I am pretty close to buying a 2002 BMW 525i. The price is good ($22,500) and I think the car looks super sweet. Now my only question is reliability. The dealer wants $1000-$2000 for an extended warranty (depending on length, deductible). As mentioned, the car is a 2002 model and it has 50,000 miles. Are BMWs reliable enough to where I should overlook the warranty? If it was a Lexus, then I wouldn't worry about it because Lexus is well-known for reliability. However, I am unfamiliar with BMW's durability and reliability. Do you think I should buy the warranty?
as good as bmws are and as much as i would like to have one. from the research i have done in the past they do tend to have problems. so i would bet if your keeping the car for a while that the warrenty would eventually pay for itself.
I'd buy an extended warranty on a new car muchless a 3-4 year old BMW. The best place to ask your question may be in a BMW forum. You'll get more responses as well as may be able to go to specific forums for that gen BMW. BMW reliability hasn't always been the greatest and what people fail to realize when they go buy a used one to save money is that it will cost you a fortune to repair some of the more common failures on that vehicle. Make sure you know what you're getting into. FYI, the 2005 JD Power Vehicle Dependability Study had BWM ranked around average for car makes. The 2005 looks at 3 year dependability for 2002 model-year cars. I know BMW's aren't always the most reliable vehicles, so like I said, I'd look at some BMW forums as well as look at what it would cost ot do some of the more common repairs on the car - radiator flush, brake pads/maintenance, transmission fluid change, timing belts, etc. Call up a dealership and find out how much it costs to do stuff like this.
Bro, Definitely get the extended warranty, but judging from what you said, that's a pretty good price for a car like that with decent mileage and good condition. Also, if you can, try to get it checked out top to bottom if you have a personal mechanic that you can trust, it's helped me in the past avoid some serious junk out there that looked good otherwise.
one tranny job or or the AC going out almost pays for the warranty itself. Just make sure you read the wording carefully.
If you buy an extended warranty, read the fine print in the policy (btw, extended warranties are essentially insurance policies, and warranty issues are treated like claims and are sometimes subject to deductibles). Alot of extended warranties don't cover supplemental restraint systems, and other items. You don't want to have an airbag monitor go out and be stuck paying for it (some are around $1,000 just for the part) READ THE FINE PRINT
Thats a damn good price for that car with 50k miles on it. and ALWAYS buy an extyended warranty when you purchase used import luxury vehicles.
i can't see the logic of throwing 25k on a car and not paying another 1k to get a warranty. it's one of the freakin biggest purchases of your life, you shouldn't be cheap about it.
You may have already made up your mind on whether or not to buy the car, but a few years ago, I was looking at luxury cars. I was undecided between BMW, Mercedes and Lexus. I looked at Consumer Reports and ended up buying a pre-owned Lexus LS 400. I've had it about 7 years and have had almost no problems, and even the problems I have had were relatively inexpensive to repair. One of the objections I read that convinced me to stay away from BMW and Mercedes was the large amount of money it cost to do repairs and regular service. I guess it is because they are so different and not everyplace will work on them whereas a Lexus is just a souped up Toyota. My salesman even told me not to waste my money changing the oil every 3000 miles, he said 5000-7500 miles was often enough.
Before people take this advice and blow their motors, this is only if you use synthetic oil. If you use regular dino oil, your begging for a new car.
I don't believe it's absolutely necessary to change the oil every 3,000 miles on regular oil. I routinely go 6,000 miles or greater between oil and filter changes, which I do myself. My car is now 13 years old. Of course, oil and filters are cheap enough it's not that much of a financial penalty to change it more often, unless you do it at a dealership.
