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My younger brother was a BMW mechanic, now he's working at a 'Benz dealer.
The main thing to look out for with these models is the cooling system. The whole thing, water pump, hoses etc. If one hose goes then you need to chnage them all becasue changing the bodgy one will see another go soon after. He also mentioned gutless.
The question is 'what's the budget?' You can get better daily driver options but how deep are the pockets?
Good cars, relatively reliable but pricey to maintain properly.
You already have 1 car thats fun to drive, your daily driver doesnt have to be a show pony does it?
Im with Justin and Chris and everyone else that has said it, go with something cheap and reliable.
Ditto! Concentrate on the Landy Stirling and just a cheap run around. We only run one car at the moment, but we will probably buy a hyundai getz or something to get around town.Quote:
Originally Posted by mcrover
Angus
Today I test drove a Honda civic and a Nissan Pulsar. Sure, you really can't go past their reliability. But they just don't feel the same as a BMW when you are driving.
Actually at the car yard, I was talking to a salesman and he pointed out a $17,000 1999 honda accord and he said "Because I want to get rid of it, I will sell it to you for $10,000" My jaw just dropped because that was a very nice car!.. Pitty I won't have the money for another couple of weeks yet. But it was still a big car. I don't need big.
Thanks peter for giving me the tip on the cooling system. Will definitely keep an eye out for that. I suppose it depends on what my priorities are, if I wanted a true reliable, economic car You can't go past mazda, nissan, honda etc. But I want something that looks good hence the BMW... yeah yeah, probably a compromise and probably not as reliable. But after my landrover, anything will be an improvement! Plus I am able to do maintenance work on it myself so I shouldn't be sooooo bad... should it?
N13 pulsar
Your either game or silly thats all ill say boyo:eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by stirlsilver
Think with your wallet and savings not the image:cool:
Should i suggest a Suzuki:eek2::Rolling::Thump:
Get a Lada.. They're small!
I am going to go against the flow here and say BMW's are very reliable although not all models are reliable. If you can bear an older car the e30 318i is a pillar of reliability (last build 91). They are also a small car. in fact here is the exact model I would at least take for a spin.
1990 BMW 318I E30 S Red 5 Speed M Sedan - eBay, Passenger Vehicles, Cars, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 09-Sep-08 16:00:14 AEST)
Parts are cheap, you can easily work on them yourself, everything is easy to get to and there are no major weak points, they can have all the mod cons but each car is different as they were all custom order rather than models with standard options. The engines have chains which last the life of the engine so all you need to do is quality oil changes and filters. The most I spent on my 3 series in 5 years was $60 in parts. Obviously you dont use a dealer all the time as often they cost more.
Anyway the main thing is you like the car you buy, and the last thing I would do is drive a corolla just to be conservative because you will drive into a tree on the way to work after falling asleep from boredom.
BMW and Honda are the words in their respective languages for "money pit". Don't touch any Euro exotic with a few years and a few k's on it, and Hondas must be got out of before they have their 10th. birthday or 200000k's. In the case of both brands, spare parts and service costs are astronomical. Honda also has a ruthless attitude to parts obsolesence. You want an economical family car , buy a Commodore.