Keep it or move it on..
Discussion
I bought my car a 2004 530d about 2.5 years ago.
Within a few months I had spent £2000 replacing the wheels (replica m5 alloys were buckled) and changing centre bearing and donut on drive shaft, then the rear subframe bushes. Also replaced the MAF.
Last year a rear control arm failed as I was driving and I spent another £1500 replacing the rear air springs, a drive shaft and repairing the damage from the failure.
It also broke down and I had to have it recovered then replace the bottom pulley.
I changed the front control arms and track rod ends, replaced the other rear control arm.
This year I spent another £2000 replacing lower rear suspension arms trying to resolve a clonking noise and rear camber issue.
On top I have replaced the rear tyres twice, front tyres once and the brakes all round.
Now its just failed the MOT and I'm spending another £500 on a new shock and another control arm.
Plus it could use 4 new tyres and I'm going to replace the tailgate wiring (known issue on these).
So basically I have spent thousands a year keeping the car on the road. Cost £7500 and has nearly 150k on the clock. Having just bought a house I could do with not having the spend £1000+ a year on repairs.
So I'm looking for opinions.. is it best to keep it and hope it doesn't keep breaking? or sell/trade it for a massive loss for something cheap like an astra or something?
Sorry for the long post.
Within a few months I had spent £2000 replacing the wheels (replica m5 alloys were buckled) and changing centre bearing and donut on drive shaft, then the rear subframe bushes. Also replaced the MAF.
Last year a rear control arm failed as I was driving and I spent another £1500 replacing the rear air springs, a drive shaft and repairing the damage from the failure.
It also broke down and I had to have it recovered then replace the bottom pulley.
I changed the front control arms and track rod ends, replaced the other rear control arm.
This year I spent another £2000 replacing lower rear suspension arms trying to resolve a clonking noise and rear camber issue.
On top I have replaced the rear tyres twice, front tyres once and the brakes all round.
Now its just failed the MOT and I'm spending another £500 on a new shock and another control arm.
Plus it could use 4 new tyres and I'm going to replace the tailgate wiring (known issue on these).
So basically I have spent thousands a year keeping the car on the road. Cost £7500 and has nearly 150k on the clock. Having just bought a house I could do with not having the spend £1000+ a year on repairs.
So I'm looking for opinions.. is it best to keep it and hope it doesn't keep breaking? or sell/trade it for a massive loss for something cheap like an astra or something?
Sorry for the long post.
No real advice other than a guy at works 07 3 series seems to eat tyres despite the tracking and camber being spot on. They're stupid run flats and not cheap. Then £1400 on a turbo.
An Astra could still throw a massive bill if you're at the mercy of garages or mechanics. The only way to avoid massive bills is to buy cheap cars (more than one ideally) and maintain them yourself.
An Astra could still throw a massive bill if you're at the mercy of garages or mechanics. The only way to avoid massive bills is to buy cheap cars (more than one ideally) and maintain them yourself.
I'm reasonably confident with the spanners some of the work above I did myself to cut costs.
Two cars won't happen, I used my motorbike when my car was off the road for a week but that's only fun when its dry.
The spending spiral... There's a lot of potentially expensive stuff that could still break.
Two cars won't happen, I used my motorbike when my car was off the road for a week but that's only fun when its dry.
The spending spiral... There's a lot of potentially expensive stuff that could still break.
As a general rule, the cheapest car is the one you already own.
However if the car is a complete shed, it might make sense to move it on but without seeing your car, who knows.
However from what you’ve posted, you’ve got a 10 year old, 150,000 mile BMW. From a manufacturer point of view, the vehicle is at the end of its life both from an age and mileage point of view.
Therefore stuff is going to wear out. If you keep on top of it, the car will continue to run but it will become triggers broom to some extent, but I and many others have run cars at this point without serious trouble.
Most of your problems seem to have been suspension related and you seem to have replaced petty much most of it by now.
It sounds to me like you’ve given your car an unintentional suspension refresh so you may be at a point where you have run out of bits to break.
Secondly, some of the prices you’re talking about are very high. I just had a look for rear suspension arms on Euro car parts and nothing is more than £110 and a lot more like £60. I’m not sure how you would spend £2000?
Lastly, BMW are expensive cars to run unfortunately. If big bills are likely to frighten you, an old, big, and when new, expensive BMW probably isn’t the car to run as stuff like automatic gearboxes can throw some unpleasant costs if you’re unlucky.
An astra will likely be a cheaper car to run because your money will get you a newer, lower milage, less complicated example but if you’re buying at the bottom end of the market, you may be just swapping one set of issues for another.
Not sure I’ve directly answered your question, but hopefully some food for thought.
However if the car is a complete shed, it might make sense to move it on but without seeing your car, who knows.
However from what you’ve posted, you’ve got a 10 year old, 150,000 mile BMW. From a manufacturer point of view, the vehicle is at the end of its life both from an age and mileage point of view.
Therefore stuff is going to wear out. If you keep on top of it, the car will continue to run but it will become triggers broom to some extent, but I and many others have run cars at this point without serious trouble.
Most of your problems seem to have been suspension related and you seem to have replaced petty much most of it by now.
It sounds to me like you’ve given your car an unintentional suspension refresh so you may be at a point where you have run out of bits to break.
Secondly, some of the prices you’re talking about are very high. I just had a look for rear suspension arms on Euro car parts and nothing is more than £110 and a lot more like £60. I’m not sure how you would spend £2000?
Lastly, BMW are expensive cars to run unfortunately. If big bills are likely to frighten you, an old, big, and when new, expensive BMW probably isn’t the car to run as stuff like automatic gearboxes can throw some unpleasant costs if you’re unlucky.
An astra will likely be a cheaper car to run because your money will get you a newer, lower milage, less complicated example but if you’re buying at the bottom end of the market, you may be just swapping one set of issues for another.
Not sure I’ve directly answered your question, but hopefully some food for thought.
Edited by (steven) on Saturday 2nd August 15:40
Had similar experience with e46 320d. Ended up selling it, got a Honda Jazz as a stop gap until I get a proper car, which was supposed to be a month or two. It was almost a year ago.
I now did 12k miles with it, the only thing that went wrong was a light bulb (last week). I spent ~1500 pounds on the BMW during its last year with me.
I still miss the Beemer.
I now did 12k miles with it, the only thing that went wrong was a light bulb (last week). I spent ~1500 pounds on the BMW during its last year with me.
I still miss the Beemer.
Adam_W said:
... I could do with not having the spend £1000+ a year on repairs.
Reading your list, you must have spent as much as the car cost. If you're always that unlucky it's got to be cheaper to just lease a new one.I was miffed to get an unexpected £500 bill on my 10yr old Merc this year!
Edited by Sheepshanks on Sunday 3rd August 15:36
[quote=(steven)]As a general rule, the cheapest car is the one you already own.
[/quote]
^^^ This.
Although any high mileage car which cost £40,000 when new will always have higher running costs than a £10k Fiesta. Supposed "shed" motoring is largely a PH myth, unless you buy so cheap you can just throw the car away as soon as it goes wrong.
[/quote]
^^^ This.
Although any high mileage car which cost £40,000 when new will always have higher running costs than a £10k Fiesta. Supposed "shed" motoring is largely a PH myth, unless you buy so cheap you can just throw the car away as soon as it goes wrong.
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