102,000 miles on a 2G TL is nothing. There are tons of them with over 200,000 miles on them, but a word of warning ... the 2G TL is known for transmission failures. If anything goes on that car that will cost you, it's probably going to be the transmission first. That being said, pulling out of your driveway may be enough to kill a BMW. (Ok, I kid, I kid ... sorta ... lol). I'm about to get rid of my '04 TL sometime this year... it'll be a sad day when I do ...
I wouldn't do it, unless you want to look like a d-bag. BMW drivers are the biggest a-holes on the road. After having a nasty incident with a woman in a chick fil a line who drove a BMW, I began to notice all BMW drivers were a-holes. At first I thought it was my imagination, chalking it up to that incident, but then last year I saw this article which stated THIS.
85,000 miles on a modern car is considered low mileage. Most modern cars can go 200,000 miles or more with no major mechanical issues as long as you regularly maintain them. If Kias and Hyundais can do it, I would hope German engineered BMWs can.
European cars are not known to be reliable. I think hyundai started using TPS like probably every other company in the world. I am not sure what the German's do.
Buddy of mine had a similar situation when his wife's family gave them their 3 series. He said the parts were a pain, particularly anything involving the breaks. Apparently the rotors on the 3 were so thin that they had to be replaced any time the pads wore out, costing about a grand. There's a reason that German luxury cars depreciate like rocks. He was glad to trade it in for a Honda Pilot.
Somebody is offering you a free 5 series and you are questioning whether you should take it? Is this a joke?
Dude, its a free car. Find out what it costs to insure the car and if it isn't something you can afford then say no thanks. If it is, take it and just use it. If it isnt used often then I see no harm in it. If the parents took decent care of it, you shouldn't have major problems. If bad problems come up, tall them you want to get rid of it by giving it back or selling it. But you are getting what considered to be a damn good BMW for free.
That tl is due for another transmission. Honda transmissions during those years were the worst ever made. I know many that had 3 replaced before 100k miles
Insurance is 38 bucks more a year. A year! Man that is nuts. I thought it would be that much more a month. I know a lot of people with the same TL and they either didn't need one or they got a new tranny very early on. Most of my friends got to 180 or 200k and eventually traded away, sold, or donated their TL. Most likely taking it. It will likely get me to three years from now when our Odyssey is paid off and I can consider taking on a new car note. Not having a car note for the past 7 years was nice. This helps extend that which makes paying for things for the kids easier. I called our credit union and they said the extended warranty they can offer is 3 years 36k miles for 6000 dollars due to the age of the care and likelihood for repairs. Yikes! When I bought my 2002 maxima in 04 with 24k miles it was 1500 for extra 5 years and 100k miles. For that much I would rather take the risk and walk away from it if it ever had a terrible repair.
I may need to replace the interior driver side door panel. I checked eBay and had no luck. Anyone have any suggestions? If it is a couple hundred I don't mind paying big it is 1k I can live with the fading hand peeling.
