into keeping it - even putting it into storage until I have a chance to fix stuff.

What's next? Pretty sure it'll be a 440i GC with HUD and HK - the dark thoughts about an M3 aren't going away however.

[Court_S]

I’ve been a BMW fan I guess since I was little. At primary school, a friends mum and a very early, burgundy E36 saloon and I remember sitting in the front and it felt like nothing I’d ever been in. It was so low, and you felt snug with the high transmission tunnel. Compared to the rubbish cars my parents had (Astra, Daihatsu Sportrack, Suzuki Samurai) it was amazing and left a real impression.

This was further enhanced when an uncle gave me a driving lesson in an E36 323 cab that he had as a company car for a while. I also got to drive his E38 735 which at the time I thought was amazing.

I didn’t buy my first BMW until 2008; a 2001 E46 325ti. This is what it looked like, not my car because all my photo bucket pictures have gone, but close enough.



Looking back with hindsight I shouldn’t have bought it but was blinded by my hatred for a MINI One that I’d bought. There were loads of obstacles trying to stop me buying it but I plowed on regardless and it ended up being a bit st. It ate suspension components at a rate of notts (wishbones, bushes, snapped rear springs) and the cooling system was awful (water pump, thermostat, expansion tank, bowed rad). It was a car that always needed something fixing.

I still loved the damn thing and did some stuff to improved it; body coloured trim, painted the interior trim silver, angel eyes and DIY wheel refurb. Think I got shot in 2010 after I’d had enough of fixing it. It was on 110k when it went and looking at the MOT history, it died at 148k because it hasn’t been MOT’d since 2016.

After the E46 I jumped into the company car scheme for a while, but that was pretty crap. I could have had a Corsa or a Fiesta Zetec S. I chose the latter.

It wasn’t long before I had a hankering for a nice car again, so once we decided to start a family, I used that as an excuse to get shot of my other half’s Corsa which I despised. An E90 330i was chosen as the new family wagon.



I bloody loved this car. It was super reliable over the three and a bit years we had it with only consumables and an issue with the VANOS actuators. I added a lip spoiler and had the wheels refurbed in a lovely finish (black with silver over the front face). I added a few M Performance parts (hand brake grip, gear selector, steering wheel trim and carbon are intake). The intake was ridiculously expensive despite a discount via friend who works for Sytner but it did sound lovely. I wanted the exhaust but the mid pipes changed sizes over the years and as my car was a bit older, I’d have to change the mid pipe too making it too expensive. This eventually went because my other half got sick of the fuel bill. Bit of a mistake.

It was no BMW for a while until I decided to opt out of the company car scheme last year due to the ever increasing cost of BIK. My vRS whilst a fab car was costing me a huge amount of cash each month for a car that I didn’t really want so I took advantage of the run out deals on the F20 1 series and ordered an M140i shadow edition.



I love this thing. It’s quick, sounds pretty good, comfy and doesn’t cost the earth to run. I’ve made a few cosmetic tweaks which I think have improved it. It’ll be a tough car to replace. An M2 is the obvious choice but I’m not sure if there is enough of a difference to make it worthwhile. I’d love an F80 M3 Comp if funds allow, but we’ll see.

After the E90, I bought my other half, an F56 MINI which I never really gelled with. It saved her money on fuel etc but the depreciation was savage so that went last year. Given her usage, we bought her mums E87 116 really cheap. It’s slow, uses too much fuel for said performance but with a new leather interior, a double din screen and a few other bits it’s actually a pretty good little car. Especially for a few grand. Funny thing is neither of us miss her MINI.



Before my E46 I also had an R53 Cooper, Cooper S and the dreaded One. The Cooper was an amazing spec and very cheap due to having a massive deposit but my head was turned by the Cooper S which I initially walked away from due to be too expensive but the dealership came back to me with more sensible figures and I accidentally bought it. I then changed careers and was going to be doing a lot more miles and taking a pay cut to retrain, hence the One being a bit more sensible. It was actually a good car but I hated it after the S.

OP; nice work on the Z4M. Looking forward to hearing more about it.

Edited by Court_S on Tuesday 7th January 11:14

[cerb4.5lee]

Court_S said:

An E90 330i was chosen as the new family wagon.



I bloody loved this car.

I loved mine too for the almost 4 years I had it. Such an easy car to live with and apart from a broken rear spring nothing went wrong with it. I reckon if it was the manual version I'd probably still have it now. I missed a manual so much that I had to change it. It was such a lovely cruiser and Le Mans Blue is a fantastic colour for sure.

[Court_S]

cerb4.5lee said:

I loved mine too for the almost 4 years I had it. Such an easy car to live with and apart from a broken rear spring nothing went wrong with it. I reckon if it was the manual version I'd probably still have it now. I missed a manual so much that I had to change it. It was such a lovely cruiser and Le Mans Blue is a fantastic colour for sure.

With hindsight I should have told her to suck up the fuel costs and kept it instead of buying the MINI and setting fire to loads of cash in depreciation...which was far more than the fuel the 330 would have chonged through.

It was an easy car to live with and it looked lovely when clean. It’s still going strong too looking at the MOT history.

[cerb4.5lee]

Court_S said:

With hindsight I should have told her to suck up the fuel costs and kept it instead of buying the MINI and setting fire to loads of cash in depreciation...which was far more than the fuel the 330 would have chonged through.

Depreciation has hurt me hard on the MINI as well. I wanted to change it after 2 years but it has lost too much money. I've also lost a fair chunk on the 370Z in a very short space of time too. This car game makes me sad and it loses me too much money!

I'd love to be one of those people that buys a car and then makes money on it. I remember losing £10k on the X5 in 17 months and I lost £7k on the M3 in 10 months. I seem to always buy the cars that nobody really wants!

I reckon that being a car trader could be the way forward!

[BFleming]

cerb4.5lee said:

Depreciation has hurt me hard on the MINI as well. I wanted to change it after 2 years but it has lost too much money. I've also lost a fair chunk on the 370Z in a very short space of time too. This car game makes me sad and it loses me too much money!

If you buy new cars (and I assume you do) depreciation does indeed suck - but only if you're not planning to hold on to them long term. This graph sums it up:

If you buy a new car, keep it 2 years, you're down at least 30% according to the graph, and probably over 40% in reality. A lot of the problem in the UK is that the market is flooded with cars, finance & lease deals are plentiful, so depreciation is high. It's not as bad in other European markets as the whole company car/lease mentality isn't as prolific.

[cerb4.5lee]

BFleming said:

If you buy new cars (and I assume you do) depreciation does indeed suck - but only if you're not planning to hold on to them long term. This graph sums it up:

If you buy a new car, keep it 2 years, you're down at least 30% according to the graph, and probably over 40% in reality. A lot of the problem in the UK is that the market is flooded with cars, finance & lease deals are plentiful, so depreciation is high. It's not as bad in other European markets as the whole company car/lease mentality isn't as prolific.

Only had 3 new ones(Mini/GLC/TTS) and the depreciation is poor as you say. I'm also a bit(alot) disappointed with the 370Z(9 years old this year) though because I paid cash for that and its lost £3500 since April. I'm probably best not to look at all the money I'm losing and just enjoy the car though!

There must be a sweet spot somewhere in the buying process...I'm yet to find it though that's for sure. I think I did it right when I used to run £1000 Mondeos and that wasn't painful financially.

[Maxus]

20 years of BMWs for me. I remember the test drive of my first BMW, it drove just as I hoped and imagined.

1. E34 525i Sport

2. E30 Alpina Convertible

3. E46 330ci Convertible (still owned)

4. F10 520d

5. F10 520d

6. G30 520d - current

7. And a pair of MINIs for my wife and son!



All great but the E34 was special.

[Trevor555]

cerb4.5lee said:

I'm probably best not to look at all the money I'm losing and just enjoy the car though!

There must be a sweet spot somewhere in the buying process...I'm yet to find it though that's for sure. I think I did it right when I used to run £1000 Mondeos and that wasn't painful financially.

I used to buy my family cars at three years old, they'd lost roughly half of their new price.

As for the painful feeling of depreciation I ease the pain by working it out into a weekly sum.

So a £12,000 loss in one year equates to £230 per week, or £33 per day.

So £33 a day isn't bad if you've run something really nice.

[cerb4.5lee]

Trevor555 said:

As for the painful feeling of depreciation I ease the pain by working it out into a weekly sum.

So a £12,000 loss in one year equates to £230 per week, or £33 per day.

So £33 a day isn't bad if you've run something really nice.

Thanks. That is a very good way of looking at it.

[Trevor555]

Love this thread so I'll add a little bit more BMW love.

I've been a serial Z3 buyer for many years.









Of course I'm biased, but I think the straight six in a Z3 is one of the best looking engine bays ever.

Edited by Trevor555 on Tuesday 7th January 16:43

[Court_S]

cerb4.5lee said:

Depreciation has hurt me hard on the MINI as well. I wanted to change it after 2 years but it has lost too much money. I've also lost a fair chunk on the 370Z in a very short space of time too. This car game makes me sad and it loses me too much money!

I'd love to be one of those people that buys a car and then makes money on it. I remember losing £10k on the X5 in 17 months and I lost £7k on the M3 in 10 months. I seem to always buy the cars that nobody really wants!

I reckon that being a car trader could be the way forward!

My previous MINI’s held their value pretty well making it easy to change them, the F56 we had was piss poor despite a decent discount.

My E90 was the bad car depreciation wise; £1,500 we lost over three years. Admittedly it was pretty old when I bought it, but still I reckon that’s petty good.

[cerb4.5lee]

Court_S said:

My E90 was the bad car depreciation wise; £1,500 we lost over three years. Admittedly it was pretty old when I bought it, but still I reckon that’s petty good.

That is really good and mine worked out at £6k over the 4 years I had it. All this talk about them is making me miss it a fair bit!

[DVandrews]

I have owned BMWs since I was 22 (43 years ago), list below

E21 316
E21 320
E30 316 (alpine 2.2 engine fitted)
E30 325i Msport
E30 M3 EVO3 - x rated
E34 535i
E39 528i
E39 540i
E39 M5 - x rated
E93 335i - current

Several memorable cars there..

Dave

[Mr Tidy]

cerb4.5lee said:

Court_S said:

My E90 was the bad car depreciation wise; £1,500 we lost over three years. Admittedly it was pretty old when I bought it, but still I reckon that’s petty good.

That is really good and mine worked out at £6k over the 4 years I had it. All this talk about them is making me miss it a fair bit!

I think depreciation is a topic worthy of a thread of its own! I lost loads on my first 2 as they were less than a year old AUC cars. But as I had a proper job with a car allowance and interest free purchase loan at the time I didn't worry too much about that!

Strangely since 2014 when I've been running older ones that I have enjoyed much more depreciation has been measured in hundreds rather than thousands.

Anyway it's good to see I'm not the only serial BMW owner.

[Court_S]

Mr Tidy said:

I think depreciation is a topic worthy of a thread of its own! I lost loads on my first 2 as they were less than a year old AUC cars. But as I had a proper job with a car allowance and interest free purchase loan at the time I didn't worry too much about that!

Strangely since 2014 when I've been running older ones that I have enjoyed much more depreciation has been measured in hundreds rather than thousands.

Anyway it's good to see I'm not the only serial BMW owner.

I’m sure I’ll take an absolute bath on my M140i, but luckily work are paying for it so I’m not treating it like my own money. It’s still cheaper then getting bummed on BIK each month and having nothing to show for it once the lease is up.

[JakeT]

cerb4.5lee said:

Only had 3 new ones(Mini/GLC/TTS) and the depreciation is poor as you say. I'm also a bit(alot) disappointed with the 370Z(9 years old this year) though because I paid cash for that and its lost £3500 since April. I'm probably best not to look at all the money I'm losing and just enjoy the car though!

There must be a sweet spot somewhere in the buying process...I'm yet to find it though that's for sure. I think I did it right when I used to run £1000 Mondeos and that wasn't painful financially.

I lost £1000 on an old 330d in a month. £250 a week in a car I didn't really like didn't make me feel all that good. You're not alone Lee, I feel like many are st car traders, they just lie about it.

[BFleming]

BFleming said:

My BMW ownership list looks like this (in order)

I found pictures...

1997 E36 316i Compact in Montreal Blue (bought in early 1998 at 6 months old from BMW Niederlassung Essen)
I imported this from Germany to the UK in 1999, and saw it on the street in Wimbledon one day in 2004. Aw!


1995 E36 320i Touring also in Montreal Blue, private purchase but fully specced



1990 E30 320i 2 door in Henna Red, bought as a car to get me to the station, good fun!



2000 E46 330i SE Touring, had this one a few years, served me well until it starting drinking oil


2010 E90 320d efficient dynamics. My first N47, still going strong in the family



2013 F20 114i SE running a 118i map. Entertaining.


2013 F11 525d SE with a decent spec. Possibly the best all-round car I've ever owned despite it also being a N47! Bought from a vicar with taste!

[Kettmark]

15+ years in the same E46 330ci sport & counting.
Bought in September 2004 with 34k on the clock. Currently showing 241k.
Use it every day and service it religiously every 6 months.
Great cars.