Ten ways in which buying a used BMW bankrupted me

Click inside to find out more! Number 11 will shock you.

Illustration for article titled Ten ways in which buying a used BMW bankrupted me
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On this very day, two years ago, I brought this beauty home, and I have to say that I’m still very much in love. Especially after having driven F11 and F31 BMWs. So how bad was it?

Besides different fluids and filters it needed a set of brake pads and a set of brake hoses for the rear. Also the tires (summer and winter) will need to be replaced soon-ish. That’s the normal maintenance.

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Illustration for article titled Ten ways in which buying a used BMW bankrupted me

Ah, you think “normal maintenance” now the long tale of tears will begin when he starts litsting the “not-so-normal” maintenance.

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Sorry to disappoint, I needed one injector and a roundel for the hood (of course). Both done at the BMW dealer for less than €500 combined.

Not too bad for 2 years and around 23k miles (has around 115k on the odo right now). Keep in mind that this car sits outside all year in salty air within sight of the coast, and has to deal with my absurdly short commute (around two miles) as well. It was also ridden hard and put away wet during the Wales Europpomeet last year. It passed TÜV inspection last week, without any problems.

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Illustration for article titled Ten ways in which buying a used BMW bankrupted me

So, you might think, it’s a ten year old Bimmer, surely there must be something that’s not working correctly or maybe some lights on the dash? Nope! Sorry to disappoint again.

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Some of it may be due to the fact, that the N53B30 is NA and also not really highly stressed, and it was a one owner car with perfect BMW service history. Or maybe they are better than their reputation. Maybe I was just lucky so far and it will turn into a fancy paperweight tomorrow morning, who knows? Make of this little piece of anecdotal evidence what you will…